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Get a Return on Your Relationships
This year’s theme for BNI is “ROR”—or Return on Relationships. We chose this theme because at BNI we know that effective networking—and resulting successes—are really all about relationship building.
Have you ever noticed that some people seem to possess a penchant for doing well in life while others struggle? Do you know anyone who has the best of intentions but just cannot seem to get it together? Often times those who succeed are not necessarily those who are the most talented, best educated or even particularly intelligent. What is it then that sets these people apart from the rest? It seems to me that the answer to this question may be less of a mystery than we might imagine. I believe that the key to success is dependent upon our ability to network—to form relationships with others. The traditional view as to what it is that makes someone successful generally involves traits customarily regarded as “individual,” such as natural talent, intelligence, education and effort. However, in my view, success is not linked to individual attributes at all, but is intricately interwoven with the person’s networks and their ability to form relationships with others. When we truly understand the importance of relationships, we can start to access hidden resources that will help us to succeed in all areas of our lives: business, family and the community. The networks we create and the way we put them to good use has been referred to as our “social capital,”*as opposed to our individual or “human capital,” which takes the form of knowledge, expertise and experience. There is a growing body of research that supports previous anecdotal evidence that social capital increases performance, relationships and even one’s health. Individuals who network and build social capital are actually doing demonstratively better than those who do not; they are getting better jobs, better pay and faster promotions. They tend to be more influential, effective and happier than those who are unwilling or unable to benefit from the power of social capital. Successful people know how to develop rich social capital and reap the benefits in their business, professional and personal networks. It is important to be clear that building and using relationships for self-serving and instrumental goals is not the message. If we create a network with the sole intention of getting something, we will not succeed. In my experience, someone who joins an organization with a “hunters” attitude—seeking to network that group for their own ends—will invariably fail. It is only when an individual is willing to contribute to others that they achieve the rewards, and these are often far in excess of what anyone would expect or predict. Building networks enables each of us to contribute to others and to tap into the universal law of reciprocity. The less we worry about reciprocity, the more we find it: the more we give to others without expectation or repayment, the more we are repaid in the future. We have a simple phrase for this in BNI; it is “Givers Gain.” *From, “Achieving Success Through Social Capital,” by Wayne Baker. HUDDLE TIME
Success Isn’t an Entitlement
Everyone wants success. They might want it in different forms, but I’ve never met anyone who didn’t want to be successful at something in their lives. I believe everyone is entitled to pursue success; but success itself is not an entitlement.
Success is largely determined by our hard work and our choices. I know many people who work hard but make bad choices. It’s amazing how many of them think they deserve success because they feel they’ve worked hard. On the other hand, I don’t know many, if any, successful people who have made good choices but didn’t work hard. I knew someone who was constantly lamenting her “bad luck.” She wasn’t happy with her job. Her personal life was in shambles. She was almost thirty, hadn’t completed college, and constantly had money problems. She often blamed situations or other people for the various predicaments she was in. However, the glaringly obvious truth was that although she worked fairly hard, she continually made horrible choices. One day she would complain about money; the next day she’d buy something totally extravagant and unnecessary. The following week she’d complain about not being able to get a good job while showing up to work an hour late for personal reasons. From time to time she’d talk to me about her issues, and I’d point out the choices she made that led to her current problem. Each time she’d seemingly acknowledge the connection, but the truth is she never took ownership of the real problem: her choices. She once lamented, “Why me? I deserve better!” I didn’t offer my opinion, but what I wanted to say was, “Everyone feels like they ‘deserve better’ at some point in life. Now stop complaining, and start doing something about it!” Working hard is only one part of