Gaebler and Osborne argue that necessity is still the mother of invention.   A sense of crisis is required to get the process started - often a financial or competitive crunch.  An effective change leader must help the team understand that change is the imperative, not an option - and move past denial.  At the same time, we must be clear about what is changing and what is not, both to protect and strengths and to avoid feelings of being simply overwhelmed by too much change.

Ingredient 2:  A Clear VISION of where we are going

People are not really afraid of change, but they are wary of venturing into the unknown.  A sense of direction or a specific target to aim for, crafted by key stakeholders, will not only remove a critical block but also motivate and inspire action.  If there is a working model, a successful example of the vision in action, that can be kept in mind ... even better.

Ingredient 3:  Strategies that understand and address the FORCES OF CHANGE

The successful change process always involves a critical evaluation of the forces that can be used to facilitate and drive change, that will restrain or resist change, and those forces that act simply to maintain the status quo (Kurt Lowen's Force Field Analysis).  Past patterns of change in the organization will also give clues.   Analysis of known barriers (the coffee talk) is always fruitful.  Each force must be addressed strategically; with measures taken to build on, overcome or circumnavigate the most important.

Ingredient 4:  Supporting the HUMAN DIMENSIONS of Change

Self-directed, proactive change can be relatively quick.  But externally-directed, reactive change is generally slow and painful in human terms.  The leadership team cannot afford to minimize or skip over the feelings of shock, denial, anger, sadness, and even corporate depression that ultimately undermine change processes.  Time and effort must be invested in working on the inevitable denial and resistance stages before the team can begin to focus on exploration and commitment.  Click here for Model.

Ingredient 5:  Coping with the NEUTRAL or IN BETWEEN ZONE

Change involves an ending, a period of repositioning and renewal (the 'in between zone').  Each requires a unique set of management responses, but the middle period involves the highest risk and is often neglected; most change processes falter when the old has been 'shot down', but the new has yet to be installed.  Click here for Model by William Bridges.

Ingredient 6:  Proper RESOURCING and Support

Robert Kent notes that the key success factor has to do with dedication of the resources necessary to install the change - financial, human, time and equipment.  Important change is not something that can be added to an already full plate;  the process must be assigned some priority to be successful.  Dalzeill and Schoonover suggest that the human resources assigned must in combination include:  the inventor, the entrepreneur, the expert, the manager and the sponsor.  Gaebler and Osborne suggest that 'outsides resources' are often required to find the additional expertise, objectivity and/or financial ability required.

Ingredient 7:  The Right LEADERSHIP MIX - with continuity

Change is an inside out process and inevitably starts with a committed person both demonstrating and leading the transition.  Burt Nanus speaks of the requirement for a 'visionary leader'.  James MacGregor Burns argues that we must develop our 'transactional' and transformational' leadership skills and behaviours.  Shims and Lorenzi promote the concept of reaching for 'superleadership' status.  Stephen Covey calls for development of an '8th Habit':  to find our voice AND inspire others to find theirs.

Regardless, continuity of leadership is important - until the process is complete to what Kurt Lowen calls the 'refreeze stage' (unfreeze, develop the new model, refreeze) and the new process of approach is entrenched.  When all is said and done, the commitment and integrity of the process champion(s) is the fundamental success factor.

Ingredient 8:   TRUST

Change involves risk.   For individuals and teams to willingly risk, they must trust those around them to be there when there are setbacks - to nurture and support them during the process.  Participants must be valued and respected at every step.  If the culture fo the organization does not contain this key element, change is likely just a theoretical and distant goal.  Conversely, a change process can be an ideal time to develop the trust foundation that will serve you well into the future.

Back to Change LEADERSHIP

"The difference between a grave and a rut .... is simply the depth."

             Anonymous

"There used to be risk in change; now the greater risk is in not changing."

                   Anonymous

"When decision-makers begin to look at the future, denial acts as an automatic shut-off valve."

                  Herman Kahn

"Faced with the choice between changing one's mind and proving there is no need to do so, almost everybody gets busy on the proof."

                             John Kenneth Galbraith

"Without a vision, the people perish."

            King Solomon

"If you don't know where you're going, all roads lead there."

                           Alice - Alice in Wonderland

"All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them."

                  Walt Disney

"You will have trouble creating a new culture if you insist on doing it in ways that are consistent with the old one."

                      Prichett and Pound

"The great obstacle is this:  the conviction that we cannot change because we are dependent on what is wrong.  But that is the addict's excuse, and we know that it will not do.

                    Wendell Berry

"Argue for your limitations and sure enough, they're yours."

                 Richard Bach

"There is no squabbling so violent as that between people who accepted an idea yesterday and those who will accept it tomorrow."

                         Christopher Moore

"The crisis consists precisely in the fact that the old is dying and the new cannot be born.  In this interregnum, a great variety of morbid symptoms appear."

                          Antonio Gramsci

"Envisioning the future and taking action in the present to bring it about, are acts of the human spirit."

                      Warren Zigler

"Reality is something you rise above."

                       Liza Minnelli

"The best way to predict your future is to invent it."

                               John Scully, Apple

"No plan survives contact with the enemy."

                        von Moltke

"When all is said and done, a lot more is said than done."

                         Louis Holtz

"The only person who is educated is the one who has learned how to learn ... and change."

                          Carl Rogers

"Look, look. look to the rainbow.  Follow the fellow who follows the dream."

                                 Finian's Rainbow

"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed people can change the world.  Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has."

                                  Margaret Mead