Never Make the Goal 100% Awareness
Novice communications professionals love to write goals along the lines of, “Create 100% awareness of the benefits of Initiative X.” Don’t do it. Never make the goal 100%. Let me explain with a story....
View ArticleOne More Reason to Reduce Headcount the Right Way
I just got a phone call from somebody who needed to cancel a meeting we had scheduled for next week. A few days ago, he and most of his department were let go. He walked out the door without a badge...
View ArticleWhat Employees Really Say During a “Transformation”
In the midst of a major transformation, senior managers are frequently surprised by what employees say in response to open-ended survey questions. We are big fans of making sure senior management hears...
View ArticleManager’s Guide to Navigating Change Has Been Published – Now I Can Return to...
For quite some time I have been working on a book about organizational change management called Manager’s Guide to Navigating Change. It is part of McGraw-Hill’s Briefcase Books series and it was...
View ArticleWhy OCM Assessments Create Better Results
The first step of any structured organizational change management (OCM) effort is assessing the as-is. It is a step that many organizations want to skip. “It is a waste of time. We already know our...
View ArticleA Definition of Organizational Change Management
Organizational Change Management, or OCM, is a structured approach for moving a group of people from one state to a significantly different state. Its goal is to reduce the disorder typically...
View ArticleWhen Complaining is a Good Thing
The perfect change initiative winds up with the organization’s stars contributing to the change and building a better future. It also winds up with the people on the “C” team quietly leaving on their...
View ArticleOrganizational Change Management (OCM) in a Single Graphic
Organizational change management (OCM) isn’t well understood by some executives. Some might admit that they think that OCM is a fancy term for communications. I’ve used the image below to show that...
View ArticleLeading Change Well – An Increasingly Important Skill
One of my earliest memories is telling my parents that I saw a policeman getting out of a taxicab in our neighborhood. It turned out he was a military officer returning home from Vietnam. A few months...
View ArticleGetting Managers to Lead Change – A Change Management Best Practice
One of change management’s core principles is that the effort will go better if managers lead the change. But how do you get managers to lead change if they don’t have organizational change management...
View ArticleJohn Kotter’s Latest Thoughts: Urgency, Urgency and More Urgency
John Kotter, one of America’s most influential business gurus, has hit the presses recently with a piece on urgency. I always find Kotter’s material a very clear reminder of the basics that make change...
View ArticleCommunication Challenges During Change
I’ve put up the posters, posted the articles, blasted out the emails, stuffed the envelopes and hosted the lunches, but some messages don’t seem to reach the right people. I’m not the only one who is...
View ArticleContinuous Change or Transformational Change?
Continuous change builds on existing skills, work practices and behavioral norms. It involves going from A to B to C. Transformational change is different – it goes from A to C without stopping at B....
View ArticleChange Management Roles and Responsibilities
Change Leadership vs. Change Management vs. Communications Conversations about roles and responsibilities in a change management initiative are completely necessary. I worked on a large-scale change...
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