The Myth of Readiness

Last week, I mentioned readiness. If it wasn't apparent then, let me be clear now: When it comes to measuring organizational readiness, the juice isn't always worth the squeeze.

Well to be fair, it's mostly that I think companies are doing it wrong.

Nearly every change management methodology measures readiness.  There's a fancy dashboard that captures things like, the number of people trained, metrics tied to the change initiative (e.g., IT, process), and, often, employee sentiment.  The metrics are used to decide if the organization is ready for change. To "Go Live."

What's wrong with that, you ask? Well…were you ready for your first year of college? Your first job? How about your first child? Sure, maybe you did things to prepare, but you weren't all the way ready. You just…began.

Readiness is more about what your people need after you start, not about the actual decision to start. Of course the infrastructure of the organization matters. There are times when starting something new would not be ideal.

But, if we waited for everyone to be ready, we'd never start.

Spend less time convincing employees of why they should change and more time letting them know they will have the support they need once they do.

Initiate movement.