The 10 Most Common Mistakes in Change Management

• Starting too late

  This is a fundamental timing error, and basically it amounts to letting the world outrun you. The result is an organization behind the eight ball, scrambling to catch up with the competition. Or making a last ditch attempt to seize a fleeting opportunity. Time ends up working against you, instead of being on your side.

• Moving too slowly

  We consider this the cardinal sin. Change management isn’t a waltz, it’s rock ‘n roll. The “slowness” problem starts with the misguided but popular notion of assessing the organization’s “readiness” for change before proceeding. It’s a stalling tactic that consumes precious time. And it just gives people an excuse for not proceeding with the much more difficult work of true change. Let’s face facts – organizations are never “ready” to warmly embrace major change. And “getting ready” is not the same as “getting going.” People will also argue hard for the need to get “buy in” from everybody before you proceed very far. But that’s just another impossible dream, and very dangerous to your change effort. Make sure you know what “fast” actually looks like, because speed is crucial to your success.

• Lack of a coherent, well conceived change strategy

  It’s well established that far too many change efforts just don’t pan out. A large percentage of the failures are doomed from the beginning because of bad design. Major change calls for counter-intuitive moves, and many of the so-called “experts” don’t seem to understand this.

• Failure to apply project management techniques

  A beautifully designed strategy for change falls apart quickly unless you proceed with disciplined methodologies for tracking the process. Ignore good project management, and your people will end up just muddling along.

• Using the wrong indicators to measure progress

  When a major change effort gets under way, executives often are scared off by the symptoms of their success. Don’t panic if you see problems vis-à-vis morale, job stress, loyalty, the trust level or job satisfaction. It could be proof that you’re doing precisely the right things.

• Not giving people the know-how they need

  It’s easy to overlook the knowledge gap that change creates. People have an awful lot to learn. You can’t expect them to perform differently unless you’ve trained them on how to go about it.

• Failure to take care of the “me” issues

  People have a hard time supporting change when they can’t even figure out how it’s going to affect them. Their first loyalty, after all, is obviously to themselves. So long as the work force is wandering along in a cloud of ambiguity and uncertainty, your change effort is at great risk.

• Not altering the reward system to support change

  The existing reward system serves to maintain the status quo. If you don’t change it, deliberately and wisely, you’ll end up paying people to resist change.

• Flawed communications

  As somebody once said, “The more unpleasant the message, the more effort should go into communicating it.” But that does not mean, as some people seem to believe, that simply more communication is better. The trick comes in saying the right things…at the right time…to the right people. Good information flow is the oxygen that keeps a change effort alive. You also need to pick your words carefully to protect top management’s credibility.

• Lack of leadership

  Change efforts peter out far short of the finish line when there’s not enough management punch. The situation calls for strong, committed individuals – leaders – who will drive the change effort hard…past the fierce initial resistance, through the “messy middle” where things get confused and disorganized, toward a clear and compelling vision.