A few weeks ago, I was making a presentation to a group of colleagues… the topic was Change Leadership.

[Back story – I lead my consulting firm’s Change Practice. We implement strategies and tactics that help our clients realize the benefits of the changes (new systems, processes, structures, policies, etc.) they are making… You better underline benefits too because an awful lot of organizations forget about that. I know it sounds crazy but it’s true.

Many “change consultants” are psychology types that place emphasis on ensuring people are comfortable and empowered throughout major change because it can be so painful and disruptive. I agree it’s important to facilitate the change for the people impacted by it… but not because they feel pain and disruption… because if they are successful, you will achieve the benefits of the change. And if your people don’t succeed through a change, your organization and its performance won’t either.

It really isn’t so much about “managing change” but about “making change stick.” If it doesn’t stick, it’s a wasted investment… My practice is in the business of helping you do the right things in the right ways to ensure you don’t waste your investment. End of back story].

As we were nearing the conclusion of the session, I was reviewing some of the major building blocks of most change methodologies: vision, communication, education & training, operational transition. I put up a slide that said “Sounds like common sense… and that’s the problem.”

Communications and training sound so simple. And in many ways they can be, in concept, but they require a great deal of focus, skill and energy to do really well. And few organizations do these well. In fact, these are the most often cited areas that project teams and organizations would say they had a shortfall or underestimated the effort required. Yeah – no kidding!!

One of the fundamental reasons so many transformation (very overused term by the way, so my apologies) and change initiatives fail is because project sponsors and team leaders underestimate the work needed to properly engage and enable stakeholders (i.e. users, staff, workers or whatever word best describes the people who need to change).

So the next time you are considering change for your organization… don’t pay lip service to the building block activities I mentioned about – vision, communication, training, and operational transition. Really do them. And do them well. They are an investment. And they will pay off. Better yet – contact an expert who can help you do this (I could recommend someone!). Yes – this is totally self-serving… but look around… there are very few people who do this kind of work for a living.

Success is what you want… it’s what you need. Benefits are what you want to achieve. They’re what you need to achieve.

It seems like common sense, eh? (that’s Canadian for “right?”)… Well, it’s not that common. And that’s unfortunate for the organizations that represent the 2/3 of all change initiatives that fail to deliver their desired benefits. In fact, it’s a shame.