Gen Y Now: Millennials and the Evolution of Leadership, 2nd Edition

CHAPTER TWELVEADDRESSING THE BURNING PLATFORM: Change Management

“No company can escape the need to reskill its people. . .”

—Gary Hamel & C.K. Prahalad, Competing for the Future

This chapter gives you a general outline of how to both implement change and keep change going. Here we give you a brief overview within the context of dealing with Gen Y. Many change programs are started, but few are successful over the long term. Gen Y can be both a source of change for you and a powerful tool to accomplish it. When you work with Gen Y effectively, you’ll be able to implement changes more easily and be more in touch with the changing times.

Consultant’s Corner: What Is Change Management?

“Change management is a systematic approach to dealing with change, both from the perspective of an organization and on the individual level. For an organization, change management means defining and implementing procedures and technologies to deal with changes in the business environment and to profit from changing opportunities” (Webster’s Dictionary).

Any major adaptation within an organization requires a great deal of effort to be successful, and that includes changing the culture of your organization. Change is one of the hardest things to accomplish in any company. Many efforts, such as reengineering, total quality management (TQM), or Six Sigma, have failed as often as they’ve succeeded.

Gen Yers are different than older generations were. Many managers see their job as “training” ...