Help to Change Your Company's Mind

As I sat down to write this blog I had something different in mind but this one kept coming up.  How I got here, is that I've had a couple of client lately ask for ideas on implementing major changes within their organizations.  As you might imagine a major concern was to not cause a prolonged disruption of the services they provide to clients and they didn't want to frustrate their team as well.  I am a big fan of incremental approaches with small wins all along the way.  The small wins allow for quick encouragement as well as an opportunity for adjustments.

As we talked further I thought of this article that I read from Harvard Business Review (HBR), Seven Tips for Shifting a Mindset in Your Organization.  The tips are great reminders about how not-so-easy change can be, especially when there is an impact to others. Now your change may not be TEDTalk worthy like Samantha ("Sam") Joseph of Iron Mountain Document Inc, the story used in the HBR article but it is important to you.  While each of us has thoughts on getting to and getting through change, the tips discussed are another view that just might be what you were looking for.

The 7 tips are:

1. Accumulate Evidence
2. Develop Practices
3. Create a Scared Expressions
4. Encourage "Respiration" Around Your Idea
5. Include Your Personal Narrative
6. Align with a Metric
7. Expect Backlash

The details of each are described and illustrated through the Sam Joseph story.  Is there a change you been thinking of making?  Take a read, it is a short three (3) pages, and maybe you'll be inspired to set the wheels in motion for that long awaited change.     

Reading: Harvard Business Review | hbr.org | Seven Tips for Shifting a Mindset in Your Organization | August 12, 2013 | John Butman