It is difficult to change and managing change is very hard work. Even when an organization or a company knows that it or they must change, it is still an enormously difficult task to accomplish. Some years ago I co-authored a book, Motivation, Beliefs and Organizational Transformation. In that book I wrote: "an organization's ability to change is directly proportionate to its ability to recognize the mandate for change". Put a different way, no entity will change until it believes that the status quo is less acceptable than the change state. Additionally, the speed of change acceptance and adaptation closely relates to the strength of belief that the change state is more desirable than the current state. I was convinced of this a decade ago when I first posited it, I am more convinced of it today.

In the book I argued that large-scale organizational change and transformation could be facilitated by paying careful attention to staff motivation and desires. This could assist in the organization's understanding the mandate for change, and as a consequence, advance the change journey. We presented some practical tools for executives to use to understand staff motivation and desires. The message was clear, powerful tools for managing change are essential.

Today's executive has an even more daunting challenge. Even when the organization completely accepts that it must change to survive, the forces of inertia are extremely difficult to overcome.

Consider this: none of the industry leaders in clipper ship production built a steam ship; none of the industry leaders in vacuum tube production produced a transistor; no leaders in transistors built an integrated circuit chip; no makers of ice boxes produced a refrigerator. The leader in electronic messaging (Western Union) did nothing in e-mail. The market leader in portable music (Sony) watched as a struggling computer maker (Apple) reinvented the entire category. Understanding the mandate for change is essential but it is not sufficient.

To be successful in managing change, a healthy dose of creativity is called for. Creativity opens the lens on the art of the possible and spurs innovation. Even in the oldest, most conservative and traditional industry sectors business are indeed changing. They are recognizing that the current economic environment can be exploited to their advantage. They are using the current economy to challenge old ways of doing business, incumbent vendor relationships, and status quo business processes and methods. They also recognize that they must rely on powerful tools. Tools that can be employed to help the company change the playing field, speed time to market, accelerate competitive response, or rapidly introduce new products.

Change is hard but so so is moving the earth. Archimedes is reported to have said "give me a place to stand and I will move the earth". He was talking about the power of tools. Tools can help. Today's executive need not worry about a place to stand but they must find the right lever.

All the best,

Ray