Own the Future: 50 Ways to Win from The Boston Consulting Group

Chapter 50

Lessons from My Three Decades with the Change Monster

Jeanie Daniel Duck

This chapter is based on Jeanie Daniel Duck's 2001 book, The Change Monster: The Human Forces That Fuel or Foil Corporate Transformation and Change, published by Crown Business.

Let me share with you 10 points that cover the majority of what leaders need to know, but don't often hear, about how to lead a major organizational transformation. Most of these lessons are common sense, but leaders frequently don't follow them.

Be Bold

Any change effort requires resources and management attention. Why waste them on timid initiatives? Bold moves send a strong signal to the organization and build confidence. Confidence is central to change management. Do people believe that your plan is achievable and will make a substantial difference? Is it fact-based and strategically significant? If employees believe that management has the right plan and the skill, guts, and perseverance to go the distance, they will be willing to hang in there.

Too many companies start and abandon “projects du jour,” declaring premature victory long before completion. This pattern sends employees the message either that their leaders are stupid or that they think the company's employees are. It teaches people to avoid changing and to dismiss what they hear from company leaders. Conversely, I've often worked with people who are near ...