We Have Decades Of Research Telling Us How Change Works. We Need To Start Following The Evidence
Greg Satell
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7 min read
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Nov 9, 2024
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Jennifer was a rising star when her boss tapped her to lead a transformational initiative. She was told that it was a “burning platform” moment and her success was absolutely crucial to the future of the organization. She could set her own budget, choose her own team and would have full executive support to move forward and scale quickly.
Jennifer wasted no time. She hired an outside firm to help her craft an emotive message to create awareness for the initiative as well as a sense of urgency around the need for change. She designed a training program to help employees adapt to and embrace the transformation. In six weeks the project launched with a huge kickoff meeting.
Initially, it seemed to be an enormous success. But soon Jennifer noticed the excitement fizzling out and, about eight months into it she realized that she was being actively undermined. Executive support diminished, the project was abandoned and her career was derailed. It all could have been avoided if she had taken an evidence-based approach.
