You can’t make a child sleep.
And you certainly don’t let them sip a Coke, turn the lights up bright and play loud music if you want them to go to dream land.
Instead, you create the conditions that induce sleep. You limit sugar intake, turn lights low and play soft music.
The 3 Conditions that Create Effective Change
You can’t make your cross-functional colleagues take ownership of your plan.
Common tactics used to get “those people” to change often backfire: Blaming them for poor execution, going behind their back to escalate issues, and re-scoping the project to appease a growing list of stakeholders only grinds progress to a halt.
Like creating the conditions that induce a child to sleep, there are cultural conditions we see effective leaders create that generate ownership of change efforts among colleagues.
1. Those involved in the change feel good about themselves.
Rather than making people feel bad about the current state, effective leaders of change build confidence by consistently reinforcing their trust in colleagues. With this condition created, an employee may not like the change they’re being asked to make—yet they’re more apt to execute effectively.
Employees (humans!) hate to disappoint colleagues they respect, like or admire.
2. The change process involves the ideas of those who will be asked to change.
Humans have a difficult time resisting their own good ideas. And if the ideas the recommended are not put into action, when a colleague understands why, they’re still more likely to enroll mentally in the plan.
3. The process taps into the intrinsic motivations of those being asked to change.
When messaging, most leaders hide behind the “corporate why” or reason the change needs to occur. While this is essential information, emotional commitment—ownership—doesn’t occur until colleagues have cognitive clarity and are intrinsically motivated to see the plan succeed.
Asking team members, “Why is success of this effort important to you personally?” means you’re no longer selling change. You’re building collective ownership.
Change management tactics and fundamentals remain essential. Creating the cultural conditions for change to occur fluidly, from one initiative to the next, differentiates your leadership.
P.S. If you’re interested in exploring further how to lead seamless change, one of our experts would be happy to share other best practices we’re seeing leaders utilize.
