Corporate Change May Entail Uphill Battle

An iffy economy has provided businesses with plenty of reasons to change, and most companies like to evolve on a continual basis, anyway.  The only problem: a new report shows that attempts at a transformation are rarely successful.

Michael T. Kanazawa writes, "According to a summary of over 40 research studies on change, the success rate of strategy execution and corporate change programs is 33%.  At the same time, a Conference Board survey of over 600 global CEOs revealed that the top two challenges they see are: 1) generating consistent revenue growth and 2) strategy execution."

He concludes, "This translates to weak performance on the top executive priority, a situation that needs to change."

One thing that execs might want to consider is why their suggestions aren’t palatable to employees.  Since customers don’t like negative environments, and it’s a rare employee that wants his (or her) employer to go out of business, this is something worth thinking about.

You may find it best to focus on one or two changes at a time.  Most employees have a full schedule – they know you’re not paying them to stare at a wall – and will find it difficult to suddenly reinvent their routine.  By rationing innovations, you’ll help them understand things and adjust at a reasonable rate.