2018: How to boost your probability of success?

The pace of innovation and change is always increasing. Research tells us that the probability of change success in whatever project or initiative you undertake can be as low as 30%, which means there is a 70% probability you will fail.

Let’s take your plans for 2018, either for yourself or for your business. If you continue with your current approach with only a 30% probability of success, it means you will need to keep trying many more times before being successful. What’s more, this ‘trial and error’ approach to change comes with a high cost in terms of lost time, reduced confidence, wasted money and poor utilisation of resources.

In a changing world, success depends on our ability to adapt says Richard Miller, Strategic Services Partner at Dafferns

Current research by global business experts Mindshop has examined how to improve your probability of change success, identifying 3 main contributing factors:

Readiness (30%)

How ready the organisation and the people within the organisation are to implement change

Does the leadership visually and emotionally support the change?
Do the participants understand the need for change?
How do you answer the question “What’s in it for me?”
Do you have an appropriate process to bring about the change?
Is there sufficient confidence for it to succeed?

Capability (40%)

The skills, people, training and resources needed to implement change – both operational and dynamic

Beliefs (30%)

The overall attitude of the organisation in relation to the change

The challenge for business leaders is to identify where the key gaps are before you start, and to put in place specific action plans and key performance indicators to bridge those gaps. We use a simple diagnostic tool as a starting point, in testing how likely a particular plan or initiative is to succeed. This online diagnostic comprises 20 questions and takes about 5 minutes to complete.

For an SME, resources are always scarce, so a little time invested in assessing whether your business is “change ready” in the first place will boost your probability of achieving those all-important plans for 2018.

If you would like to discuss this further or have any questions please contact Richard Miller.