Employees who develop a strategy will also implement it without change management
Persuasion is expensive and only partially achieves its objective
Developing a strategy in isolation endangers the chances of it being implemented successfully.
„It took senior management 19 weeks to develop the new strategy; it took the employees 20 minutes to misunderstand it.“
Just communicating a strategy formulated by senior management down the ranks is not enough to ensure that it is properly understood. Only those who took part in the development of a strategy will have truly internalized it.
Otherwise it might sound like:
„Do your employees know the strategy?“
„Yes, we presented it during the last company’s Christmas party.“
Listening is not the same as understanding, understanding is not the same as consenting and only those who are convinced will contribute their fair share to implement it.
Classic change management is based on the assumption that people and systems do not want to change, resist changing and that this resistance has to be overcome. There is an assumption that power promoters, change agents, pilot projects and communication strategies are necessary to build up the required suspense to create energy for change.
People do what they are convinced of
Our experience shows that someone who is working on something and is convinced of it wants to realize it too. If a strategy is already in the hearts and minds of the employees because they worked on it, there is no need for extrinsic motivation or incentives. The energy is there!
Besides, people tend to feel responsible for their own creation and do not immediately put the blame on senior management if difficulties arise.