Harvard Business Review conducted a study about what enables organizations to be successful at change initiatives and talked about it in the July/August 2021 edition.
They found that organizations with the following traits are the best at organizational change:
– Purpose – Create a sense of belonging; guide decisions and inspire action
– Direction – Translate purpose into a plan; clarify where you are going & how to get there
– Connection – Tap into the social side of change; create network of influencers and fans
– Capacity – Define the limits of change; allows people to absorb more change
– Choreography – Enable dynamic behavior; adjust change priorities & sequence moves
– Scaling – Create a virtuous cycle; spread innovation and amplify impact
– Development – Prepare people for growth; build learning and change capability
– Action – Build momentum; foster a can-do mindset and a bias for change
– Flexibility – Stay in front of change; redefine how you work and even what work is
HBR developed a Change Power Index to compare different organizations ability to change, based on survey responses about these nine traits.
What would your organization’s Change Power Index be (High, Medium, or Low)?
Which of these have you seen as strengths? Which are the biggest challenges?
