Consider what is required to maintain change over the long haul. What steps need to be taken to make change stick and anchor the change in the culture? How will you ensure that your success of implementing change lasts?
As Kotter (1996, ch. 10) addresses the task of maintaining changes over long periods of time, he underlines the importance of anchoring them in the company’s culture. Timing plays an important role in this case. Changing a culture should be done only after new ideas/procedures have already been implemented and positive results are visible – towards the end of the process. Being able to see actual results helps to convince people about the validity of the change – facilitating culture change. Lasting change requires support and verbal instructions to help it take root. It may also call for replacing some key people (1996, p.157).
According to Collins (2001, ch.8), lasting change is likened to moving a heavy flywheel. It’s difficult to get it going, but once momentum is established and the wheel is continually moved in the right direction, the point of breakthrough is reached. Sustainable change is the result of buildup being followed by breakthrough (2001, 186).
Collins, J. (2001). Good To Great: Why Some Companies Make The Leap…And Others Don’t. New York: HarperCollins Publishers
Kotter, J. P. (1996). Leading Change. Boston: Harvard Business School Press
