This quiz may help you sort out some of the key factors you need to have in place for a successful change effort. If you would like to start an interactive, no obligation dialog about your situation (with us as well as within your company), answering these questions provides a good starting point.
Many of these questions do not have quick and easy answers, but will indicate the complexity of factors that must be considered to achieve success in your change effort.
Questions
1. What is the motivation or discomfort (pain) that currently exists to drive your change effort forward to completion. Is this motivation sufficient to overcome the inevitable resistance your change effort will face?
2. Consider who feels discomfort with the status quo. Is it one person at the top of the organization or many throughout various departments and levels of the organization? Do the people who will have to change the way they do their work feel discomfort with the status quo?
3. What is your Vision of the future that includes the completed change? Is it sufficiently detailed and compelling to excite and invigorate the change effort?
4. Is there a champion or a committed leadership group that is overseeing the change effort? What is their level of commitment, influence within the organization and degrees of freedom to make change. What is being done to provide a protection "umbrella" over the change effort so that it has the best chance to succeed?
5. What is their level of commitment? Has the commitment to the change spread through the organization, or is it still "owned" by just one or a handful of people? What is being done to spread commitment through the organization?
6. Is there an Action Plan in place? What are the goals. Are there measurement and feedback systems to help keep track of progress? How will you know when the change is completed?