Campaigning for Change

Pain. Resistance. Failure. Most of us associate these words with large-scale transformation. Organizational change is daunting—especially executing it.

Though rare, successful change agents share one thing: Rather than managing change as one crusade, they employ three distinct—but linked—campaigns:

• Political campaigns create supportive coalitions.

• Marketing campaigns tap employees’ thoughts and feelings and communicate the themes and benefits of change.

• Military campaigns capture managers’ scarce time and attention.

The key? Launch these mutually reinforcing campaigns simultaneously.

The Idea in Practice

Political Campaign

Forge alliances. Change your coalition’s make-up over time; e.g., zealots initially, consensus builders later. Example: 

To improve customer service and customize products, Hewlett-Packard’s senior executives engineered three leadership “baton passes” to broaden the coalition behind new quality practices. First, they forged a task force uniting old- and new-line quality professionals. Then, they asked the Corporate Quality Office to help 50+ divisions develop quality tools. Finally, they let HP’s influential Inkjet Printer Group lead new-practice design.

Shift organizational structures.

• Change formal structures: Facing plummeting occupancy rates, hotel chain Novotel eliminated bureaucracy layers, letting mid-level hotel managers decide room pricing.

• Alter informal structures: To speed drug development, Bristol-Myers Squibb changed work practices, not formal structures. Analyzing how drug developers actually worked, they assigned teams to own each piece of the process.

• Create temporary counterstructures: To revitalize grocery chain ASDA, Archie Norman and Allan Leighton commandeered selected stores. They arrived, unannounced, to forge alliances with employees—temporarily removing store managers from the command loop.

Marketing Campaign

To sell your initiative’s benefits:

Listen in. Build your initiative on existing best practices. First, observe employees on their turf; don’t just interview them. Then, spread effective practices throughout your company to increase your initiative’s effectiveness. One insurance firm discovered informal manager/employee “huddles” that unified employees and alerted them to urgent issues.

Work with “lead customers”—employees who see the need for change and can help you spread the initiative. Example: 

To improve retention of MBAs, a consulting company tested mentoring workshops in the few offices expressing interest—then sent participants’ suggestions to other interested offices. The feedback improved the program and gave it a voice. Two years later, every office had signed on.

Develop a theme. The best change-initiative themes are accessible and complex. Bristol-Myers Squibb’s theme—“opportunity-seeking blockbuster”—said both “Seize advantage of emerging chemical entities” and “Focus on financially promising entities.”

Military Campaign

To overcome resistance:

Secure supply lines. Many initiatives fail because managers pay insufficient attention. To capture their attention, build on insurgent initiatives and the passions feeding them.

Choose beachheads. Effective beachheads spur innovation and loop learning back into the organization. Example: 

Norman’s ASDA team carefully selected the first store they managed: a low performer facing stiff competition. They worked closely with the store manager to create fresh strategies and break taboos (e.g., managing sales versus expenses). Formalized as “the ASDA Way of Working,” their learning transformed all ASDA stores.