team no matter how frequent and repetitive your interactions have to become. The more you communicate and the more you demonstrate that you are holding the key stakeholders and everyone in the company accountable for executing the change, the more likely the momentum will build in your favor. Have each stakeholder report frequently on progress toward achieving key milestones, even if the ultimate implementation oHow many times have you announced a big strategy or organization change and just when you thought it was working it becomes obvious the change didn’t happen? When your idea for a new significant change in strategy is still fresh and new, you must work to gain your organization’s psychological momentum shift towards the idea. The organization hears your message from top to bottom and internalizes what the change means to them, how they might benefit from it, and what they might need to do to make it happen. You’ve got everyone in the company talking about it. Your top management team are communicating and demonstrating their enthusiastic support. Indeed, all of your key leaders, including highly influential top performers are acting favorably toward the idea. If you are going to build momentum behind this change to drive it to its desired conclusion, then your work starts now.

The first one hundred days – even the US President issues a “100 Day Report”. Why? A common mistake that many leaders make is to announce the change, hear the instant positive feedback (ignore the naysayer’s input) and assume that the organization will take it from there. The truth is that the excitement reaches a plateau before the real impact of the change on each individual begins to set in. At this point, you could just as easily gain momentum and move forward or reverse direction and fail completely. This is the time for the idea to become a mandate: for it to take root with all the key stakeholders who need to be accountable for important elements of the plan’s success.

You cannot over-communicate, during this 100 day period, to the leadership team no matter how frequent and repetitive your interactions have to become. The more you communicate and the more you demonstrate that you are holding the key stakeholders and everyone in the company accountable for executing the change, the more likely the momentum will build in your favor. Have each stakeholder report frequently on progress toward achieving key milestones, even if the ultimate implementation of

means to them, how they might benefit from it, and what they might need to do to make it happen. You’ve got everyone in the company talking about it. Your top management team are communicating and demonstrating their enthusiastic support. Indeed, all of your key leaders, including highly influential top performers are acting favorably toward the idea. If you are going to build momentum behind this change to drive it to its desired conclusion, then your work starts now.

The first one hundred days – even the US President issues a “100 Day Report”. Why? A common mistake that many leaders make is to announce the change, hear the instant positive feedback (ignore the naysayer’s input) and assume that the organization will take it from there. The truth is that the excitement reaches a plateau before the real impact of the change on each individual begins to set in. At this point, you could just as easily gain momentum and move forward or reverse direction and fail completely. This is the time for the idea to become a mandate: for it to take root with all the key stakeholders who need to be accountable for important elements of the plan’s success.

You cannot over-communicate, during this 100 day period, to the leadership team no matter how frequent and repetitive your interactions have to become. The more you communicate and the more you demonstrate that you are holding the key stakeholders and everyone in the company accountable for executing the change, the more likely the momentum will build in your favor. Have each stakeholder report frequently on progress toward achieving key milestones, even if the ultimate implementation o

e it to its desired conclusion, then your work starts now.

The first one hundred days – even the US President issues a “100 Day Report”. Why? A common mistake that many leaders make is to announce the change, hear the instant positive feedback (ignore the naysayer’s input) and assume that the organization will take it from there. The truth is that the excitement reaches a plateau before the real impact of the change on each individual begins to set in. At this point, you could just as easily gain momentum and move forward or reverse direction and fail completely. This is the time for the idea to become a mandate: for it to take root with all the key stakeholders who need to be accountable for important elements of the plan’s success.

You cannot over-communicate, during this 100 day period, to the leadership team no matter how frequent and repetitive your interactions have to become. The more you communicate and the more you demonstrate that you are holding the key stakeholders and everyone in the company accountable for executing the change, the more likely the momentum will build in your favor. Have each stakeholder report frequently on progress toward achieving key milestones, even if the ultimate implementation o

the change on each individual begins to set in. At this point, you could just as easily gain momentum and move forward or reverse direction and fail completely. This is the time for the idea to become a mandate: for it to take root with all the key stakeholders who need to be accountable for important elements of the plan’s success.

You cannot over-communicate, during this 100 day period, to the leadership team no matter how frequent and repetitive your interactions have to become. The more you communicate and the more you demonstrate that you are holding the key stakeholders and everyone in the company accountable for executing the change, the more likely the momentum will build in your favor. Have each stakeholder report frequently on progress toward achieving key milestones, even if the ultimate implementation o

team no matter how frequent and repetitive your interactions have to become. The more you communicate and the more you demonstrate that you are holding the key stakeholders and everyone in the company accountable for executing the change, the more likely the momentum will build in your favor. Have each stakeholder report frequently on progress toward achieving key milestones, even if the ultimate implementation of some of them will occur many months later. Progress reports should be both upwards to the CEO, and downwards to the employee population. This will serve to reinforce their commitment and also demonstrate their support to their peer group – another important factor in keeping the momentum going.

Inertia is the enemy of change and there are three key powerful factors feeding that inertia in most companies. The first is fear of the unknown (aka “what’s in it for me?”). If employees are uncertain about what this change will mean for them later on they will be reluctant to commit. The second is the fear of losing control. In every organization there is a political fabric that determines how things will get done and who will do it and even what things may get done. This political fabric is driven by the personal desires and goals of key individuals to gain more control. The fabric is powered by the network of people who stand to gain from the influence of the political leaders, or who cooperate out of fear that their positions will be threatened if they don’t. The third is lack of leadership. When a leader embarks on a major change initiative – such as entering new markets with new products, or to change the entire customer service orientation, or re-branding the company and its products - the change and the leader must quickly achieve a highly visible position as a mandate of the organization.

If the momentum on the project is not achieved and sustained through highly visible leadership in the first one hundred days, then the likelihood of its success will be seriously diminished. In all likelihood the changes needed to shift