When we conduct seminars on change, we love to ask the question, "How many think that change is good?" Invariably, the majority of participants raise their hands to indicate that change is positive. What is ironic is that although almost everyone thinks change is good, most leaders have a difficult time changing the existing culture in an organization. Sometimes people go out of their way to make a point that all change is not good change. We are the first to agree. Over the last 18 months, many organizations have been experiencing declining revenues, reduced profits, increased regulations, and layoffs. But what we also know is that the world is changing rapidly, via the economy and environment, and the changes that are taking place will have a significant impact on you and your organization.

Do you have to change? Someone recently told us, "In a fight between you and the world, bet on the world." If the world is changing rapidly, and it is, then the question becomes, "What can we do as managers and leaders to help our organizations adapt to becoming successful in a different environment that is about to become?" How can we implement organizational change that aligns our organization to maximize success?

The following eight tips will help you successfully lead change in your department or organization.

1. Clarify your organization or department’s vision and strategic goals. Employees like reading mysteries; they don’t want to work in one. For employees to be engaged and productive, they need a clear road map of where they are heading: clear goals that are measurable and time bound help draw this map for them. Employees chose to follow leaders who have a positive vision of where their organization is heading. Although many people state that the “vision” thing is highly overrated, it is the number one of the top ten differences of our Best of the Best organizations when compared to 250 organizations in our overall PBS Benchmark.

2. Ask yourself, "How have I changed?" If you are asking people in the organization to behave differently, the chances are you will have to change yourself. This can be a tough pill to swallow for most leaders. One way to address this issue is to ask your people what you will need to do differently to help support them in implementing the change. Leaders are fooling themselves when they think they can change an organization without visibly exhibiting different behaviors to lead the change effort.

3. Involve everyone in the change process. A natural feeling for managers and supervisors is to leave out the people you expect to be resistant until you absolutely have to include them. When it comes to implementing change, this is a fatal mistake. Involve everyone. Get your most resistant people involved up front. Many times, the people who are the most resistant to change are the informal leaders of your organization. Get them involved so you know what the roadblocks are and what strategies will work to implement the change. When people are involved, they have a better understanding of why the change needs to be made, and they usually become less resistant to innovation.

4. Increase communication and provide training. We have been involved with many projects where employees operate off the rumor mill. For some organizations, the rumor mill has become the formally adopted method of communication. Supervisors and managers need to publicly communicate their intentions and solicit feedback. Training sessions about how the culture is changing will also help. We know of one organization that provided coaching, counseling, and performance review training to all their supervisors and managers. Their goal was to increase performance standards and hold all employees accountable.

5. Change what you reward. Culture change is hard to accomplish unless people see a big payoff for behaving in different ways. Price Pritchett and Ron Pound, organizational consultants, state, "If you do not make significant changes in the reward system, you will actually reward resistance." You need to actively reward what you are trying to build in the new culture.

6. Hold people accountable. It is simple to write about…and for many leaders, hard to put into practice. Once the vision and goals have been communicated, every employee needs 3 to 5 goals that are specific, measurable, time bound and in alignment with the department and organization’s goals. When we have this alignment, people feel they are contributing to meaningful work. Here’s another thing that sets the top ten organizations apart from the rest: when a team member is not accountable even after the best of the best leaders coach them, counsel them, train them and that does not work…they share them with a competitor.

7. Redefine your heroes and heroines. Every organization has heroes and heroines. Sometimes they are the employees who have been with the organization the greatest length of time. Other organizations make heroes out of the employees who have never been tardy or absent. Still other organizations may make heroes and heroines out of people who have the highest sales, give the best customer service, produce results, never make waves or show resistance, or who are good team players. When it comes to change, if we want the change to stick, we need to make heroes and heroines out of the people who behave in ways that support the change.

8. Demonstrate unwavering commitment. There is no doubt about it. There are some people who would like to see you fail. You may even begin to question if the new changes are really for the good for the organization. Remember your vision and the reason for making the change. It is in the long-term best interest of both your staff and the organization. Creating big change in an organization is like going to the proctologist...no one does it just for the fun of the experience! Positive change is what leadership is all about. You cannot waver or the change will never become a reality.

Although change always proves to be a challenge, think about a change you need to implement. Review these eight tips to determine which of the actions will help you to successfully implement your change.

For the two bonus tips, watch Peter’s video below: