[ROOT] September 2003 Management Thought of the Month

From: Corporate Performance (info@corporate-performance.org)
Date: Fri Sep 12 2003 - 20:45:36 MEST


 Management Thought of the Month

Brought to you by The Corporate Performance Institute

September 2003 Edition

Managing Change

We all have to implement and manage change inside our organizations. Yet executing change is one of the most difficult things for you as a manager to do. 

Here is what you need to do to get change to happen: 

You must create a sense of urgency inside your team. Urgency is the feeling that we can no longer keep doing things the way we have in the past or else something bad will happen. Why do you need to get this urgency? It's because people resist being pushed out of the familiar as familiar routine is their comfort zone. And people sure do resist leaving their comfort zones. 

Only two things will create urgency and make them leave this comfort mentality so that change can take place. 

One is fear. Which is the most effective. The fear of losing their job or some other real or imaginary loss that will be painful. The second is potential pleasure as in bonuses, promotion or compliments. 

You must use both liberally to get your people moving out of their existing processes and patterns of doing things and into new methods. If your staff aren't feeling any motivation for the change, then it won't happen. 

You must have the backbone to supply this positive and negative motivation to get the change to happen. Over and over again I see new initiatives fail because the manager was unable or unwilling to use a big enough stick and appetizing enough carrot. You cannot shy away from this. As a manager you must have the willpower to do what needs to be done, so that your staff will do what needs to be done by changing and making things better. If given the choice people will always do more to avoid pain than to gain pleasure. A little fear can get change moving along very well. 

As a recent book title said "Only the paranoid survive". Which means fear of failure, job loss or other perceived or real fear can make people sharp, disciplined and motivated/willing to try something new. Which is the key to change. 

Think about this carefully as to how it applies to you as a manager. 

In the next newsletter I will cover the next step in the process of organizational change and improvement. 

 Ross McBride
Managing Director
The Corporate Performance Institute 

Mr. McBride does corporate education seminars, CEO/Executive coaching and keynote speaking engagements for successful organizations in North America, Asia and Europe.  He is an expert on subjects as diverse as Negotiation Skills, Leadership, Teambuilding and Sales.

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