Making Change Successful

The discussion in a recent seminar focused on change. Participants shared insights from several decades of experience.
1. Some of the reasons these erudite professionals listed for why change initiatives fail follow: the target people have no sense of urgency, are not invested in the new way, are invested in the old ways, are not uncomfortable enough, had ineffective introduction, had improper implementation, had poor articulation, had inconsistent messages and outcomes, had a lack of essential resources, and/or had little accountability.
2. What are the reasons you have for poor performance? The poor performance that comes out of a reluctance or a resistance to change results from these possible factors: individuals do not agree, they do not understand, they are not committed, they are not valued and do not value the change, they do not know how to make the change happen. What factor follows you the most in your career?
3. There seems to be a continuum that includes five stages for people to navigate through change: deny (the status quo stage), resist (the "no, because" stage), watch/wait (the "maybe" stage), accept/comply (the "yes, but" stage), and advocate (the "yes, and" stage).
4. Would there be less early resistance if managers and leaders referred to change by another name, such as opportunity, initiative, or plan?
5. In addition, five characteristics of change emerged: change takes time, it must be chunked into steps or phases, it must be related directly to the individuals who are to make the change, it is first often perceived negatively and pessimistically, and it is endured best one hour at a time.

Change disrupts comfort, disturbs habits, and interrupts perspective and priority.Change requires you to embrace risk, to take a chance on doing something different for the sake of making improvement. How will you use this information to address the next change you face? How can you find a sense of control in the midst of the change to make your efforts successful?