8 Reasons why Organisational Change Programmes fail

There are all sorts of reasons why Change programmes fail, but here are 8 of the main ones:-

• Fear:  it is quite natural to be change adverse and if nothing is done to make it safe, then don’t be surprised if people find any number of reasons to avoid it
• Lack of knowledge:  if people don’t understand what you want them to do, and I mean specifically what you expect of them rather than generalities, then they will stay still
• Lack of skill:   if your programme requires people to use new technologies or new methods, or even new ways of behaving / thinking then again, they will not be able to make any progress
• Lack of resources:  if they don’t have the time, technology or budget then they can’t proceed
• Lack of support:  people need supporting through a change programme, and the longer and more radical it is, the more help they require; this also includes political support from within the organisation
• The unexpected happens:  even if you have the perfect plan and all the preceding elements have been properly planned and resourced, still things can happen both within and outside your business that than can blow you off track.  They can even render your plan irrelevant.  Think about the impact of the banking crisis on perfectly well-formed plans…
• Lack of communication:  this blows more programmes off track than almost all the others!  It is essential to ensure that not only are people kept informed of what is expected of them, but also what they can expect.  It is also crucial to make sure that you actively listen to them; they will tell you what is wrong, why things are stuck and what they don’t like.
• Lack of Leadership:  it is a leaders job not only to correctly identify where the business needs to be headed to be successful, but also to lead the charge, and be an example to everyone else

I’d be interested to hear any more that you feel should be on this list.  However, if you have all these bases covered chances are you are well on track for success.

Good Luck!

Tags: Communication, Leadership, why change fails

This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 16th, 2009 at 15:38 and is filed under Business Change, Communication, Hints, Tips & Techniques, Leadership. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.