Boosting your probability of "Change Success"

If there is a common theme in business today, its that there are many, many agendas that leaders have to consider.
They have to be more innovative, more productive, more diverse, more tech-savvy, more global.

The common theme however is change. We’re all under pressure and we’re looking to benefit from that change”

Steve Vamos – Ex CEO of Apple Asia Pacific and Microsoft

Research tells us that the probability of change success in whatever project or initiative you undertake is as low as 30% which means there is a 70% probability you will fail.  This is because most business people adopt a 'trial and error' approach to change which comes with a very high cost in terms of lost time, reduced confidence, wasted money and poor utilization of resources.

Research conducted by Mindshop founder, Chris Mason during his PhD on how to improve the probability of change success discovered there are 3 main factors contributing to change success:

• Readiness (30%): How ready the organization and the people within the organization are to implement change
• Capability (40%): The skills, people, training and resources needed to implement change
• Beliefs (30%): The overall attitude of the organization in relation to the change

Each of these had a number of sub-factors, 10 in total which Chris Mason built into a unique 'Change Success' model. Chris's research demonstrated that if an organization can improve each of the 10 elements in the change success model the probability of success is likely to rise significantly above the standard 30% result. Exemplar organizations who were surveyed achieved an average changesuccess score of 78%.  The below 8 minute video give a full rundown on the "Change Success Model"

Discover your potential for change success in under 5 minutes. Answer 30 questions to identify your overall change potential score in relation to a specific change initiative.

As a first step take the Change Success Diagnostic to see if your business or organisation is ready for change

A new online version of the diagnostic can be found here: Change Success Diagnostic

James O'Brien is the Managing Partner of High Street Partners and has over 15 years experience in senior commercial, CFO and general management positions with a focus on strategy, people and leadership. Most recently he was CFO – Asia for CBRE the US listed global real estate services business. He consultants to CEO’s and CFO’s on four key decisions: people, strategy, execution and cash.  www.hspg.com.au

James is also accredited in the Business Acumen Gauge from Quad Assessments.