success. Making good choices is the second. It truly takes both to achieve success. As the CEO for an international business, I know the choices I make are sometimes pretty important to the business. They can impact hundreds of employees, franchise owners and associates, as well as tens of thousands of clients around the world. Years ago, I was talking to a friend about some tough decisions I had to make. He gave me some great advice. He said, “Not every decision you make has to be a good one. Just make sure you make more good ones than bad, and when you make a bad one, minimize the impact by fixing it quickly.” This squarely hits the point about working hard and making good choices. Not long ago I was talking to someone I’ve known for years about the growth of my business and some other goals I’ve met and he said, “Man you’re lucky. It must be nice.” I responded to him by saying “Yeah, I’m lucky; let me tell you the secret to my luck. First, I went to college for ten years. During that time, I started my own business and worked really long hours for two decades. Along the way, I mortgaged my house a couple times for the business, and I wrote five books. You can have this kind of luck, too. All you need to do is apply this kind of effort to whatever you do.” He laughed and said, “Okay, okay, I get it!” Did he really? I don’t think so. He hasn’t changed his behavior or started making different choices. If being successful was easy, everyone would have the success he or she thinks is deserved. For most of those two decades I mentioned above, I didn’t feel very lucky or successful. It took time, effort, hard work and adequate choices before I felt any modicum of success. The problem is that many people want to go from point A to point Z and bypass the challenges in between. The other day I asked my nine-year-old son to quote the mantra of success I’d been teaching him. He replied, in a young boy’s slightly bored sing-song tone, “The secret to success without hard work and good choices is still a secret, Dad. Can I go out and play now?” OK, maybe nine is a little young to start the training… but, maybe not. HUDDLE TIME
Be a Personal Marketing Champion
The BNI marketing program will work for virtually any businessperson who sets his or her mind to working the program. BNI is a sophisticated and highly effective marketing system that is supported by a business franchise structure. The program entails word-of-mouth referral marketing through a variety of individual networks of people. Each member looks for opportunities to refer their network partners to an appropriate BNI member.
This last part is what requires individual determination, creativity, tenacity and commitment. Members always have to be on the look out for referrals. Finding referrals for members is what fuels the program. The speed of this marketing system is highly dependent on the effort exerted by members to find lots of high quality referrals. We want you to succeed. As a marketing organization and business, BNI's success is contingent on your success. BNI staff members are doing all that is possible to bring to your chapters the most support, guidance and direction to increase your business. However, the program will only work if you work at it. Think about converting your BNI chapter into a "marketing engine" for your company. Your BNI chapter should not be thought of as a volunteer activity or an interesting add-on. It is your marketing thrust. You get out of it what you put into it. Without a marketing engine, your business will stay in the parking stall. The fuel for your BNI marketing engine is you. The speed of your marketing engine depends on how much fuel you add. Imagine a highly successful athlete. Let's say a NBA basketball star or an Olympic Gold Medal runner. Did the NBA star or the gold medalist, succeed by reinventing basketball or running? No. Did he or she become a champion by sitting on the sidelines watching the game? No. Champions succeed by following the guidelines of their coaches. Over time, and with lots of practice, tenacity and desire, they became champions at their sport. If you want more information about how to speed up your marketing engine, speak to your BNI Directors. They have the information you need. Follow their guidance. It really works, as is demonstrated by the member comments in this and other issues of SuccessNet. One chapter in Vancouver, Canada, tracks their net commissions and finds $40,000-50,000 more money in their pockets each month through BNI referrals. How fast is your chapter fueling the marketing engines of your member? BNI is not passive marketing. The program requires active participation by each member. The most successful members are very effective at utilizing all of the component parts to the BNI marketing system. I am sure that if you ask a member for suggestions, you will get many. Realize that when you meet a BNI member who generates lots of new business through the BNI process, you are also meeting a personal marketing champion. Let's all work together and aim to be champion personal marketers. HUDDLE TIME
