Mark Murphy

Change is hard. Whether you’re facing a big change like reinventing a business model or something simple like the day paychecks come out, change is difficult.

One Harvard Business School study found that 70% of change efforts fail. That’s not a typo, that’s seven-zero! Big or small, change efforts seem to run into the same brick walls over and over again. By understanding the basic phases of change and the psychological state of your employees, you can prepare your culture for change and avoid common pitfalls of failed change efforts.

There is a myth about change that has destroyed many leaders’ careers. When managing change, many leaders mistakenly believe expediency is the best approach. They think, “If we move quickly we’ll be better off during the change effort. We’re not going to waste time preparing our culture for change. We’re just going to jump in and make the change!” Unfortunately, about a week into the change effort, they realize they should have prepared their culture for change because they don’t have any support. There is a big difference between leading a parade and getting run out of town. If you don’t take the time to prepare your culture for change you won’t have the basic support needed to go through with a change effort. You may get a couple of people to buy into the change, but then there will be a tidal wave of support against you. Until you have confirmation that 70% of your culture is prepared for change, you are not ready to start taking action.

If you want to successfully lead change, you must understand the psychological stages through which people proceed, and how to reshape and reframe their perceptions to make change an attractive endeavor. In our new LIVE webinar, "The Psychology of Leading Successful Change," we'll show you the unique psychological process that accompanies any change effort as well as how to inspire employees to leave the status quo and embrace change. Learn more now.

The challenge in preparing any culture for change is that employees tend to cling to the present state (where they are now). One of the biggest obstacles in getting folks to move with the change into the future state (where you want them to be) is that the present state is usually fairly comfortable. Unfortunately, getting them to move is not as simple as asking nicely. In order to get folks to move from the present state to the future state you need to address the 3 phases of change we call the “Why, Where, and How” of change.

How to Prepare Your Culture For Change

Why

The first method you can use to prepare your culture for change is to start a fire! In other words, make the present state significantly less comfortable. If the present state were less comfortable, folks would be a lot more likely to jump from the present state to the future state. As the present state gets hotter and a little uncomfortable, folks will begin to move away from the heat. They won’t necessarily be excited about it shouting, “I can’t wait to jump over to the future state! I bet it’s fantastic!” But, if you set a fire, folks will be much more likely to move from the present state to the future state.

How to Prepare Your Culture For Change

Where

The second way to prepare your culture for change is to make the future state look a lot better than the present state. Notice the image of “Margaritaville” on the future state –this is what an appealing future state would look like to me. But, whatever you think will make the future state look more appealing to your culture will work. Just make sure the future state is more attractive than the present state.

How to Prepare Your Culture For Change

How

The third way to prepare your culture for change is to give employees a sense of just how it is they will get from the present state to the future state. One of the roadblocks to change is the gap between the present state and the future state. To employees, that gap might seem insurmountable. Build a bridge - make it easy. You may even want to make it so easy that folks can simply roll over (figuratively speaking) to the future state without even getting up out of their chair.

Preparing your culture for change isn’t easy. You’ve got a pretty tough message to deliver. How do you go about delivering it? Ironically, the more emotional you make your message, the more likely people are to reject it. They’re attached to where they are. You might feel like yelling, “Why don’t you people just get it? Of course we can’t stay here! What is the matter with you?” But, the more emotional you are, the more employees will feel attacked and the worse they will react. Their guard will go up and they will tune out your message. The best way to prepare your culture for change is to stick to the facts, and tell them why the change is necessary, where the change will take them, and how the change will take place.

If you want to successfully lead change, you must understand the psychological stages through which people proceed, and how to reshape and reframe their perceptions to make change an attractive endeavor. In our new LIVE webinar, "The Psychology of Leading Successful Change," we'll show you the unique psychological process that accompanies any change effort as well as how to inspire employees to leave the status quo and embrace change. Learn more now.