3 Quick Tips Before Starting a Change Initiative

You have an idea to make a change in your community or organization. Change initiatives require planning, managing and a lot of work along the way. Here are three tips to consider prior to starting a change initiative.

1. Establish a clear destination for the initiative. The destination helps you communicate about the initiative. You will want to involve other people in the initiative and will need a picture or reason to gain their participation. This is called the vision.

The vision combined with a time line creates a destination. People will want to known what type of time commitment is required for participation and how they may be able to participate.  Answer the participant question of “why me?” when asking for participation.

2.  Start small with influence and by winning.Unless you are the person leading the change process the initiative probably feels likes the same old same old, is confusing or is a reason to be fearful. You want to obtain the support from a core group of influential people quickly and you want to have evidence of success. Start with something small and share it as evidence of success for the work you are doing.

3.  Determine your persistence sooner rather than later.Change takes time and although some obstacles can be anticipated, persistence is required to overcome obstacles and keep forward momentum. At the same time, you have to remain flexible to learning new knowledge along the way and adjusting accordingly. Centering yourself in why you are involved in or leading change will help you remain persistent.