Organizations of all sizes and genres today are challenged to survive amidst the turbulence of uncertain economic times.
According to John Kotter, author of "A Sense of Urgency," infusing a high sense of urgency into a large group of people can produce outstanding results. Kotter discovered in his decade of research, however, that most organizations fail due to insufficient levels of urgency.
We are shifting from episodic to continuous change and the rate of change will increase for the next five to 10 years, Kotter claims. The ability to create a true sense of urgency in your organization will become a powerful asset, much like intellectual capital and customer loyalty are considered intangible assets.
The biggest challenge to urgency is the prevalence of complacency. Most often, no one really thinks they are complacent; they believe the fault lies with others. Complacency causes people to: quit looking for opportunities or problems, move slow when fast is needed, rarely initiate anything productive, and pay more attention to internal views or self-perpetuating beliefs versus taking a hard look at what's truly going on externally. This often spawns a "we know best" attitude among leaders, causing overconfidence and complacency throughout an organization. Previous success can be a detriment to future prosperity.
Kotter suggests that there are ways to spot complacency in organizations.
No. 1. Truly important matters can't get scheduled because everyone's agenda is so full. No. 2. People are reluctant to talk openly and honestly about where the problems exist. No. 3. People see trends in their business or industry going the wrong way - maybe for years - but fail to take substantive action. No. 4. Discussions on key issues often end with no action plans, deadlines or accountability for improvement.
I found Kotter's prescription for building urgency to be helpful, especially his idea of bringing the outside in and behaving with urgency every day.
The author recommends bringing in outside consultants or experts on areas that significantly impact the company's performance.
Companies also can send employees out to investigate what other successful companies are doing, send a team to a trade show, assign a special research project - the important point is to expand your perspective and that of employees by bringing in outside influences.
When it comes to exhibiting daily urgency, leaders must set the tone. Begin by rearranging schedules so that the important issues can be addressed. Kotter also advocates that leaders "be visibly urgent" so that employees see that there will be no letting up - that the only way everyone can prosper in the future is to get better each day.
Leaders need to be passionate about change and let that passion become evident to employees through words and action.
Finally, old-style management that stands on a riser demanding conformity and telling everyone they must change just won't work anymore. Employees want leaders that share the responsibility for bringing about change, are visibly passionate about change, will stay the course when it gets tough and will communicate honestly and continually so that they're kept in the loop knowing what's going on.[[In-content Ad]]
Springfield-based consultant Mark Holmes speaks nationally on increasing employee and customer retention and improving employee performance. He is the author of "Wooing Customers Back" and "The People Keeper," and his ideas have been featured in the Wall Street Journal and on Fox Business Network. He can be reached at mholmes@thepeoplekeeper.com.
