5 Common Reasons Why Change Efforts Fail (and what you can do about it)
Change is an expected part of life, and it's no different in business or leadership. To grow in the ever-evolving business landscape requires constantly adapting to new challenges. Change initiatives can be transformative, ultimately driving increased productivity, innovation, and profitability — but the work is not easy, and failure rates are high. What can be done to reduce the failure rate? Here are 5 common reasons why change efforts fail and some ideas which begin to answer this question —
1. Lack of Urgency
One of my favorite change management experts, John P. Kotter, has long argued that any circumstance that lacks the appropriate amount of urgency will fail to implement change. Every project I’ve been a part of which missed this mark has indeed failed. The process is often left to drag on, and the necessary transformations fail to happen. Nurturing the right amount of urgency is an art. Since we know that too much pressure will create panic and potential implosion, we can be tempted to go the other way and provide not enough. Communicating
the need for change,
the immediate implications of failing to change and
real feedback, which often comes from informal conversations,
helps calibrate the momentum appropriately — and this communication is especially useful to mitigate a lack of urgency.
2. Insufficient Vision
For change to succeed, it's vital to have a clear and comprehensive vision of the outcome.
Another change and transition model I reference often is William Bridges Transition model. Bridges argues for the essential nature of establishing a “compelling future vision”. Without a north star, it is difficult to build adequate strategy, and convince others that change is truly in their best interest. When you build urgency, create a coalition, develop a plan, and implement the process without having a clear idea of what success looks like, the effort is likely to fail. It is essential to define what's changing, why, and how, then reference it often in order to maintain momentum and forward progress.
3. Change Management is Left to One Team
Change requires the efforts of the whole organization, not just one team. Warning signs you have attempted to delegate a system-level effort to one office is attrition of senior leadership. Those who desire to practice leadership are likely to leave for spaces in which they can find a better fit. Cross-organizational efforts, on the other hand, have much higher rates of success. The secret here is also authenticity. People know when they’re being sold to, and they know when leaders don’t believe in what they’re promoting. Therefore, if you are in a position where you are being asked to shepherd a change process you have concerns about, you’ll have to take a look at that and clean up your thinking about it (as for a change, make a change yourself, get more information, etc.) before you’ll be able to achieve buy-in from others. Create a coalition of people, truly — involve as many people as you reasonably can. This ensures a broad buy-in and increases the effort’s sustainability.
4. Lack of Understanding of Individual Resistance to Change
Change can be uncomfortable, which our brains don’t like, because (in super simple terms), the human brain has evolved to perceive value in that which requires the lowest possible effort and provides the maximum outcome. The notion that rewards are less valuable when they require more effort is a central part of our psychological makeup. In general, therefore, humans innately believe that it really is a good idea for us to accomplish our goals in the simplest way. If we always found elaborate ways to satisfy goals that could be satisfied more simply, we would spend a lot of time, wasted effort, and energy. Therefore, our brains resist change because we resist the extra effort and energy required to undertake the healthy and natural cycle of personal transition when change occurs. Leaders need to understand individual resistance to change by communicating the intended impact of change, providing support, and addressing concerns.
I’ve written more in-depth on embracing which you can find here: Embracing Change: 5 Tips for Organizational Leaders to Understand Fear of Change and How to Help Employees Adjust.
5. Overlooking the Importance of Communication
My research has found that despite many if not most individuals understanding that communication is vital in change efforts, effective communication actually decreases during change (especially unexpected change).
While unsuccessful in facilitating productive collaboration, this pattern follows a certain logic: as overwhelm creeps in, our survival neurobiology begins to override our higher order mid-and-fore brains, as we would have historically done when faced with life-threatening stimuli. Overwhelm is perceived as life threatening, and our brains respond by doing what they have done for thousands of years to keep us safe and carrying on. The solution to this is to deal directly with the unconscious patterns.
“Thank you brain, for keeping me safe. I got this.”
It sounds flimsy, but it is shockingly effective as self-coaching. Remind your body there is no tiger, and your nervous system will start to calm down. Sometimes we’re so focused on processing our input and sorting out the next task or action, we stop practicing leadership all together, including with ourselves.
Communication is vital throughout the entire change process, and the communication should be multi-directional (not only from the top down, but also across and up within the organization). As many people as possible, (everyone ideally) in the organization should know where the company is in the change process, what's expected of them, and how they will be impacted.
Leading change successfully calls for a robust and well-thought-out plan. Such a plan must include a clear vision, the need for immediate change, the formation of a coalition, addressing individual issues with change, and prompt communication of the process. By taking heed of the insights of Kotter and Bridges, leaders can circumvent problems that make change efforts fail. When providing insights and knowing the potential roadblocks, leaders will be able to make appropriate decisions, adapt to their organizations' challenges, and lead successful change processes.