Change is a difficult thing, but the whole reason we are here. Every living thing is involved in change. If we don’t improve, we are by default becoming weaker and less effective. Organizations change in the same way. What many executives and accountants do is called slash-and-burn. Anything that is no longer working is cut and disposed of. Starting fresh is one way of growing, but your organization will never achieve greatness. You may have a working operation for a few years–just long enough to implement your exit plan and go burn down some other part of the corporate rainforest. It is surprising how common this is amongst the highly educated and certified leaders filling upper-management positions today.

There is, however, a more sustainable way. This involves real change and requires improvement that will last. Patience is not often a quality encouraged in business today, but it is required to reap this kind of result. Think of yourself as a farmer. Chickens, for instance, don’t start laying eggs for a considerable portion of their life, but if nurtured properly, will produce wonderfully. I’m not saying people are chickens, but the principle is the same. We require investment and growth for some time before we are able to produce reliable results. What have you put into your team to help them succeed? If conditions are not right, even good layers will stop laying all together. You must have a safe place to work. Fear in the workplace will end any positive change you want to encourage.

Too much change, too fast can destroy the productivity of an organization. Change management can become the bull in your organization’s china shop, and if the organization is hemorrhaging, a sustainable change management may not be the solution, and slash-and-burn may be your only option. But, let’s put that aside for now. Let’s say you want to take the healthy organization to the next level.

Change that will boost the organization and its members is the long term growth I am recommending. First and most importantly, you need to assess whether the change you want is the right kind of change for your organization. Measure the current state and its variation! Don’t expect to come into an organization from the outside and in a few days gain sufficient understanding of the culture to grasp what the full consequences of any change will be. If you are not an accepted part of the culture, you will not have the information necessary to know what you are doing and will likely get pushback that could stop your efforts cold. The change must be easier for everyone.

Next, you will need an engine that grows with the scope of the change initiative. Remember the post on starting small? Build on the natural state (get a baseline) and with the end goal in mind. There are many parts to an engine, but not all are necessary at first. Make the primary improvements that are needed to get the ball rolling (use the 80/20 rule). Not everything needs to be completed at first. Start with the things that will bring the greatest impact or are required operate. Be sure not to sacrifice key attributes of the current system’s successes. Once you have thought through every detail, plan ahead and gather all pieces needed to ensure an instantaneous implementation that avoids any disruption in service or product. The customer should be amazed at how fast the change took place and say “Ah, I wish we had done this years ago.” That is how you know you have a winner! Use your engine as a test case in an area that is not the core operation and measure results.

Note: If the change fails to deliver a good result, no harm done. You tried and learned from the experiment, and you now have a team of people that helped you, who will be more invested in revising the plan to succeed using their feedback and insight. Keep trying to get it right. Try again until you get the engine working.

Now, use those positive results to help win the support of key champions that will be able to use their leadership to influence a full rollout. If your organization is filled with people that are adverse to any change, you need not start by removing people. Use those who see the benefit first to implement the change in their areas. As the plan grows, it will be more and more apparent that the change is indeed better, faster, and cheaper than the current state. You may yet win over those who opposed the change. Sometimes your biggest critics will become your best champions. It will be much easier to sell the change with them, because together with their credibility and the results that now show benefit to both the organization and the customer, you will be able to build momentum.

Finally, it will become apparent that there are some who will not buy in to the initiative. It is important to remove them in time to prevent sabotage. Timing is everything. Once the majority is on board and the rollout is well on its way, begin removing these people from the operation. There will be ways to move them to areas that their skills will be needed, even promoted without losing their loyalty to the organization as a whole. Make sure you replace them immediately with competent help to maintain operations. The key is to not sacrifice the safe space you have created in the organization. If they become disruptive and/or subversive, remove them from your organization as quickly as possible to protect those who have been willing and able to succeed. Overwork to make up for the loss could cause people to change their minds about the implementations, and should be avoided at all costs. Your champions are your success. Sometimes hiring extra help is wise to avoid losing these champions.

No end to change. You finished the change, but the work is not complete. Remember the 20% that did not get the focus. Start a new focus of improvement on those areas you did not have resources for during the rollout. That last 20% will mean the difference between lasting change and just another failed idea. Keep at it with the spirit of continuous improvement, and enlist your champions in the effort. After all, they will be the ones who understand what needs to be done next.