A CEO recently asked me to come up with “no more than 10 things… and only on one page” that will help his change initiative be successful. He liked what I came up with and called his Change Steering Committee together to review the document. We made a couple of slight changes as a team and decided to call the document “A Blueprint for Successful Change Management”.

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A Blueprint for Successful Change Management
A CEO recently asked me to come up with “no more than 10 things… and only on one page” that will
help his change initiative be successful. He liked what I came up with and called his Change Steering
Committee together to review the document. We made a couple of slight changes as a team and
decided to call the document “A Blueprint for Successful Change Management”.
1. Create a sense of urgency for the change and clearly articulate what the future will look like.
There needs to be clarity - clarity of the need, clarity of the vision and clarity of the actions
required.
2. There needs to be a strong, emotionally engaged, aligned and cascading coalition of
leadership support.
3. Trust in the leadership must exist. The best change plans will not endure if trust is not created
and nurtured.
4. Leaders of change must “walk the talk”. Gandhi was quoted as saying "Be the change you
want in the world". However, it was his actions, not his words, that delivered this message.
5. Leaders must have the courage to face and overcome difficult and deep-seeded cultural
issues.
6. Ask stakeholders the right, powerful questions. Actively listening, empathizing, understanding
and documenting the answers to these questions can provide one of the greatest impacts on
a change effort.
7. Create 2-way, face-to-face communications to discover stakeholder concerns, needs, and
ideas. Town Hall Meetings and Lunch and Learn events are very effective ways to engage
stakeholders in this way.
8. Create a change management project plan, align it with the vision, clearly communicate it,
adjust it as required and hold people accountable. Develop a “Roadmap on a Page” to visually
communicate the plan and progress.
9. Celebrate successes early and often. Provide recognition to those going out of their way to
help.
10. Admit your mistakes, misunderstandings and oversights. Ask for help. “Get the ship back on
course.”