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What the Changees Think (Jim Karrh On Marketing)

3 min read

Chances are you and your organization are in the middle of some substantial change. I know of very few organizations that are simply standing pat. Executives are more typically trying to navigate their businesses through the rapidly moving tangle of new markets, products, media and types of customers. Many are integrating an acquisition or implementing the dreaded reorganization.

Although change initiatives are common and well-intentioned (and often necessary), the results are usually a letdown. In an arresting Harvard Business Review article back in 2000 (“Cracking the Code of Change”), Nitin Nohria and Michael Beer reported that 70 percent of corporate change initiatives fail. I have seen no research recently that would suggest things are much different today.

I frequently see the sausage-making of change initiatives from the inside of individual organizations. Given today’s management imperatives to not only change but “get change right,” I wanted to share with you some insights from front-line employees of a large company that is changing both its solutions and the marketing messages associated with them. Those insights might provoke your thinking around current or future change initiatives in your business.

Here was the situation. The company is a large and dispersed one, selling high-tech products and services to other businesses. Its marketing change was twofold: move from selling a wide range of offerings to a smaller set of more integrated solutions, and learn how to engage potential buyers at a higher, more executive level. We had established a core working group of employees, from across business units, who together were helping craft both the offerings and the new messages.

As we prepared to get the new stuff ready for teams of colleagues across the globe, we asked the group this open-ended question: “What do you see as the keys to making changes stick over the long term?” We told the group members that we would report their opinions, without individual attribution, back to executive leadership.

The responses from these “changees” (my term for those who have to implement the changes approved from above) fell into four categories:

  • Management focus and reinforcement. The team recommended well-defined performance goals (including compensation and incentives that would reward change behavior), help for middle managers as they prepare to coach their direct reports and recognition by management of early adopters.
  • A clear road map for success. Team members said they wanted a playbook that would be easily accessible, a clear solution/product road map so that everyone would know what would be available and when; training specific to the change initiative; and assurance that technical resources would be available as needed.
  • Aligning the customer-engagement strategy across units. We heard that management should minimize silos, place emphasis on higher-level customer and growth goals, help account managers understand how to prioritize opportunities, and involve other parts of the business, including distributors and delivery partners.
  • Ongoing sustained support. Team members said that managers should keep proof points, case studies and stories current, include the change initiative in on-boarding activities for new employees, provide regular reporting of results compared to goals, share progress regularly and provide clearly defined accountabilities for “who does what.”

It’s my experience that if you make sure change is planned with the changees in mind, then your probability of success will rise above the 30 percent average.


Jim Karrh of Little Rock is a consultant, trainer and speaker as well as a consulting principal with DSG. Visit JimKarrh.com, email him at Jim@JimKarrh.com and follow him on Twitter @JimKarrh.
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