Change is hard.
Particularly if you are trying to change an entire culture.
It seems to me that you have two options — you can force change or try and engage others in making a change.
Forcing change is sometimes necessary but rarely sustainable e.g. you go to the doctor and he/she tells you that your blood pressure is too high and you need to reduce yours stress and reduce your salt intake for example.
The other option in changing culture seems so much more human — encouraging people to change themselves.
This option often requires two actions:
– Appeal to self-interest e.g. as a result of doing this your life will become for example simpler, easier or you might save time.
– Generate some tangible results.
And the best way to do this is to embark on a small wins strategy.
Take on a small, bite-sized challenge that you have the resources to tackle and test some new ideas or solutions and see what happens.
And ideally these small wins should be recorded, promoted and shared throughout the business.
There is also one other factor that can help implement a small wins strategy.
As one VP recently said to me:
Small wins are good I agree as they can create a cultural shift, especially if they come from all diverse parts of the business.
Small wins can be applied to innovation, customer service, new products or indeed how meetings are conducted.
This is an important point.
Because small wins can be applied to any activity it means that everyone has the opportunity to play.
It really means that changing culture is a more tangible and realistic goal.