The hard truth about change is that change is hard. 70% of change programs fail to achieve their goals, largely due to employee resistance and lack of management commitment. Or, in short, it's these 3 innocent words that you need to worry most about when leading change: "But why change?"
It is a known fact that success in transformation initiatives is a rare result. Actually, 70% of them fail [yes, yes!]. That is because change is hard. For organizations and for people. Think of this: Research showed, that even after heart surgery, only as little as 5% of the patients change their habits towards a healthier lifestyle. Only 5%. And that is AFTER they had heart surgery. Change is THAT difficult.
Due to the significant influence of the human factor in the success of transformation initiatives, a lot of the recent research and writing about the topic focus on the "soft" side of transformation processes. Vision, culture, communication, and similar soft elements are mentioned as vital to any transformation initiative's success.
However, here is the hard truth: while there is no doubt that the soft elements are highly important for any transformation initiative, they have to be accompanied by measurable or "hard" factors. As the research that was done by Harold L. Sirkin, Perry Keenan, and Alan Jackson shows, if companies don’t pay attention to the hard issues first, transformation programs will break down before the soft elements come into play.
When talking about "hard" elements, many options come to mind. Setting financial and operational goals will probably be on top of the list. But also, allocating the right amount of resources, defining a detailed roadmap for the change, and more. However, the highly tested and proven research below gives a different and surprising answer.
Sirkin, Keenan, and Jackson completed their initial 225 company research in 1994 and found four predicting hard factors for the success of a transformation project. In the years since then, the Boston Consulting Group has used those four factors to predict the outcomes, and guide the execution, of more than 1,000 change management initiatives worldwide. As they point out "Not only has the correlation held, but no other factors (or combination of factors) have predicted outcomes that well."
The research shows that these are the four factors that can predict and determine the outcome of any change initiative: Duration, Integrity, Commitment, and Effort. Or, in short - DICE.
Duration: The duration of time until the change program is completed if it has a short life span; if not short, the amount of time between reviews of milestones. The shorter the interval, the better with the best score applies to a shorter than 2 months interval.
Integrity: The project team’s performance integrity; that is, its ability to complete the initiative on time. That depends on members’ skills and traits relative to the project’s requirements.
Commitment: The commitment to change that top management (C1) and employees affected by the change (C2) display.
Effort: The effort over and above the usual work that the change initiative demands of employees.
The research is highly analytical and provides a detailed methodology that allows you to measure your DICE score. Here is the formula that allows you to predict the DICE score:
DICE Score = D + (2 x I) + (2 x C1) + C2 + E
However, even without being so analytical, the idea behind it is clear and simple. To be successful and get a business transformation initiative done right, you'll need to manage it closely with a short interval between milestones, dedicate to it a highly competent leader and team, have a strong commitment from top management and employees, and ... and this is probably the hardest part... structure the change to be as effortless as possible for the relevant stakeholders.
If I had to choose one factor from the DICE method, reducing the effort to make the change would be that one
It is my opinion that the last variable, the E, is what really makes transformation efforts successful. When leading transformation initiatives, you need to think of your stakeholders as if they were your customers and invest all your efforts in reducing to the minimum possible friction, and the effort they need to invest in order to make the change.
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