Chapter 1

Introduction

Change is everywhere; it is in every corner of our lives. From people wanting to lose weight and eat healthy; to families wanting to increase the quality of their interactions; to companies trying to become global, more responsive to customers, and include social networking in their business plans; to governments trying to reinvent themselves, we are becoming a world focused on change. Formally, change is defined as “to cause to be different.”¹ Transformation, a similar word that people use to describe major changes, is defined as “a change or alternation especially a radical one.”² It is the concept of producing a different and often radical result that is the focus of not only this book but also so many others that have come before and will probably come after. However, with all this focus on change, there is a lot of confusion about how to create successful change. Because change is so difficult, we find it useful to think of an analogy to help us understand change. For example, when a child asks a parent what love is, the parent begins an extended philosophical discussion over the origin, emotion, and meaning of love. On the other hand, the parent could use an analogy: The feeling of love is like the feeling you get when you are getting ready to listen to your favorite song; even though you know the song, it never gets boring. Or love is like the joy you get from seeing your favorite painting. We are using the analogy of a recipe to understand change, and more specifically, organizational change.

The power of an analogy can also be grounds for weakness. The topic of change, and organizational change more specifically, is complex, and we admit that transforming a 100,000-person workforce might be a bit more difficult than baking cakes and cupcakes (no matter how the reality television shows try to make baking seem like an extremely complicated task). We advise readers to take the applicable lessons, and we refrain from conducting an exhaustive analysis of the analogy. Look forward to gaining personal insights to increase your skills in creating and leading organizational transformation, even if it isn’t always exactly like baking a cake.

This book details five key ingredients for successful transformation programs. We say there is a recipe for change: When baking a cake, sugar is necessary, but so too are flour, eggs, milk, and butter. Before you start baking a cake, you want to make sure you have all the ingredients. We suggest the same thing for your change journey. Before you venture out on the path of major change, this book will make sure you have all the ingredients.

So how were these ingredients for successful change developed? These ingredients represent information gathered from an ongoing study of personal, relational, and organizational change that has lasted almost 50 years. We bring firsthand insights from our combined leadership experience inside a Fortune 100 company, university research centers at the top business and engineering schools in America and Canada, and consulting experience with numerous public and nonprofit organizations. We have worked with organizations ranging from HP, IBM, Intel, and Corning to the public sector of countries in Europe, North America, Africa, and Asia. Based on our extensive research on individual, relational, and organizational change methodologies, we have developed these five key ingredients that produce successful change. Our intention is for you to embed these ingredients into your change initiatives as foundation elements. In the midst of a complex and detailed plan, losing sight of the essential ingredients spells disaster.

The five ingredients for successful organizational change are the following:

1. Vision. Where do you want to go?
2. Leadership. Who is going to take you there?
3. The technical plan. How will you get there?
4. The social plan. How will you enroll others?
5. The burning platform. Why leave where you are? What is compelling you to make any change at all? Or said another way, why are you leaving your current situation?

In chapter 2, we describe how transformation is different from other types of change efforts. In chapter 3, we describe why transformation is difficult. We also discuss how transformation needs to be approached systemically so that it addresses individuals, relationships, stakeholders, and tools and techniques.

In chapter 4, we discuss not only the importance of having a vision for transformation efforts but also how vision statements relate to mission statements and organizational values. We then provide some suggestions for how vision statements should be developed.

In chapter 5, we argue that transformational leaders need sufficient managerial and leadership skills. We do not view leadership as more important than management; instead, we argue that they are both complementary skills needed to be successful.

In our chapters on technical plans, we identify three key issues in developing a plan. Chapter 6 describes the need to identify the organizational gap between its current reality and its desired vision. This chapter also suggests how organizational leaders can decide which transformation technique, tool, or methodology to use to execute transformation. Chapter 7 provides a performance management system to manage transformational change efforts. Chapter 8 describes the importance of having a social plan in place to support your technical plan. Chapter 9 describes the purpose of having a sense of urgency, or burning platform, to provide both internal and external motivation for executing major transformation. We conclude the book by describing “the wall” as a tool to help leaders develop and communicate their transformation efforts.

At the end of each chapter, we provide a summary of the key lessons from the chapter, our key takeaways, and some action opportunities that you can take as you start your transformation journey.