Recently I had a chance to do a half-day workshop
on “Making Change Stick” for a group of nonprofit executives at a conference
sponsored by NeighborWorks America.
Here’s one of main take-aways that may help you when you are in the
process of leading a change.
These particular nonprofit leaders have been
working on various improvements in their organizations for the past year – and
they have made some successful changes.
I got to be the wet blanket. I
told them that making the initial changes was just the beginning of the work
and that they had to be sure not to make a classic “leading change”
error: “celebrating success too soon.”
I asked them “Of the people involved with the
change you are leading, what percentage of them fall into these categories?:”
*Enthusiastic – guiding coalition; cheerleaders
*Supportive – would speak on behalf of the change,
if asked
*Accepting – passive acceptance
*Resistant – active or passive aggressive
Think about this for a change you are
leading. I suggest that, in order for
your change to “stick,” you need at least 50% of your people in the top two
categories. And actually, you need as
many people as possible in those top two groups to be really confident that
your change is going to “stick.”
The work of leading a change isn’t done until it’s
embedded deeply into the culture. Until
people have the attitude of “That’s just the way we do things around here” then
there is work to be done. Good luck
leading change as you seek to make even more of a Mission Impact.
For more
ideas on how you can lead breakthroughs in your organization, follow this blog
and check out my web site at www.SheehanNonprofitConsulting.com You will find free resources you can
download, including a Breakthrough Strategy Workbook that you can download at
no cost. You can also check out my book,
Mission Impact: Breakthrough
Strategies for Nonprofits, and buy it if
you are interested. And you can follow Sheehan
Nonprofit Consulting on Facebook.
No comments:
Post a Comment