The 3 Pillars Of The Changemaker Mindset
It is a simple truth that change initiatives usually fail. Study after study finds that roughly three quarters of change initiatives don’t succeed. That’s a failure rate that we wouldn’t accept in any other aspect of our professional lives, but has become routine with transformational initiatives. It doesn’t have to be this way.
One of the reasons change fails so consistently is that change leaders apply a manager’s mindset rather than a changemaker mindset. Executives become successful by leading everyday operations, which requires building consensus, creating an environment of predictability and focusing on execution.
Yet applying that manager mindset to a transformational initiative is a sure way to fail. To succeed, you need a coalition, not consensus; you are operating in an environment of uncertainty, not predictability; and you need to focus on exploration more than execution. That’s quite a shift, yet it can be done. The best way to start is tackling these three elements.
1. Where Do You Start?
Managers launching a new initiative often seek to start with a bang. They work to gain approval for a sizable budget as a sign of institutional commitment. They recruit high-profile executives, arrange a big “kick-off” meeting and look to move fast, gain scale and generate some quick…
