Pay now, or pay later.

Bite sized leadship advice

We like immediate rewards, to mark things as done. We often take the short cuts that are presented to us. Why not?

When it comes to implementing change in an organisation we have two choices; pay now, or pay later.

Pay now is investing the time in getting the implementation strategy right, keeping the organisation just within the capacity that it has for change, being flexible and adjusting to what we know. What we call an irrational plan.

Pay later is when we use a standard process, fixed timelines with little adaptability. A rational plan. When the implementation fails to reach adoption, or is sustained it has to be re-worked, or simply abandoned. The pay later.

No surprises. The financial cost of paying later is typically higher than the cost of paying now. So why do most change implementations pay later?

Is it because

1. We committed to a Steering Committee that we would ‘go-live’ on a date, we have printed the t-shirts and we are too embarassed to say that we may have to change the date.
2. Why do we need an implementation strategy? We did posters and a rational plan last time, so that must be how things are done, right? (few programmes measure adoption rates).
3. We used up all the time on development and testing, which took longer than we thought, we don’t have much time left to do a implementation strategy.

Whatever the reason, stop the high failure rates of adoption within projects by investing the time (days not weeks) in a great implementation strategy.

Not sure if you need an implementation strategy, then ask yourself the Three Killer Questions to know the value you have at risk and the level of risk you are carrying.

Some practical advice

1. Know the value you have at risk and the level of risk
2. Know your environment (History, culture, leadership commitment)
3. Know the outcome that you are looking to deliver
4. Build your irrational plan and the measures for success
5. Give your sponsors and stakeholders an informed choice; pay now, or pay later

This is part of our Leadership Wizdom series, bite sized leadership advice for leaders who wish to improve their leadership, but don’t have much time. For more indepth articles check out The Change Wizard.

We coach leaders and help their organisations become more adaptable at www.thechangewizard.com