7 practical ways you can implement to keep a strong momentum
Keeping the momentum up through transition is paramount, as many change initiatives fail because they simply run out of steam and lose momentum. One of the most overlooked elements of transformational change is not planning or budgeting adequately for short-term wins that create motivation and maintain momentum.
A short-term win is any event or occasion that can be used to reward coalition teams for their efforts in transformational change. They can occur at any journey stage, but they must be planned and inserted into the strategy and budget.
Short-term wins can be planned relaxation breaks to reward employees as they journey toward your new vision or enabling staff to be involved early in the transition, so they feel they are part of company history.
In addition to planning for short-term wins, other techniques can help maintain momentum:
- Keep all channels of communication open: Open all channels to communicate rapidly and effectively. Make yourself available to listen. Since there is a feeling of losing control, you must offer support to feel more comfortable.
- Share information. Share information in regular meetings of the coalition team and update the others by using email or text messages as communication channels. Don’t just tell them how and when, but tell them what and why. Telling people why indicates how important you perceive them to be in the process.
- Update the master plan continuously. Plans and strategies need to be flexible to allow for contingency—and the spiraling effects of transformational change. You must share the plan relentlessly. People become more anxious when they don’t see the plan. You turn that anxiety into positive urgency when you have a clear plan.
- Allocate tasks to those best suited to perform them. Look at the qualities and capabilities of those on the coalition team and ensure that they are performing the tasks that they are uniquely qualified to perform. For instance, you may have specific teams uniquely qualified to complete tasks you need upfront. Or perhaps you need another team sent ahead to find the best path forward, and possibly other groups may be used best to communicate back and forth to keep the correct and complete information flowing.
- Keep up the pressure. Most transformational change initiatives run into problems at this juncture, so the change process needs to be carefully managed to avoid collapses. If you do not keep the change initiative under creative tension, it will snap back to Oldland.
- Deal with resistance promptly. Anyone who opposes the changes needs to be brought around quickly—or removed from the team. It’s not popular, but maybe some employees need to be fired. Only you can deal with resistance promptly so that it doesn’t poison the rest of the team.
- Leaders must model transformational change. You can’t put out a strategy and hope people will release from the past and reach the future unless they see it modeled by their leaders. If leaders do not make personal transformations, the team will not make the transition!
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>>Read Part 1: Three Phases of Transition Advice Leaders Should Understand to Reach Goals Every Time
For effective ways to navigate change, transitions, or create transformational leadership in your organization, contact us at J2NGlobal.com. Find out how we can help you.
Bill Poole is CEO of J2N Global and author of Journey to Newland.