Survival of the Weakest In networking, your weakest relationships could prove the strongest
Your relationships can be classified as either “weak ties” (people whom you know superficially) or “strong ties” (your close allies, friends, and family). Professor Mark Granovetter, now chair of the Stanford University sociology department, first identified the importance of weak ties in his seminal 1974 book, “Getting a Job: A Study in Contacts and Careers.” He distinguishes strong ties by the amount of time the two people spend together, the emotional attachment and the degree of reciprocity. Many people intuitively believe that they will most likely get their next job or client through their strong ties. However, in his research, Granovetter found that weak ties were far more effective for finding a job than strong ties. Some of the other activities that benefit most from weak ties are getting the latest news and publicizing a new restaurant (word of mouth marketing). It is often someone that you just happen to meet who will know of that perfect job opening for you. You never know. You never know whether that great job, customer or valuable piece of information is going to come from someone you just met or someone with whom you have a long-term relationship. Successful businesspeople tend to have a broad network of both strong and weak ties. Weak ties are important because they usually bring new information. They tend to consist of people very different from you so they provide access to knowledge, markets and people to which you would otherwise have no access. By contrast, strong ties tend to be people who are similar in gender, race, socioeconomic background, cultural background, religion and various other attributes to the owner of a given network. Therefore, they are redundant to a greater degree. In addition, weak ties are easy to maintain, and therefore it is far easier to have many weak ties than many strong ties. Although your weak ties can produce great value, it is typically the strong ties that provide you with a sense of camaraderie, comfort and security. But this does not mean that stronger are more valuable. Strong and weak, in this context, simply imply different types of relationships. It is neither one nor the other, but the combination of strong ties and weak ties that creates a high-value network. With effective use of online business communities, you can rapidly acquire thousands of weak ties with targeted segments of the global population, while at the same time developing strong ties with specific individuals. The power of the Internet for interpersonal networking is that one can rapidly acquire thousands of weak ties, which was much harder to do historically. Although some believe that the Internet is unsuitable for the development of strong ties, this is untrue. Many users use e-mail, video chat and other Internet technologies to deepen the relationship significantly before ever meeting in person. The interpersonal communication paradigms that framed the communication studies of the 20th century do not necessarily hold true for those who have grown up in the Internet age. The Internet provides a mechanism for starting and sustaining long-distance relationships with both your strong and weak ties. Breaking News
2003 International Directors' Conference Draws Hundreds
This year's International Directors' Conference was held at the elegant Embassy Suites Hotel in Brea, California, and surpassed all previous attendance records. Nearly 500 enthusiastic Directors and members attended Friday's Members' session. Highlights of the six-day event included:
BNI-Misner Foundation Partners in California Wildfire Relief Fund The BNI-Misner Charitable Foundation operates under the California Community Foundation. In response to the critical situation in Southern California, the California Community Foundation has established the "Southern California Wildfire Relief Fund." Grants made from this fund will support the early and advanced stages of rebuilding and reconstruction critical to long-term recovery efforts in Southern California. The California Community Foundation will partner with the BNI-Misner Charitable Foundation to ensure the effective and efficient administration of funds. There will be no administration fees on this fund so that every dollar raised will go toward the rebuilding efforts. The California Community Foundation will match your contributions to the BNI-Misner Charitable Foundation—dollar for dollar—up to $100,000. The creation of the Southern California Wildfire Relief Fund was announced on October 27, 2003, by Jack Shakely, the President of the California Community Foundation. "What we're announcing today is a fund that will help start the rebuilding process, reconstructing communities that have been damaged by the wildfires," Shakely said. You can help! Please make your donation payable to: "The BNI-Misner Charitable Foundation" and send to: The BNI-Misner Charitable FoundationIn the "memo" portion of your check, please indicate: "Southern California Wildfire Relief." Thank you! North America
