Do you like stories of people who failed many times before they succeeded? It’s easy to be inspired by the likes of Thomas Edison, JK Rowling, Henry Ford, Walt Disney, or Colonel Sanders – they tell of the value of persisting when you come up with good ideas and others don’t want to listen.

Let’s Not Glorify Failure

But let’s not glorify failure. There’s no glory in failure that’s caused by being ignorant of reality, having bad ideas, or having good ideas and executing them badly. We might like to think of ourselves as great success stories, but there are countless managers and leaders who made poor decisions and ended up forgotten.

It’s a lot easier to fail and fade from memory than it is to fail your way to success.

Why Flirt with Failure?

Can you really afford to flirt with failure? Why would you even want to do that? Sure, nothing is certain (apart from death and taxes), but it’s stupid to flirt with failure by not stacking the odds in your favour.

When it comes to that ubiquitous and unavoidable thing we call ‘change’, stacking the odds in your favour has to do with change readiness.

Thought Experiment

Here’s a quick thought experiment: think of 2 similar organisations facing a similar change. The leader of one has taken steps to ensure his organisation is ready for change. The leader of the other hasn’t bothered about that – thought it was a waste of time. Which of these 2 organisations is more likely to succeed? The one that’s ready for change, or the one that isn’t? Which would you pick?

How Can You Know if You’re Ready?

It’s not easy for a leader to know whether a team, department, or the whole organisation is ready for change. You can assume they are or assume people must be because you told them to be – that’s called ‘playing with a loaded gun’. Change scares most people and they don’t like it. They’re not going to be happy about it just because you expect them to be.

Or you can farm the readiness issue out to your change managers, hoping they know more about it than you do. In reality, they probably don’t.

Or you could do the really smart thing. You could engage a specialist consultant who has an up-to-date understanding of change readiness and access to specialist, proprietary tools. This specialist can give you accurate information that reduces your risk and helps you make decisions that are more likely to work.

We’re Here to Help

The Change Gym provides specialist change readiness consultancy services. Our 2 senior consultants bring together change readiness theory and practice. Steve Barlow has a PhD in change readiness and lectures on the topic to Masters students. Therese Wales is a former HR Director of Procter & Gamble, a Fortune 100 company, and has led major change projects around the world. Both these people can help you get the information you need to make the right decisions.

Reach Out Today

The only question remaining is the one concerning you. Are you going to tempt fate and go in blind, just assuming your people are ready for change? Or are you going to be smart and stack the odds in your favour?

If you want to be the smart leader, reach out to us today. At least have a chat – you’ve got nothing to lose except risk. Click on the button to book a free strategy session.