In my last post, we identified four strategies of organizational change. Today, we'll take a look at strategies 3 and 4: to engage people and to personally embody the change.  As discussed, organizational change has to start where people are: we depart from the (potentially blocking) current culture. Next, we let people develop their change plan including an empowering, positive culture with new behaviors.

When you’d like an organizational change to succeed it’s a good idea to start where people are: current culture, as discussed in my last blog post. To quickly map current and desired culture I use the validated Organizational Culture Assessment Instrument (OCAI), developed by professors Kim Cameron & Robert Quinn at the University of Michigan.

Are you frustrated about change? Many people are. Both in our personal and in our work lives, it can be a challenge. In my last post, I discussed ten reasons why organizational change is not working and in this post, I’ll serve you another seven. This is not meant to discourage you. This is to alert and prepare you so you can improve your change skills. Because it is important for positive change to succeed. Let’s continue and learn how to avoid as many causes of wasted energy as we can.

Do you know that culture is one of the main reasons for the huge failure rate of organizational change? In my first assignment, fresh out of university, I presented a plan with the “best” solution to a particular organization’s problem. I remember the board meeting where the top executives agreed on this plan. Great! But they never implemented it... My hard work ended up in a drawer. It didn’t fit their priorities, their personalities, their culture.