Our organizations and workplaces are experiencing a rapidly increasing pace of external and internal change. However, so many of the intentional and planned changes in organizations either don't work or don't create the expected outcomes.
At FAR's September 12 luncheon, author Cassie A. Solomon demonstrated why real change means changing behavior. Solomon, and coauthor Gregory P. Shea, wrote "Leading Successful Change: 8 Keys to Making Change Work". Change management is successful, according to Solomon, when the intentional changes are locked in place and no longer need significant attention to keep them in place. Solomon also explained how clarity of the desired change, understood by all involved, is important to successful change.
In their research and analysis, the authors found that 50-75% of change efforts fail. They further developed a theory from this research that there are 8 levers of change that are important to tip an implementation from failure to success. These levers are: People, Workplace Design, Tasks, Measurement, Information Distribution, Rewards, Organization Design, and Decision-Making Authority.
Solomon shared that research shows that at least 4 of these levers must be successfully used in order to give the greatest opportunity for a change management action to succeed. The luncheon participants shared experiences in small groups about their own experiences with these levers and if they worked or failed.
Cassie Solomon's final recommendation was "Fix everything you can reach", meaning pull as many levers you can in making changes. For more on Cassie A. Solomon's presentation, click here for her presentation slides.
FAR September Luncheon Highlights
Jennifer Brearey, FAR Chair, presents Tom Harlow, the FAR Immediate Past Chair, with a thank you gift for his service to FAR.
FAR member, Ashley Fearn, won a copy of Cassie Solomon's book, Leading Successful Change, for being the first nonprofit member to register for the luncheon.
(L to R) FAR Members Suzanne Shomers, Sarah Mooney, Greg Kutrow, Leila Green, and Mark Hornby enjoying lunch before the presentation.
Welcome to one of our new nonprofit members - Margarita Lorenzetti from DC Bar!
L to R: Former FAR Chair Patricia Adkins, Norman Flores, Nina Un, and Xiaowei Zheng