BNI HAPPENINGS — United States Chapter Finds Power Sources at Fish Fry
MN Members Work Their 1st Trade Show
MSP Training Takes a Spooky Turn
New Chapter Finds Reason to Celebrate
Directors Bond Post-Conference
BNI HAPPENINGS — Canada 3rd Annual Masters of Networking Awards Gala Huge Success in BC
Europe BNI HAPPENINGS — The Netherlands
Dutch Chapter Enjoys a Crowing Door Prize
It is obvious from the expression on the face of Henk Schiermeier, who is being awarded the prize, that he was wondering, “What on earth am I to do with this?” Undoubtedly he was thinking that he should have perhaps waited a week before passing on his referrals! André Troost of Troost Business Theater had already revealed his exceptional skills in his imaginative and creative 60-second presentations, which have been a source of constant inspiration to the other chapter members. Now, it was André Troost’s turn to give a 10-minute presentation. I can assure you that the Haecinia chapter will not forget that in a hurry! For the full 10 minutes he kept the chapter members hanging from his lips with his fascinating account of what his business is about. Every second of his performance was masterfully used to maximal effect. It proved to be an inspiring lesson for his fellow chapter members as to “how do I explain, in 10 minutes, what I do and what I can offer other businesses?” And then his door prize… André walked to the door and grabbed something from behind it. To the accompaniment of merry laughter and a standing ovation from all his fellow chapter members, André handed over a very lively, lustily crowing rooster in a beautiful cage to a completely stunned Henk Schiermeier. The gesture symbolized “you have to do something noticeable to be remembered,” and André’s memory hook is “You have to crow to be heard!” More mirth at the end of the breakfast meeting when Henk Schiermeier left the room with his book of business cards in one hand and the tirelessly crowing rooster in his cage in the other hand. That afternoon Henk and his grandchildren took the rooster to a local farm. The rooster was introduced to his 34 new wives. With not so much as a glance of farewell over his shoulder at Henk, the rooster strutted off to embrace what can only be termed as his golden age. Henk had not shared this information with André and the other chapter members. A week later he had a testimonial for André: "There is no better fowler than Troost Business Theater” announced Henk. And he gave the cage back to André. On a plate in the cage were a few feathers and a couple of chicken bones gnawed clean. Now it was André’s turn to be nonplussed! BNI HAPPENINGS — United Kingdom Cambridge’s Exceptional Granta Chapter Gains Media Recognition When you can boast of being the largest BNI chapter in the world (and one of the most successful), it goes without saying that you’re going to be noticed. So, when members of Cambridge’s Granta chapter recently welcomed their 50th member in the shape of health and safety consultant Karina Kshtopman, they probably guessed their achievements would soon be recognized. Amid the wave of media interest, a reporter from the Cambridge Evening News asked to visit one of the chapter’s meetings to see for herself why more and more local business people were taking to business networking, BNI-style. Jenny acknowledged her scepticism before attending a Granta breakfast session, but, as she quickly discovered, while the approach may not be traditionally British, the results are taking British businesses by storm. The result of her visit was a double-page-spread article. Granta chapter is one of very few exceptions to the “40-maximum” chapter capacity rule, which over nearly 20 years BNI has calculated to be the optimum number for a BNI group. “In most cases, we would discourage any chapter from growing its membership beyond 40, but where this happens, it is vital that the leadership team have additional checks and balances in place to ensure that everyone continues to enjoy the full benefits of BNI,” said National Director Gillian Lawson. “In Granta’s case, they’ve achieved this. For example, they pay greater attention to member’s 60-second infomercials so that no one feels short changed by the inevitable time constraints.” Members Rally to Save Local Shop Members of three Gloucestershire chapters have just pooled their business resources and expertise for a most unusual cause: to save a local village shop. The Temple Guiting Trade Fair was held in the Town Hall, organized by Cheltenham chapter member Diana Beaver, as a networking and fund-raising event to provide much-needed new refrigeration units for her village’s local shop, which had been struggling to survive and seemed destined for closure. Some nine members of the