I thought I’d get your attention by using President Obama’s famous campaign slogan that indeed helped him get elected. My blog is not about him though, but about change and beliefs. When leaders want to drive change, they need to mobilize people. If people don’t get excited about the change vision, it will be an uphill battle. In fact, 70% of organizational change initiatives fail because people didn’t get convinced.
There are two kinds of organizational changes: 1) Those where change happens no matter what, and all there is to do is to manage the reaction of the employees. 2) Those where change depends on employees changing their behaviors. Without the employees’ cooperation, there will be no change. In the second kind of change, something fundamental is needed; the employees must truly believe in the change vision. And even though this sounds too basic to even say, to achieve this, the leaders must first believe in the change vision. I have seen important initiatives where the top leaders were ‘supporting’ the change, or thought ‘it was a good idea’. Not good enough.
Usually beliefs are formed by our experiences and observations. For example, the company has a suggestion box for employees to submit ideas. If the company acts on some of the ideas, the employees soon form a belief that their ideas are valued, so they continue submitting more ideas. On the other hand, if the company doesn’t do anything with the employee suggestions, a different belief is formed: employee ideas are not valued. The company should not be surprised when the box soon stands empty. Beliefs guide actions and non-actions.
Visionary leaders can form a belief without a former experience. Civil rights leader Martin Luther King is a good example. His vision mobilized a whole nation to change its fundamental values. His “I have a dream” speech articulated how a future could look like. He didn’t doubt. All his actions were driven towards his vision.
When a leader wants the change, there has to be belief. Whether it is a revolutionary change in the business model, or a new computer system, there is no space for doubt. The leadership team must feel and taste how success will be. Hope is not enough. Hope translates into “Let’s try this and maybe it will work”. Belief means “We will do whatever it takes to get to our vision.” Then, one by one, turn your employees from doubt to hope to believers.
Have you ever been part of a change that was absolutely awesome?
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