Some time back, I was presenting some facts and findings about an organization to the CEO, as part of our consulting work. There were a few major issues that needed urgent attention. The CEO had gone through my report quite meticulously. It was clear that some very fundamental changes were required to be instituted across the division that was studied [and indeed, across the whole organization].

The report contained several recommendations, some of which were easy and some quite tricky. Nevertheless, it was time to translate the recommendation into concrete action.

Such scenarios are common across the world of business. The question that confronts decision makers at this stage deals with implementation. How do you go about instituting these changes? Here are some basic guidelines to follow while orchestrating changes:

1. Don't take half measures
   
   Any attempt at change requires total dedication. Half-hearted measures will cause more damage than good. Just imagine, what would happen if a cook took half measures while cooking. Would the food be worth enjoying?
   
   Half measures are dangerous for corporate health. Such efforts may make you feel good in the initial stages, but soon enough the realities will catch up with you, and all sorts of backlash will set in.
   
   Half measures serve to increase employee cynicism and wide-eyed disbelief about management. The cynics will have a field day and take the company's morale to the cleaners. And rightly so. These guys know that the bosses are simply not serious and genuine enough to see this through. They want the crisis to pass over, and everything will revert to the old way of doing things.
   
   Management is at great risk of losing credibility, when half measures are the norm. Hey, do you think everyone around you is a fool, who can't see through the rain dances that management periodically performs? No, people round you are very sharp and observant. They will see through your game quite quickly.
   
   Here's a situation for you to consider. Management members of a retail business feel that the staff in a competitor's outlets come to work more smartly turned out. They appear to be more cheerful, and serve customers more effectively. Management decides that the sales staff in it's outlets must emulate or even surpass that of the competition.
   
   Great. What happens next? A trainer is asked to come in and take the sales persons through a series of learning initiatives. The trainer goes about his task religiously. Six months pass by. Nothing happens. The salespersons continue to work the way they always did. Now, management must find a scapegoat. Who do you think gets the blame? The trainer and the staff, naturally.
   
   But, wait a minute, is this helping anyone? The trainer is not one to give up easily, so he sets out to get to the bottom of the affair. He goes and talks to the sales staff. He discovers that their living conditions are so appallingly bad, that no amount of training and exhortations will make them want to do the things you want them to do. They live like cattle. The gut doesn't have a proper place to place his shoes and polish them. He keeps his shoes and the polish on the window sill, because there isn't any other place. Do you think he will care to polish his shoes carefully and with pride before he comes to work?
   
   The trainer discovers something else. These guys have been provided with uniforms. Fine, but why do they not turn up to work in well washed and ironed uniforms? Because they have no washing machines at home. The material is cheap and not wrinkle-free. They have to send these clothes to the laundry, but they have to pay the laundry charges themselves. Then they have no place to hang the laundered clothes.
   
   The list is endless. The trainer points these things to management. Is management pleased? of course not. Management doesn't want to know about these things. Will management do anything about it? Of course not. It costs money, you see. It isn't in the budget, nor will these improvements ever be in the budget. The budget is so overloaded with beautifying the store-front, management is convinced any money spent on staff uniforms is a pure expense. And, you can be sure that the company's finance guy will strongly support management views.
   
   Come on, guys, don't kid yourself and others. If you want to change the way your staff come to work, you will have to change the way you think and work with them.
   
   
2. Don't play politics
   
   This isn't the time to play politics. Remember, many of the problems you are trying to eliminate are a result of the politics people have been playing for years. Be open and up-front. No change can take firm root unless the people being affected by the change are involved. Successful change initiatives require the commitment of everyone, not just management. Excessive politics weakens organizations. It places unsuitable and incompetent people in positions of power. These persons play more politics, since they are not good enough to do their jobs. Politics provides these people an opportunity to survive. People spend hours plotting and scheming, while Rome is burning.
   
   Yes, it's true that politics will exist where people live and work. But remember that politics flourishes in an environment that is bureaucratic and excessively hierarchical. Minimizing politics requires minimizing bureaucracy.
   
   
3. Don't hide the facts
   
   Managements across the corporate canvas love to control information. Somehow, people occupying managerial positions have been made to believe that it is their prerogative to receive information, and dish out what they believe is required by others. This is monumental arrogance, in its worst form. One can understand the need for secrecy while dealing with the launch of new products and new advertising campaigns, and with personnel issues to a certain extent, but to restrict information from your people is a real shocker.
   
   Has a CEO ever asked himself, "How would I feel if this information were hidden from me by the board?" You can be sure that he will spend most of his time, energy, and effort trying to outwit his board.
   
   We recently witnessed a case of a General Manager of a technology company who manipulates the books each month to show profits. The reason for such behavior is simple: the owners want to see profits each month, period. They perhaps believe that all organizations must show profits every month. This poor fellow cannot share any facts with his people. So they can do nothing to change the way they work. It's a downhill slide.
   
   What do you think the GM is doing? He is manipulating information all the time. The poor fellow is so busy doing this, he doesn't have the time to do some real work that might ensure long-term prosperity. What do you think will happen in the long run? One fine morning, the skies will come crashing down, the truth will be spilt all over the conscience of the company, like bad blood, and the GM will lose his job, and the owners will think he is a crook. Not true. The real crooks are the owners, because they will not listen to anyone, nor will they learn the right things on their own.
   
   
4. Solicit the help of others
   
   Change initiatives take a lot of doing. No one person can do it all by himself. In this day and age of unprecedented turbulence, no single person has all the answers. Worse, it is no longer possible to implement division or organization-wide change single-handedly. The people who are going to be affected by the change will have to cooperate with management.
   
   This fact is overlooked with such regularity that it's no wonder that change initiatives fail with such regularity. Remember, the people involved are the ones who will have to carry out the change. If you don't solicit their help and cooperation, the initiative is doomed from the day you thought about it.
   
   
5. Tell people what's in to for everyone
   
   Have you wondered why managers so often fail to tell their staff what they can receive as benefits as a result of the changes being contemplated? These could be many things - monetary and non-monetary. While the monetary are easy to spell out, here are some non-monetary ones worth communicating: greater self-esteem, greater knowledge, better market-value, and the like. If people know what' in it for them, their involvement and enthusiasm is bound to be a lot higher. Why pass this opportunity up, when it's waiting to be tapped?