Cheltenham, Cheltenham Spa and Gloucester & Tewkesbury chapters took part, and the event also attracted other local business people, of which at least two are now considering joining BNI. “The traditional village shop has long been under economic pressure, especially in rural areas,” said Diana. “I was delighted to see many fellow members supporting my local shop and taking stalls at the trade fair, which another BNI colleague, Susan Lindley of APT Marketing Solutions, publicized very successfully. Our Cheltenham chapter is just like one big family and it’s wonderful to see the level of support that members give each other.” Chapter Director Brian Fothergill, whose Coffee Academy provided refreshments for the event added: “It was very satisfying to see members coming together as a group to promote BNI, as well as a good cause. I’m confident that a number of non-member local businesses that took part in this event will now be considering BNI membership.” Africa/Middle East
BNI HAPPENINGS — Israel Members Hunt Golden Geese
Dan Business Chapter Kicks Off The newest Israeli chapter, "Dan Business," held its successful kick-off in the Givatayim Theater with over 50 guests attending. Ben Ton of the Metropolitan chapter told his success story of an investment consultant who through a joint venture with Jonathan Marcus of the Jerusalem Monday Morning chapter developed a new investment market in Israel and has had a return of six figures. Australasia/Asia
BNI HAPPENINGS — Malaysia Founding Member Shares Secret to Success
Members Gather at Half-Year Conference
BNI HAPPENINGS — Singapore Networkers without Borders One of our members recently had a great BNI experience. After a breakfast meeting in Malaysia, he headed to the local mall to buy a new pair of glasses, which he had been putting off doing. He totally forgot that he still had his BNI lapel pin on. The optometrist, Mr. Chai Kok Kien, spotted the pin and said he was also a BNI member. He even has a BNI label just outside his shop (which I didn’t notice). Although the two men were from different countries and different chapters, they chatted like old friends. There was also another BNI member, Jason Sia, who patronized the shop at about the same time. The support between BNI members was very good, and Jason shared that 70 percent of his business comes from BNI referrals. BNI HAPPENINGS — New Zealand National Director Wins Founder’s Award BNI’s National Director, Graham Southwell, recently returned from Los Angeles, where he attended the International BNI Conference, along with directors from 13 other countries. Graham was the recipient of a Founder’s Award for Substantial Growth in a Country. In the four-and-a-half years since he chartered the first chapter in New Zealand, BNI now has 51 chapters throughout NZ, with over 1,200 members. It has twice the number of chapters per head of population than most other countries! Graham’s conference presentation, “Results not Rhetoric,” was well received by conference delegates. PROSPECTIVE MEMBERS
Is BNI for Me? So you've recently been invited to a BNI meeting and wonder where you fit into the mix! First of all, let me say, thank you for checking us out. We've been putting business professionals together for almost two decades in a word-of-mouth marketing environment. To date, we are the largest business-to-business networking organization in the world! 60,000 plus members feel that BNI is certainly for them. We hope you will agree!
BNI was started in 1985 with a single purpose: to develop the referral business of the members. From that point, BNI has grown to the vast networking group it has become. We allow one person per profession to join each chapter, thus guaranteeing exclusivity to the members in their business category. If you are a florist, you will be the only florist in your chapter! One member values his chair at the table each week to be worth over $30,000, because that is the amount of referral business his fellow members generated for his company in one single year. Annual membership in BNI costs less than a business suit—it's the most cost-effective way to market yourself in today's highly competitive marketplace. If you value having 20 to 30 other business people marketing you to others, then BNI is the right place for you! We hope that you like what you see and that you will join a chapter near you and experience firsthand the difference a structured referral system can make in your business. For more information about BNI and our chapters throughout the world, please clink on www.bni.com. FAQ's
Ask BNI This is the place where you can ask any question about BNI. If you have a question for BNI's CEO and Founder, Dr. Ivan Misner, send it to askbni@bni.com. He will post his response here, as space allows. From time to time, a guest Director will post a response. You may view other questions Dr. Misner is posed by going to www.entrepreneur.com, where Dr. Misner participates in Entrepreneur.com's Ask the Networking Expert.
