The revenue growth projects I engage in with clients involve implementing changes in thinking and behavior. Here are five keys to creating successful change which I’ve learned over the years:

 1. It must come from the top. Change that originates from the middle levels of your organization is nearly impossible to implement. Staff must know it’s important to the leader.

 2. Just as successful change is mandated by top leaders, they must also be regularly involved in its implementation and management. Staff have an acute radar for “flavors of the month.” They assume it is so, until you prove otherwise.

 3. The change must be consciously focused on and discussed over an extended period of time. A few months aren’t enough. Permanent change must be worked on pretty much permanently. Why? Because when you look away, so does staff.

 4. Top performers must be recognized for their success in the new initiatives (see last week’s newsletter) and those lagging behind must also be recognized. Publicly.

5. There will be those who resist your change, and these folks must be anticipated, and communicated with preemptively, before the change even begins, and then throughout its implementation. Also, there is a difference between quietly resisting, and communicating resistance among peers. The former isn’t terribly damaging, the latter poisons the well for everybody.