You're leading a change project. How do you ensure senior leadership's vision becomes reality?

It starts with strong alignment between leadership and project teams on what success looks like. It’s critical that business outcomes are well defined and realistic. What are the KPIs and measures that will demonstrate that you have succeeded? You must define what success looks like. Also, setting up key milestones to ensure that the project is staying on track is key. As important, is having strong Executive Sponsorship, where your leader stays involved and helps problem solve when needed. Lastly, sustaining change is critical, so how will you embed the changes into the ongoing business processes, so that it becomes a natural part of the way people work. Getting it right up front will help you successfully deliver the change.

It is important to have an alignment on top priorities and how the results will look like in phased stages and timelines. The KPI s expected completion of deliverable on culture, people, customer experience, processes and technological investments need to be clearly stated. The steerşng committees are critical to do the reality check for the alignment. Open communication with data driven reviews are the basics. Here having an open mind to understand the progress, and hurdles with accountability and collaborative communication is very important.

To ensure senior leadership's vision becomes reality, first understand and align with the vision, then create a detailed plan with clear objectives and milestones. Engage stakeholders early, maintain communication, and ensure visible leadership support. Build a capable team, provide training, and empower them. Implement changes in phases, monitor progress, and track key performance indicators. Celebrate successes and embed changes into the culture, encouraging continuous improvement and sustained leadership support.

Strive to effectively communicate the project vision to each stakeholder group, adapting your message to suit their cultural context and knowledge levels. Engaging various stakeholders can be challenging, especially when their involvement and objectives differ. I recommend a tailored approach to ensure meaningful and efficient engagement. Given the inherent challenges of change projects, maintaining strong stakeholder engagement is essential.

Early engagement of stakeholders with proper orientation and alignment will create a strength for the change initiative. Change Management is teamwork and engaging the stakeholders with proper orientation, communication and active listening associated with the right change management and leadership skills is a must. Engaging stakeholders through regular updates, seeking their feedback, and involving them in decision-making can foster a collaborative environment. By doing so, you cultivate a network of change champions who can help drive the initiative forward and address resistance effectively.

Desired engagement should be clearly defined and aligned with the stakeholders' competencies and the power they hold. A common problem is setting inappropriate engagement goals, leading stakeholders to face barriers in fulfilling them, which results in disappointment and confusion. Therefore, analyze whether stakeholder X can achieve goal Y by performing the desired actions Z. Additionally, communicate a clear "How?" or collaborate with them if they need to determine the "How?" on their own.

Um eine Vision in die Tat umsetzten zu können, muss sie klar kommuniziert werden. Jede*r sollte wissen, was das überordnete Ziel, das WARUM ist. Klare Kommunikation bedeutet für mich auch, jeder Person die Möglichkeit zu geben, sich mit der Vision zu identifizieren.

Sometimes I like to use simple analogies. To go from A to B, an employee will need a map, a car, fuel, and driving lessons. The map represents the vision, the car signifies ownership of the task or project, the fuel consists of knowledge, information, and skills, and the driving lessons provide the power to execute these tasks. While success can be achieved without some of these elements, it is valuable to consider all of them to ensure you have paved the road for success. If you only communicate the vision (map), the employees can get lost :)

Ensuring Vision Becomes Reality Successful change management hinges on the 3Ms: Measure, Monitor, Modify. Start by establishing Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) that align with leadership's vision, such as employee engagement, process efficiency, customer satisfaction, and financial performance. Regularly review these metrics through scheduled check-ins, dashboards, and feedback mechanisms to assess progress and identify issues. Adapt strategies as needed based on KPI data. Engage stakeholders to understand challenges and implement adjustments. This approach ensures continuous improvement, accountability, and alignment with the vision. Monitoring fosters transparency and responsiveness, making change sustainable and effective.

Ter uma liderança envolvida e comprometida com a mudança é fundamental para sustentar a transformação. Por isso, é importante garantir que os líderes estejam engajados, sirvam de exemplo e promovam ativamente a mudança. Eu costumo conduzir treinamentos exclusivos para a liderança, solicitar sua participação em eventos de comunicação e envolvê-los em atividades de reconhecimento - principalmente para reforçar comportamentos desejados a partir da mudança estabelecida. Nesse ambiente, crie também oportunidades para que a liderança compartilhe suas próprias experiências e inspire os demais colaboradores a sustentar a transformação, utilizando os canais e mídias oficiais da organização.

It makes a big difference to share success stories and explain the benefits of the change. The contributors' recognition as a team and sharing the stories and having helpdesk for the change have created better and speedier improvements.

In my experience, I've found some drivers, such as: - Engage with Senior Leadership: Regularly meet with senior leadership to deeply understand their vision, goals, and expectations. Clarify any ambiguities. - Identify Key Stakeholders: Determine who will be impacted by the change and who can influence its success. - Involve Stakeholders Early: Engage key stakeholders in planning and decision-making processes to gain their buy-in and support. - Identify Sources of Resistance: Be proactive in identifying potential resistance and addressing concerns.