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When you’re setting about to launch a major change effort in your organization there are many things you must do but none are bigger than the one key ingredient to driving change in any organization of any size. What is it you say? Let me tell you a brief story.One time awhile back I was having dinner with the CEO of a $500 million tech company. We were discussing the changes he was trying to drive and how I might help. He went in to great detail all the things he was doing and how if he could sustain the efforts it would change the company. Then he turned and asked, “People just don’t get behind it. What is the key to driving these changes?”We all know that is the question of the century. I turned and said, “You!”He was puzzled as all leaders are when confronted with the reality that what they want to happened and what does happen are too often two very different things. As you can imagine the CEO was shocked and more than intrigued. I told him the one key fundamental truth of change. If the highest ranking person, the one over all the parts of the organization impacted by the changes, blinks during the change effort it will fail.What I explained to him was that his Lieutenants, his direct reports, were smiling to his face and going out preaching change to anyone but their own organizations. His sales VP was the worst. Everyone else needed to change but by gummy his organization ‘always delivered’ and didn’t need all this stuff. Oh he told the CEO, his buddy by the way, that he was playing the change game but his actions proved different.I told the CEO that when driving change you have to follow a simple process. If you are the Big Kahuna in charge of the areas of the organization being changed then you need to follow these steps …1. Get real about what you want to accomplish with the change.2. Count the cost both financially and with your people and only then decide to make the changes. Once you know the cost then you apply the nomoreBS philosophy and look in the mirror and seriously decide whether you are willing to pay the price. If you are then commission the work.3. Commission the work after deciding the hard part, number two above.In the case of this CEO he had already embarked on his change journey. His VP of Sales was a major roadblock to the change effort. I told him that if he was serious about the changes then he’d have to confront his sales guy and friend. Ideally you would make this decision ahead of time, before investing millions in change.You see the decision you have to make if you are the key leader of change is what to do if my key people resist. You have to decide, that after all due diligence, if my best person stands in the way will I terminate them? If you are unwilling to do that then don’t embark on this change effort. You will fail guaranteed. More change projects fail, not from middle management dragging their feet, but from the senior team being duplicitous and lying to the big guy. It happens all over the place and we see it everyday.When you decide to launch your next big change effort, make sure you have considered the cost … not just he financial cost but the people cost. If you are unwilling to pay it then save your money, the aggravation and stay like you are today. You’ll be far better off. Sometimes the valor of your decisions is found in what you don’t do as much as what you do.Ed Kugler
Article Source: http://www.content.onlypunjab.com
Ed Kugler has been living change since the jungles of Vietnam where he was a Marine Sniper for two-years in the Vietnam War. He came home to a country he hadn't left and began work as a mechanic and truck driver. Since then he has worked his way into the executive suite of Frito Lay, Pepsi Cola and Compaq Computer where he was Vice President of Worldwide Logistics, a position he achieved with no college degree. Ed left in 1997 to consult and write. He is the author of Dead Center - A Marine Sniper's Two Year Odyssey in the Vietnam War and five other books and counting. He regularly consults with some o the nations leading companies on organizational change and coaches individuals to make the most of their lives. Ed is the father of three, grandfather to three and has been married to the same woman for 38 years and counting. www.nomorebs.com www.edkugler.com
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