HBX Management Essentials on Checklist for Change

• Created dissatisfaction with the status quo and raised the sense of urgency on site
• Crafted a compelling vision of safe operations and improved communication
• Created a leadership team of influential individuals to spearhead the change
• Laid out a reasonable process of change that lowers the cost of change
• Engage people at three levels: heads, hearts, and hands⊕ (Fuller and Garvin n.d.)
  
  

Thus he framed his plan as something they needed, something that was on their side, and something that would work.⊕ (Fuller and Garvin n.d.)

Certain types of behaviors are particularly corrosive because they impede the capacity for change and contribute to obscuring or causing problems. Examples include:

• This too shall pass.  Employees in many organizations have developed the habit of responding to crisis warnings from their leadership with an attitude of “this too shall pass.” (In other words, responding by not responding.) The habit seems reasonable because the leadership has a history of declaring crises and then doing little or nothing about them, as had long been the case at the BIDMC. And yet it was not a healthy response. It almost killed the organization.
• Ready, aim, aim, aim. There are proposals, reports, and fine-tuning, but never a final decision. Also known as “analysis paralysis,” this is common in cultures where a mistake can cost you your job. 
• Dog-and-pony shows. Too much emphasis on process and procedures, not enough on content. How you present a proposal and how much buy-in you develop becomes more important than what you actually do. This is also known as “death by PowerPoint.”
• The grass is always greener. The organization ignores problems with its current products or services and focuses on new offerings. Managers work hard to expand product lines in the name of “innovation” and “diversification,” but are merely avoiding tough problems.
• A culture of yes. People seem to be cooperative and productive in meetings, but put up resistance–often, hidden resistance–afterwards. Politics trumps substance, meetings become empty rituals, and meddling in decisions becomes the norm. Also known as “after the meeting ends, the debate begins.”
• A culture of no. The organization is dominated by cynics and skeptics. There is always a good reason not to do something. Found in cultures that highly value criticism and have complex approval-ridden decision-making processes, such that anyone can say no, but no one can definitively say yes.⊕ (Fuller and Garvin n.d.)