Are you about to lead a large-scale change project? There are several critical factors necessary for this type of change to succeed. In this article, we will address three of these factors: Determining Readiness for Change, Gaining Commitment & Support and Assessing the Impact.

Key 1. Determining Readiness for Change
Your change plan should be a reflection of the organization's readiness for change. Low readiness requires a much different plan than a situation where people are highly motivated to change. How does one determine organizational readiness? In my workshop, Managing and Facilitating Change, we use a special inventory for this purpose. The questions in this assessment are clustered around the following organizational characteristics: previous responses to change, significant changes currently taking place and visible support from top management. Before launching your change effort, be sure you have completed a thorough assessment of the organization's readiness for change by developing your own list of factors.

Key 2. Gaining Commitment and Support
One of the reasons you are asked to lead change initiatives is because of your reputation for getting things done. If everyone would just get out of the way, the project would be completed in no time, right? Wrong! Successful leaders of change are not Lone Rangers.

There are at least three levels of support that you will need for successful change: Top management, critical stakeholders and the general population. If you are in a position to search out a top management sponsor, give careful consideration to the person selected. Create a checklist of the characteristics necessary for an effective sponsor. The list used in our Managing and Facilitating Change Workshop includes items such as Effective at Influencing Peers and Courage to Engage Opponents of the Initiative. Having the right type of sponsor can make a world of difference in the success of your project. The second level of support involves critical stakeholders. Key representatives from critical departments need to be selected to become members of your change team. As in the case of the sponsor, we recommend developing selection criteria for these individuals. Remember, there is nothing like involvement to gain commitment and support.

To gain the commitment and support of the general population, we need to communicate from inception to completion of the project. Change team members are ideal as a primary communication conduit. They can easily brief the people in their respective departments on the status of the change project. Effective communication and resulting employee commitment will be more readily achieved if the change is also implemented in distinct stages.

Key 3. Assessing the Impact
Any significant organizational change will disrupt the work lives of numerous individuals. Assessing the impact of the change will reduce resistance that could undermine your plans. Have you given careful consideration to the impact of the change on specific individuals or departments? Could these stakeholders become a roadblock to the implementation of the change? The following five-step process is recommended to assess the impact of this change.

1. Identify stakeholders impacted by the change.

2. Document the stakeholder concerns or issues. This can be accomplished through interviews or by discussions with stakeholders who are members of your change team.

3. Prioritize issues according to level of concern.

4. Create a time-line for resolving the issues.

5. Resolve issues through members of the change team where possible.

Assessing the impact of your change effort will shorten implementation time, increase buy-in and enhance the career of the change manager.
The next time you lead an important change, consider applying the Three Factors to Successful Organizational Change. Carefully applied, they can help make you and your change initiative successful.

Copyright 2006, Mark J. Campbell. All rights reserved.
Permission to reprint this article is granted, provided you let me know where it is being printed, the copyright is not removed, and the following text accompanies each article:

"Mark Campbell partners with organizations for leadership development. For a complimentary subscription to his newsletter, "Management Challenges," go to www.mjcampbellassoc.com."

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