CLO-Blog

Published March 2008

Making Change Meaningful

Lindsay Edmonds Wickman

A recently released book, titled BIG Ideas to BIG Results: Remake and Recharge Your Company, Fast, states that the reason corporate initiatives fail is because they are too complex and instead promotes a simple, practical approach. The authors cite a poll stating that “less than half of employees understand their company’s strategic goals and only 43 percent believe there is ever any follow-through on planned strategy shifts,” according to a press release. �

These numbers mean that about half of corporations are getting it right and half are getting it wrong.� Which side do you fall on? If you aren’t getting it right, what can you do to change that?

The first step is making your strategy more pointed and less convoluted. But a strategy means nothing unless you follow through. Many consultants and companies I’ve talked to say that starting something and not finishing it creates more harm than you would imagine. It’s almost like the boy who cried wolf. The first time your employees may believe you, but every time you advocate change but you never really do it, they start to believe you less and less. And the more times you do this, the harder it will be to actually bring about change because your employees won’t be behind you. �

We’ll be talking change at the CLO Symposium next week in Orlando. Hope to see you there!

Lindsay Edmonds Wickman is an associate editor for Chief Learning Officer magazine. She can be reached at editor@clomedia.com.

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