Organizational effectiveness in a change situation requires that the organization’s people demonstrate a high level of commitment towards the new initiatives. Whereas structural changes and modifications can be conceptualized and designed without the commitment of the people, implementation will be impossible without them.
Excellent leaders use the participative management approach to generate the necessary commitment to achieve success in change projects. Because organizations fail to adopt a holistic approach to change management, the training needs that justify major changes in behavior, attitudes and skills of the people are often overlooked or underestimated.
The situation is further exacerbated by the enormous financial resources that are required to facilitate the kind of training that will translate favorably into attaining the status of a learning organization. Futuristic leaders must amply embrace employee training. They must generate an enhanced awareness that the human resource base of an organization represents an accumulation of appropriate skills.
The time lag required for the manifestation of major organizational change programs inevitably constitutes a source of discouragement, not only for the faint-hearted, but also for the strong believers. Under this circumstance, it becomes absolutely necessary to produce convincing evidence at periodic intervals to assure the people that their efforts are yielding the desired results.
The failure to appreciate this factor may convey wrong signals. Rather than improve the circumstances of the organization, the change efforts may be perceived as generating the exact opposite. It is against this premise that the need to generate short-term wins arises.
A short-term performance measurement approach helps the organizational transformation process in a number of ways. It provides evidence that the sacrifices are not misplaced and that the resources deployed to the process is yielding desired outcomes.
It also reassures the change apostles that their efforts are being applied in the right direction, and reinforces their commitment to the change direction. Through a process of feedback, a short-term assessment mechanism offers an opportunity to modify the change strategies in tune with contemporary realities.