Organizations Demand Effective Change Leadership

Nov. 10, 2008 - PRLog -- SAN DIEGO – Recent studies from The Ken Blanchard Companies® detail the range of challenges that organizations face as economic and competitive pressure increase their demand for effective change leadership. These challenges, if ignored or met with an insufficient response, can lead to disruptive or disastrous results. The results and analysis of these studies, along with insight on mastering the art of leading change, can be found in the new Blanchard white paper, Leadership Strategies for Making Change Stick.

The Blanchard report states that as much as 70 percent of all change initiatives fail or are derailed. Without a set strategy on how to deal with these changes, organizations can often miss their target and find themselves unable to follow through on the change they had hoped to make. In some cases, the failed change effort can lead to more serious trouble down the road, as productivity, morale, and money can be wasted on lost causes. When an initiative to deal with change is launched, employees may focus too much on what they will lose from the change, instead of focusing on what they gain in the end. Many people will remain neutral, but this is because they are not entirely aware of how exactly the change will affect them. Ultimately, they are hoping that the change will not affect them at all.

Researchers at Blanchard, and the Leading People Through Change program authors, Pat Zigarmi and Judd Hoekstra, found that most change efforts get derailed or fail for predictable reasons. These reasons often go unrecognized, and as a result, the same mistakes are made repeatedly. When leaders understand causes of a failed change effort, they are able to plan and implement change leadership strategies that are designed to overcome the typical causes of failure.

Many times, organizations will attempt to manage a change effort on their own through small leadership teams. Without the aid of independent change experts, the initiative can backfire or flounder as the company goes forward without a proven change leadership model or solid internal change leadership capacity. Within the Blanchard study, researchers found that of the more than 900 training and HR leaders surveyed, only 14 to 25 percent of respondents sought outside expertise, and 29 percent launched their change initiatives with no formal approach at all.

For these change initiatives to succeed, Blanchard researchers also found, companies need to “speak with one voice” about the proposed change. Collaboration, teamwork, and engagement help build up interest and excitement about the change, but in the end, the people who plan the change rarely implement the plan. Effective change leadership requires a combined effort from all people who have an effect on the change, as well as those who are impacted by the change. Leaders must develop strategies to resolve concerns and learn from the insights and advice that people have about how to implement the proposed change.

Blanchard’s studies determined the top organizational challenges faced by companies, as well as the top approaches used to launch change initiatives. The research also revealed the issues respondents faced when attempting to manage these changes. The top responses for each category include:

Top Organizational Challenges
   Competitive pressure
   Economic challenges
   The need to grow and expand

Approaches Used When Launching a Change Initiative
   Internal cross-functional team
   Internal consulting team
   No formal approach

Challenges of Managing the Change Process
   Engaging and energizing employees
   Sustaining momentum
   Building leadership bench strength

Change efforts are significant parts of corporate reality, and they can negatively affect the future of a company if not performed correctly. However, leading these change efforts does not have to be difficult. The report from The Ken Blanchard Companies on Leadership Strategies for Making Change Stick creates a powerful yet detailed roadmap to organizing, refining, and implementing a successful change initiative.

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Blanchard Media Contact
Wendy Wong, Vice President of Marketing and Director of Media Relations, 760 233-6710
Email: wendy.wong@kenblanchard.com

About The Ken Blanchard Companies:
With nearly three decades of helping leaders and organizations, more than 18 million books in print, programs offered in more than 12 languages and clients across five continents, The Ken Blanchard Companies® is recognized as one of the world’s leading training and development experts.

Our groundbreaking thinking and memorable learner experiences create lasting behavioral change that has measurable impact on the organizations with which we work—companies that wish to develop leadership capacity, improve workplace cultures, drive organizational change and strategic alignment, and become high performing organizations. Using a collaborative diagnostic process we help identify each organization’s unique needs and business issues, and then help to develop an appropriate leadership strategy to drive results and profits.

As the innovator of Situational Leadership® II—the most widely used leadership development system in the world—our behavioral models add a situational context to the training experience so individuals learn to be more productive in real-world scenarios and make the shift from learning to doing more quickly and effectively. Learning takes place through both instructor-led and virtual experiences offered by our worldwide network of consulting partners, trainers, and coaches. To learn more, visit www.kenblanchard.com.

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With nearly three decades of helping leaders and organizations, programs offered in more than 12 languages and clients across five continents, The Ken Blanchard Companies® is recognized as one of the world’s leading training and development experts.