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Building commitment for change is fundamental to successfully implementing change, but a process that all too often does not get the emphasis needed to effect change. In a time when changes due to technology, community expectations, worker expectations, budget crisis or other issues are accelerating, one would think that business and government would be pretty good at bringing about change. Unfortunately, that is not the case.
A survey of the literature indicates that 65-85 percent of change initiatives either fail outright or fail to deliver in a significant way the benefits anticipated from the change. The literature also brings to light the fact that leaders often fail to place proper focus on the people in organizations who are the ones that must buy into the change in order for the change to be successful.
Commitment is to change what prevention is to risk management. Leaders understand that to have a successful risk management program, one has to have a prevention component. If one focuses on prevention, there will be fewer injuries and accidents, and when they do occur they are likely to be less critical.
Likewise, if a leader takes the time to build commitment, employees will more likely buy into the change and the resistance will be less severe. Consequently, it makes good sense to adopt a process to build commitment before implementing the change.
The following is a five-step process for building commitment for change. These steps will take some additional time at the front end, but will save time and frustration at a later point.
Step One – Identify whose commitment is needed
Identify whose commitment is needed. Who are key people whose commitment would help bolster the chances of success? A peer leader is one example of someone whose commitment might be important in that others will watch to see how he/she weighs in on the coming change. If a peer leader is supportive others who value that individual’s opinion are more likely to be supportive as well.
Identifying who those specific people are is important to developing the commitment necessary for change to be implemented. If you have worked with a group for some period of time, you can likely name them. If you are new to a group or aren’t sure who these key people might be, you should ask former supervisors and/or others you trust who do know the people.
Step Two – Determine the level of commitment needed
Among those whose commitment is needed, there may be varying levels of commitment necessary. Perhaps you need a specific person to help make the change happen. From another you may just need for them to help it happen. Finally, for some you may just want them to let it happen and not fuel resistance. For example, strong support may be needed from a peer leader, but a lesser degree of support from someone else.
Step Three – Estimate the critical mass.
Critical mass is that number of people or specific people necessary to leverage change successfully. Unfortunately, there is not a specific formula for figuring this out. The nature and scope of the change is a key factor in making this determination. A change that is relatively simple and uncontroversial will need a lower critical mass than one that is complex and far-reaching.
The better one knows the people who will be impacted, the easier it will be to determine the critical mass. Open discussion with staff that will be impacted will provide useful information about how receptive they are towar
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