In her book Nonstop Sales Boom!, sales guru Colleen Francis writes about how the typical quota-driven quarterly cycle rewards the wrong behavior. Customers learn that salespeople are more willing to do discounts near the end of a quarter when the push is on to meet targets. The week after a quarter is considered a recovery period and the sales team is quiet before gearing up for the next push.
It sounds exhausting, doesn’t it? It is. And it’s a lot like change.
While we recognize that the period between changes is narrowing, and many changes run in parallel in organizations, our methods still follow the same cycle:
- Kickoff
- Promote and prepare for the change
- Launch
- Stabilize
When the project has launched, everyone breathes a sigh of relief and prepares for some much-needed rest before the next project begins. Smart change teams approach this very differently…but I’ll leave that for another newsletter.
The question for you today is how you are using your programs of change to build bigger muscles when that rest period is narrowing (or is nonexistent). Is the net effect of your change exhaustion or endurance? Run-down or resilience?
We must change our point of view when it comes to facilitating change. It’s a disservice to the organization when we are a net drain on the company’s energy levels. Taking the longer view means building an endurance narrative and tactics into our planning so that we can develop a culture of resilience.
Are you already doing this? Click Reply to drop me a line and let me know!
Thoughtfully yours,
Jeff Skipper
