Are you succeeding at sustaining change? In our first article, Motivation: The Key to Sustainable Change, we talk about how motivation is the key to success when sustaining change. In our second article, What Successful Leaders Know to Sustain Change we talk about how the most successful change leaders understand the entire change journey and what ultimately works in leading people to sustainable change.
Want training on agile change management? Scroll down to see our list of upcoming online sessions. Enjoy the articles below, and as always let us know what you think. Email us at guides@changeguidesllc.com.
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Motivation: The Key to Sustainable Change |
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Every time you blink you change. Literally. Change is so constant, you barely notice, unless it is a turning point. That is a change you remember because something---your point of view, your responsibilities or maybe how you do business is now affecting you in a new way. Anything can serve as a turning point---and it can be planned or unplanned.
So, what makes people want to change? At the end of the day, people are people. It doesn’t matter what industry or position, professional or personal. We change when we have the motivation to do so. We change when we want to change. To help people, change and sustain the change, you need to tap into their individual motivations. I think a mistake that many leaders and change practitioners make is not recognizing the importance of individual motivation. This needs to be intrinsic to any long-term sustainable change.
How do you do that? It’s simple. You ask. Tapping into the Pareto Principle, 80/20 rule, can be key. 20 percent of effort creates 80 percent of results. If you want sustainable change you need to tap into individual’s 20 percent. We usually do what we are motivated to do first. People put their best efforts where they feel successful, included, engaged and part of the process.
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What Successful Leaders Know to Sustain Change |
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Change. A small word with many meanings. Change is as constant as the air we breathe. But real change is more than a quick fix. In today’s business landscape, organizations are working faster and faster to get a competitive edge, increase their bottom line, do business more efficiently, streamline work streams, etc. and often they are trying to make all these changes at once. Why is that?
While we are an adaptive species, we are oddly wired to resist change. When a change initiative gets announced, what many leaders want to happen is for employees to jump onboard and get to the business of executing the plan. Time is money. Leaders who are content with getting to the “go live” state often gain a false sense that means the change has occurred and therefore, and then wonder why the change does not sustain long term. But often leaders fail to understand that sustainable change takes time. Just like it takes time for a tree’s roots to take hold so does sustainable change. People are the roots of an organization. When change happens too quickly, it may appear on the surface, that change has occurred, yet if you take a closer look, the behaviors have not changed but only have been adapted. And after some time, they usually go back to the status quo.
People change when they are motivated to change. A person can “fake” change, hit deadlines, follow rules, or do what is asked of them for a short time, but eventually their behavior will go back to their personal norm if they are not motivated. Simply put, most leaders don’t truly recognize the human side of change and only focus on the business or technical side. And the biggest risk for failure of sustainable change is not fully understanding the importance of the human element.
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Our Change Management Certification Program has been approved as an ACMP's Qualified Education Provider™ (QEP™) Program indicating that our program aligns to ACMP's Standard for Change Management and adult education best practices.
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