Why do change initiatives fail? If the COVID-19 pandemic has taught society anything, it’s that change is inevitable. If you cannot adapt to the ever-changing world, you will be left behind. If we know the only constant in life is change, why is it difficult to implement change management strategies? Organizations need to recognize the complexity of change more often. The factors that impact change are dynamic and constantly evolving. Research from McKinsey and Company concluded that 70% of all large-scale transformations fail. Change initiatives in organizations fail for several reasons, most notably, poor execution and planning.
Poor execution of a change initiative can lead to subpar results, or even failure. It is important to have a clear implementation plan and execute it efficiently. Failing to meticulously plan a change management strategy, such as identifying potential risks and developing a contingency plan, can lead to unexpected problems and derail the initiative.
There are three approaches that have garnered some popularity in recent years to help address these gaps.
Agile, for example, is an approach that emphasizes collaboration, flexibility, and frequent iterations. This approach is particularly effective for complex and rapidly changing projects, where requirements are unclear or subject to change. Agile helps to manage change by enabling teams to work in sprints, focusing on short-term goals, and delivering value at every stage of the project. This approach encourages open communication, transparency, and regular feedback, enabling project teams to quickly adapt to changing requirements and overcome obstacles. One of the more popular agile frameworks is Scrum.
Chaos Monkey, is another, albeit extreme example of how companies have tried to close this gap. It is a technique used to test the resilience of systems by intentionally causing failures. This approach helps to identify weaknesses and allows teams to fix them before a real failure occurs, ensuring that the system is resilient and can withstand unexpected outages. Two notable examples of chaos monkey in action were at Shopify and Netflix; Shopify employees returned to work after the holiday break in 2023 to find their calendars stripped bare of recurring meetings. Additionally, Netflix created a program that turns off its production servers. The idea is to expose the company’s engineers to failure more often, encouraging them to build more robust systems.
Finally, the Lean startup methodology is an approach that prioritizes customer satisfaction and aims to eliminate waste and maximize value. This approach helps to manage change by encouraging teams to continually evaluate and adapt to customer needs to drive project success. In other words, it favors experimentation over elaborate planning, customer feedback over intuition, and iterative design over traditional “Big Design Up Front” development. One company that has used the lean startup methodology is Dropbox. Lean startup allowed Dropbox to gain high-quality feedback from target customers which the team subsequently used to shape product development in line with consumer needs. Dropbox has over 500 million users worldwide using its file hosting service.
Overall, change is complex and dynamic in nature, and Agile, Chaos Monkey, and Lean startup methodology are all approaches that can help teams address gaps in poor execution and planning. By emphasizing collaboration, flexibility, continuous feedback, and experimentation, these approaches help teams to manage change effectively, identify weaknesses, and deliver successful outcomes.
For more on the complex nature of change, check out Understanding The Connection Between Complexity and Change Management.