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There are many things that influence the success of organisational change programmes. A key one is Momentum – the organisation’s ability to create a sufficient ‘overwhelming and all-encompassing force of change’ to ensure success.

Sir Isaac Newton gave us the laws for force, momentum, etc. The best way I’ve found to express his laws, in the context of organisational change, is with the following equation –

Mass – This is the percentage of people in the organisation that see the need for the change, agree with the programme(s) and process(es) being adopted to make it happen, know how to contribute effectively and are keen to make it a success (players  - not spectators or passengers). 

This all about communication (to help them see the need), skills training (to equip them to contribute) and then yet more communication (to keep them focussed, motivated and inspired).

Velocity – Change that happens slowly isn’t real change; customers rarely notice it, and competitors can easily keep up with it. So to make a worthwhile and impactful difference the change must take place with fast pace (velocity) - for a successful outcome there must be a sense of urgency as an input.

This sense of urgency must emanate from the leaders and then be felt and acted on by the whole organisation. This is done by leaders being seen to act urgently themselves and then expecting others to act accordingly. If leaders are seen to ‘take their foot off the gas’ others will soon notice this and pace will be lost.

Direction – This is all about having agreed worthwhile goals and then aligning the whole organisation behind them. Here again leadership visibility is essential; first in setting and communicating the goals, then in showing their commitment to the organisation wide alignment programme.  

A final thing to note is that the equation is based on the multiplication of the three core elements; not their addition. This means that they are interdependent so if any is low or missing it will reduce or nullify the effectiveness of the others.

© Copyright Chris Daffy