No, you can’t. People can find all types of creative ways to stop you in your tracks. For instance, the president of a small company once told me that his idea was dying due to “malicious compliance.” People did just enough to stay out of trouble and keep him off their backs, but not enough to make the change a success.

There are a few exceptions to this. Some organizations bribe people with incredible bonus and retirement packages, and so people will do anything to reach the pot at the end of that rainbow. But even that approach can have its problems. When these soldiers of fortune set priorities for their own work, your pet idea may not make it to the top of the list because it fails the “what’s in it for me?” test.

Another problem is that the bribes usually don’t reach down far enough into the organization, so the middle manager, professional staff, supervisors, and hourly workers don’t have all that much interest in making the executives richer. What a surprise.

(This is adapted from my new and greatly revised book, Beyond the Wall of Resistance: Why 70% of Changes Still Fail – and What To Do About It. You can order the book by clicking here.)

Moving to how before people know why a change is needed.

People need to know why something is important before they can get interested or even be willing to hear why you want them to do it. Too often we fail to address “why” something is important before we launch into explaining “how” it should get done. I am not interested in the explanation of how until you’ve convinced me why this is important.

I have been subject to many lengthy PowerPoint presentations when a well-meaning leader introduced a big change. The first three slides deal with why this change is important, and then the next 150 mind-numbing slides deal with how they are going to proceed. If he didn’t grab their attention in those first three slides, he is not going to see a spark of recognition at slide 29. His audience tuned out twenty slides ago.

(This is adapted from the new paperback edition of Beyond the Wall of Resistance: Why 70% of Changes Still Fail – and What To Do About It. Rick Maurer. Bard press. 2010) 

Leaders fail to acknowledge how even a slight lack of trust and confidence in leaders can kill an otherwise fine idea

Trust can make or break a change. But sadly, many who lead change seem to ignore this critically important ingredient. They seem to believe that a good idea will win the day. It won’t.

If people don’t trust us, why would they follow us? The answer is that most of them won’t. On the other hand, if they trust us they tend to give us the benefit of the doubt. If we make a mistake, people tend to understand that we are only human, after all. But if trust is low, they listen intently for any word or phrase that could signal that we are about to take them on a dangerous ride.

(This is adapted from my forthcoming book, Beyond the Wall of Resistance: Why 70% of Changes Still Fail – and What To Do About It. You can preorder the book by clicking on the link you see on this page.)

Leaders assume that understanding equals support and commitment

It is common to introduce change by making a PowerPoint presentation to a large group. Leaders may schedule time for Q&A, but the questions they get from their audiences tend to be very polite. After all, who wants to tell the boss they don’t think this is a good idea? People learn to limit their comments to questions about time lines and budgets. They know those are safe questions. Any reservations or fears go underground and only get spoken about in hallways and carpools.

Since this leader got so many questions, he or she may believe that people are interested and ready to work to make this change a success. But the real issues that can kill or damage this project never get on the leader’s screen.

I conducted a study a few years ago and was surprised to learn that the failure to make a compelling case for change was the biggest reason why major new initiatives failed or went off track.

Making a compelling case for change seems to be the biggest thing you can do to build support and commitment for a new initiative, and yet, it is the most overlooked task in the life of most changes.

(This is adapted from my forthcoming book, Beyond the Wall of Resistance: Why 70% of Changes Still Fail – and What To Do About It. You can preorder the book at Amazon.com

Old MIS (Management Information Systems) departments often had the reputation of speaking some foreign language when they worked with senior management and other departments. They made the critical mistake of speaking their language and not translating so that their audience could understand them. It is your job to be “multilingual” so that various stakeholders can understand what you are saying. I have seen IT, HR, financial, and sales and marketing departments kill their own effort to make a case simply because they expected their audiences to learn their jargon. Big mistake.

(This is adapted from my forthcoming book, Beyond the Wall of Resistance: Why 70% of Changes Still Fail – and What To Do About It. You can preorder the book by clicking on the link you see on this page.)

I think Abba Eban (statesman 1915-2002) got it right when he said: “Nations and men may behave wisely once they’ve exhausted all other alternatives.”

Somehow we believe we are immune from the rules of what works. We often assume that because we not only believe we are right – in fact, we know we are right – so that the rules that other mortals must follow don’t really pertain to us. We’ve got God, country, our own brilliance, mojo, or whatever working for us. As you’ll see in subsequent posts this is a big mistake.

If you do Facebook, please consider joining me. Type “beyond the wall” and you’ll find it.  Or click here. Of, if you prefer Twitter, you can join me.

But, some take it too far. Acknowledging the truth in front of us, no matter how negative it might feel, seems like an important part of any planning process, whether personal or organizational.

Just heard a well-known organizational speaker all-but-dismiss the importance of conflict and resistance in organizational change. That scares me. I hate to wallow in misery, and I don’t recommend it to my clients. But, neither do I want to ignore what’s in front of us. I think of those poor saps who appear on the early rounds of American Idol. Some exhibit few, if any performance skills, and don’t appear to have a glimmer of talent to build on. When they get feedback from the panel, they blow it off.  They act as if the judges must be out to get them. I’ll bet these aspiring stars have gotten lots of family members encouraging them to sing at holiday gatherings. Aunts and uncles coo, tell them their doing just great, and say that their better than anything on TV these days.  Sine no one is telling them otherwise, they believe.  Sometimes it is best to tell the truth.

My friend, Patrick Masterson wrote a compelling blog post that speaks to the folly of too much positive thinking.  Be sure to read the quote from Barbara Enrenreich in his post. It’s worth reading.