Design Organizational Change
Without solid support from company executives, it is almost impossible to design organizational change that works. Organizational change is hard enough to achieve when everyone is aligned with and committed to the new ways of working and behaving. If you must combat leaders implicitly or explicitly, your chances of success are slim.
To design organizational change that works you must ensure that leaders are aligned on:
The Majority of Leaders Fear Organizational Change|
Many studies focus on how to get resistant employees behind a change initiative. But we have found that leaders, too, avoid initiating real transformation at work. They may be risk averse, uncertain where to start, uncomfortable with leadership accountability, and concerned about stakeholder reactions.
Recent McKinsey research uncovered that 85% of executives believe fear of uncertainty, career failure, and criticism holds back innovation efforts at their organizations. We believe that you first must win over the executive team in all three areas to design organizational change that works. Once leaders are aligned, the change management planning, communications, role modeling, rewarding, and adjusting can begin to get employees onboard.
Getting Executive Buy-in
Based upon data from our change management simulation, the steps to get executive commitment to your change plan is not unlike what it takes to marshal the commitment of the general workforce. It simply requires a different approach to mitigate natural leadership resistance to change.
The Bottom Line
When you are to be a change leader at your organization, start with relevance and clarity at the top. Senior leaders will need to be convinced that the changes are worth it. Do not get fooled into moving forward without full executive support and alignment.
To learn more about how to design organizational change that works, download The Science-Backed Way Leaders Should View Change Leadership Communications
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