Importance
Focus on Importance and action
Classic change management operates with importance at two levels, namely by ensuring that top management gives priority to the change and by creating a burning platform that underlines the importance of the change. Even though this is a well-tested method, it is associated with a number of risks.
When top management gives the change a high priority, there is a tendency that it is management that decides what is important. However, it is far from sure that the employees share management’s opinion. Thus, you risk loosing a large part of the organisation even before the project has been initiated, simply because there is no support of the rationale behind the change. Importance is essential to a change project, and, thus, the discussion about what is important should not take place within a select group.
When a burning platform is needed before action can be taken, there is a significant risk that the change project is delayed or even derailed in the critical start-up phase. Not least if the majority of the organisation do not believe that the platform is burning or think that it burns for quite other reasons than outlined by top management. Sometimes it is action that generates the sense of understanding, attention – and importance that is required to move the entire organisation mentally.
Questions you need to ask yourselves
- Is a new approach or mindset a necessary element in the change project?
- Is it probable that a new mindset will create the desired change of behaviour?
- Do you have the necessary competences and experience to carry through the required change of attitude and behaviour while respecting the complexity and dynamic of the situation?
Some organisations think before they act, others are successful doing the opposite
