Creating a sense of urgency is a necessity if you are to implement successful change in your business. Why? Well, for starters, a sense of urgency from a C-level sponsor creates the initial boost needed to give birth to a new initiative. That boost can help ensure the project kicks off on the right foot (strong sponsorship and commitment, proper funding, and the right resources dedicated to the project). It can also provide a kick in the pants where needed.

But most of all, in my experience, a sense of urgency creates energy. It creates an atmosphere that motivates people. It brings excitement. It creates something to connect to and gather around. A sense of urgency also inspires us to do something, to do it better, to do it smarter, to do it now!

Great — so how do you create a sense of urgency? I like to use business cases or cost-benefit analyses. Business leaders like, no scratch that, they need to understand the analytical rationale for agreeing to pursue something new — a new product, a new market, a new system, a new process… A business case helps you to articulate what’s happening in your business, what needs to change, how it ought to be changed, the benefits of doing it, and the costs to get there (giving you some semblance of an ROI). Granted, high-level estimates often leave much to be desired but a business case can get people excited… create belief in the story and form the basis for a sense of urgency to do something about it.

John Kotter, author of Leading Change and a pre-eminent authority on organizational transformation, believes (and I happen to agree) creating a sense of urgency is critical to successful change. The video below is a 2008 interview with Kotter in which he gives his insights on urgency and how to create it… Take a look.