Q: How will the Do Not Call Registry here in the United States affect my ability to follow up on referrals for new business? A: The Do Not Call Registry in the United States is great for companies that focus on getting a large part of their business through word-of-mouth. It is, however, a huge blow for telemarketers. The main purpose of this registry is to give people added protection against telemarketers by prohibiting phone calls to consumers who have put their phone numbers on the National Do Not Call Registry. The registry has been accepting listings since June 27, 2003, from consumers who choose not to receive telemarketing sales calls. Consumers can place their telephone numbers on the registry by making a toll-free phone call or by going to the registry Web site and signing up their personal numbers (including mobile phone numbers). Registrations are good for up to five years and must then be renewed to stay in force. Two separate rulings earlier in 2003 established that the FTC lacked the authority to run the registry. However, this prompted Congress to pass, and President Bush to sign, a bill clarifying the FTC's role in record-breaking time (which illustrates the level of frustration that the public has with telemarketers). At the time of this writing, the Do Not Call Registry is fully functional, with more than 54 million phone numbers registered in the system. More importantly, more than 50,000 complaints have already been filed reporting violations of the rule. Telemarketing abusers may be subject to a fine of up to $11,000 for each infraction of the registry rules. Clearly, you do not want to do anything that would put you in jeopardy for this type of fine. Therefore, the way that you follow up on referrals is very important because you do not want to be confused with a telemarketer when calling someone on the registry. Here are some points to remember when following up on a referral: The registry provisions do not apply to business-to-business calls, except for telemarketers selling nondurable office and cleaning supplies to businesses. Other than that exception, you should be safe to follow up on a referral by contacting the person on his or her business phone number. You may follow up on any referral to a home number (even those on the registry) if, and only if, the person you are calling has given you written permission to call them. An electronic signature or e-mail is acceptable as written permission. There is an "established business relationship" exception to the Do Not Call regulations. The regulations define this as anyone who has purchased your product or service within the past 18 months. This means that you may contact anyone (even if they are on the registry) if your company has done business with them in the last year and a half. For more information on how the Do Not Call Registry may apply to your business, visit the registry's Information for Business page. This new legislation is great news for any business that relies heavily on referrals and understands and follows the above procedures. For those of us who think referrals are important, look at the new regulations this way—the U.S. government has just legislated something that makes referrals more important than ever and cold-calling more difficult than ever. This should be a wake-up call for the many companies out there who are still training their sales force to build their business through telemarketing. Networking, relationship marketing and referrals are the wave of the future for doing business. If you want to be successful in today's business environment, it will be increasingly important to build skills in this area.
Huge Kick-Off Leads to Huge Networking
NY Honors Members of the Year
Members ‘One-on-One’ for Their Hearts
This year Dave contacted BNI members in many chapters and encouraged them to schedule one-on-ones WHILE doing the Heart Walk. While the rain kept away a few walkers, it was a great event. John Geisler of Coldwell Banker, David L. Holzer and Dave Holzer and Nathaniel (the little one) of Compensation Consultants, Inc., Tony Ranalli of Bulldog Office Products, Jo Ann Hall of North Star Communications, Nancy Luster of PNC Bank, Bob Schmitt of Hood Insurance and David Salgarolo of American Express Financial Advisors all participated. (What troopers as evidenced by the hats and hoods!) Participants not in the picture are Sandy Briggs of All About Walls and Patrick McDonough of Advance Care Chiropractic. Dave and his crew collected $2,500 for the Heart Walk. Next year Dave’s goal is to collect over $4,000 and to organize the most simultaneous BNI one-on-one’s ever for the Heart Walk. Congratulations to Dave and to all who participated. One-Week-Old Chapter Lands in ‘Hall of Fame’ Our Temple, Texas, chapter, "Champions in Action," had our kick-off celebration the week before the annual convention. While I was at the convention they called to say they had signed up a total of 33 members for the chapter. I was surprised to find out that makes us a "Hall Of Fame" chapter! I’m so proud of our magnificent start. Popping the Question, BNI Style Talk about a BNI Testimonial! I conducted the Core Group for the Dadeland chapter of BNI in Miami just over three years ago, where both Fady and Maria met for the very first time. Just a few weeks ago, during a BNI Sister Chapter Day meeting between the Dadeland and Doral chapters of BNI, Fady took a knee and asked Maria to be his wife (with a little planning help from Stephen Foster, our Assistant Director). It was another fantastic BNI meeting, where the energy in the room was electrifying, and the referrals were flowing. Congratulations, Members! The following people have earned Gold Club Status:
