by Dawn-Marie Turner, PhD

Imagine implementing change where the majority of individuals are moving your organization toward the intended outcome, where individuals use change as a means for success and where resistance to change does not exist. Sound impossible? It’s not when you realize that people don’t fundamentally resist change. 

Although it is often identified as the number one reason organizational changes fail, resistance to change does not really exist. Some researchers have even advocated for striking the term from our change vocabulary. Change is a part of our human experience, and you need only look around to realize that individuals are changing daily. Think about it -- how many changes have you willingly made in your life recently?

by Dawn-Marie Turner, PhD

Organizationally, conversation is often given a bad rap. For many organizational leaders it symbolizes the informal and unstructured talking that employees engage in when they should be “working”. The reality, however, is that conversation is the backbone of every organization -- especially during change.

Change happens through conversation. Your change conversations can pull your organization together and rally its energy around your change or they can drain its collective energy and send your organization into a downward spiral.

by Dawn-Marie Turner, Ph.D

Time is a precious commodity, but many managers are penny wise and pound-foolish when it comes to their investment in managing change.

As leaders we are constantly having to set priorities, do more with less, and maximize our own and the organization’s efficiency, all in an effort to gain more from the time we do have. It is no different when it comes to implementing change – leaders must balance the need for the change with the associated disruption and the time, people and resources that will be needed in order to achieve the intended outcome of the change and get the return on their investment.