Train yourself for successful change
“One reason why change is difficult is that you easily get overambitious, take on too many things and then lose focus. You are eager (to succeed) and you reach a point where you are no longer able to hold back all the good ideas … it is important to be selective and hard.”
“Usually, the top management has lived with the ideas behind the change for a long time and discussed visions, goals and challenges – then you dump all of this down into the organisation and expect people to simply get going. The problem is that mentally you have an organisation that is in a different place than you are as a top leader.”
“I have been part of some global change initiatives done “the American way”, meaning Big Bang, tight time pressure and very little involvement from the people in the organisation. These types of change processes are sometimes necessary, but they are usually not very effective in the long run.”
What the CEOs agreed on
- Driving change is basically what a leader does – it is the job.
- It is seldom easy, but it can be more or less difficult, depending on how the change is perceived and the consequences of the change.
- Very few said that they use a set framework or a theoretical model for change management. What they use is experience (what worked before), some basic principles (such as “involvement of the top-100”) and an “agile” approach, including a fair degree of trial and error.