Givers Gain
The Mighty Fenway II Givers gave, gave, gave at the Greater Boston Food Bank one evening sorting and packing almost three tons of canned and packaged food items for distribution to area food pantries, shelters and soup kitchens. That was sufficient to provide 4,488 meals, enough to feed a family of four three meals a day for a year. Incredible! Yet that's only four of the more than 87,000 hungry people in Eastern Massachusetts served by GBFB. Power of One-on-One Pays off
She sent out my contact information, and as a result I got an email from Google for some specialized training in their marketing and PR areas. As a result I have now done a series of classes from beginning to advanced and have had very positive feedback from every student. As a result, more training classes are going to be scheduled as well as possible quarterly regular training. I have also received an email from someone in another group within Google regarding training. Member’s Book Available Through BNI Foundation David Medansky, a practicing attorney and member of the Networking High Rollers BNI chapter in Phoenix, Arizona, has a new book out that is available through the BNI Foundation’s bookshop. "Craps: A Winning Strategy" is also part of a BNI Foundation-Barnes & Noble partnership to further the interests of children and education. The partnership donates 100% of the associates fees paid from the sales of books through the BNI Foundation's bookshop. Find out more about his book by visiting www.goldendicepublishing.com. Column
A Time for Everything—Including Change "There is a time for everything, and a season for every purpose under heaven." On its face, this well-known King Solomon wisdom, from the 3rd chapter of Ecclesiastes, delivers hopeful encouragement. But implicit in this passage is a somewhat hidden and often troublesome paradox: A time for everything also implies nothing can be forever, and therefore, change is inevitable. In the abstract, we accept the reality of change. But in practice, we often regard it like the medicine we know we need, but don't want to take. And knowing change is inevitable doesn't make the pill sweeter. In the marketplace, it was challenging enough to implement change when we had the expectation of not having to do it again anytime soon. But in the 21st century, the bitter pill of change has acquired an unfortunate new characteristic: a frighteningly short duration. Organizations that will enjoy consistent success in the future will make change an abiding element in their business model, rather than an intrusion to “the way we've always done things." They'll create a culture and environment where change can occur whenever necessary, without creating a casualty list. Rick Maurer, author of "Beyond the Wall of Resistance," conducted a survey of organizations that have implemented change. He identified four things they did to create a culture compatible with change. 1. Make a strong case. Maurer found that "when change was successful, 95% of the stakeholders saw a compelling need to change." Change must be accompanied by evidence of its importance. If you can't make the case, either you haven't communicated effectively, haven't done your homework or it's not the right thing to do—yet. 2. Establish the vision. Maurer's research indicated 71% of successful changes happened “when people understood the vision of the project." Clearly, stakeholders will support a new direction better if they can understand the long-term benefits of the change. 3. Sustain the changes. Failed changes reported to Maurer indicated the primary reason was “leadership’s inability to sustain the change.” Leading a successful change isn’t a sprint; it’s a marathon. It takes time and must endure pressure from many sources. Sustaining change may be the greatest test of leadership. 4. Anticipate maintenance. Maurer found that managers who attended to the first three areas had the least concerns with the fourth. But all managers must recognize that it's not the nature of change to be self-perpetuating. Finally, hundreds of human behavioral studies have established that when something positive (or negative) is expected, that's what is likely to happen. It’s called the Pygmalion Effect, and it can be very powerful—either way. If we can help our people expect something positive in the changes we're proposing, the outcome probably will be. Write this on a rock: The inevitability and velocity of change makes the ability to lead and maintain it an essential management skill.
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