Powerful techniques to initiate change in organizations:

Change is not an unknown word in modern companies. Before initiating any change in a company, at first glance, ask several questions that will help you think about the change. You might want to think of first Steps to take towards change in your organisation who could inspire change or make it contagious.

How can the company culture help ? What are the intellectual and emotional factors during an individual, personal improvement journey?  Usually the change should be initiated by someone who inspires and someone who people truly believe and admire. This isn’t the same as the person who believes people trust them and it doesn’t have to be the person with the highest role or salary.  

One should not worry if she or he is new to the company or feel uncomfortable leading a change initiative. There are also effective ways to create a great IMPACT by implementing small changes called micro-habits. A lack of support it’s not an excuse to help change on the curbside either.

 Many consultants wait to carry forward their idea until company leaders fully understand the problem, but this only leads to variable time lost. Having a lot of conversations with many company leaders, it is easy to understand they are reluctant to change, or simply not see that the world has changed. There are usually three common reasons why leaders delay the start of a change initiative:

1. They can’t see a clear sense of urgency;
2. They want to wait until large companies demonstrate that the implementation of a concept if successful or that techniques are mature enough;
3. They want to wait until the process has been started by academics & there is sufficient research material in books or conferences or until same-level companies begin to talk about the subject.

 The truth is that they actually lose months and years looking for the ideal moment. Opportunities therefore are missed and organisation is excluded from seeing change as something positive and natural. Companies have more than enough heads to decide whether something is good and to adapt appropriately. In many occasions what’s required, is only a small push and modification in the foundations people use to make decisions. If one looks at the history of Toyota, for over 30 years since they started, they ran innovative changes in the Global automotive industry using Lean, Kaizen and other continuous improvement techniques. it took the American companies that same amount of time to get unfair with leading companies and start using the new mindset. Simply put,  every occasion is a good occasion to carry out a change. All you need is to ensure that your company is healthy and you’re able to provide the right tools, processes  or working Styles. If these are not met yet at your company, there are a few things that can help you move faster towards the journey of Change. If you’re a good communicator and your colleagues appreciate your help and you work well with others and you’re good with sharing ideas- what else would need and help you to initiate change in your company ?

The following six principles will set you on the right mental path and help change your world:

1. It is always a good time to make a change / another person’s delay is not an excuse to wait;

2. Believe in your idea;

3. Share your idea;

4. Accept feedback and improve how you reflect on it and internalise it;

5. Passion for collectively bringing the idea forward;

6. Assume that decisions been made by others who do not support your plan can always be changed even if they’re from decisions;

 If you compare different places where you worked you can probably offer a different solution to the same problem for each OF THESE companies. This is because of the company culture. Culture has a significant impact on the speed of implementation of your change plan. Everything will progress faster in the business if the business supports innovation and encourages healthy habits. And if it promotes communication and encourages individuals to reflect, learn, feel safe to experiment, and even fail, then this is a big Plus.

“Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for. We are the change that we seek”
 

Barack Obama 44th President of the United States 

For a change to become contagious a midpoint state between traditional linear change and the required exponential growth change is needed. Employees must be empowered to take ownership of the initial idea, improve it, and make results their own. They must possess enough mental flexibility to SET their egos aside and alter course at any time. They need to discover how to deal with the emotional sides and emotional sides of others in a consistent manner. And they need to recognise that this personally learning journey is a long one. 

 You need to first invest in personal preparation and analyse the organisational patterns and attitudes in your favour. Once it is understood how to implement the change, one can succeed at making change contagious first and exponential later.

 Exponential means -YOU WILL have a community of motivated people, teams that feel like activists, business partners that are like colleagues supporting your initiative and a culture that looks more like a social movement than a region set of value stick on a wall.

 Not to forget, change is a journey that requires you to realise that any modification in processes, policies or work styles affects people in a very personal manner. Processes cannot be changed, nor work rules or agreements put in place without forever altering how people think. For this reason it is essential that YOU have the proper tools to accompany on your journey.Materials for this content are taken from the Book ”Leading Exponential Change” Erich R. Bühler, available here: https://www.amazon.com/Leading-Exponential-Change-business-transformations/dp/152722208X