Organizations don’t change—people do Many companies move quickly from setting their performance objectives to implementing a suite of change initiatives. Be it a new growth strategy or business-unit structure, the integration of a recent acquisition or the rollout of a new operational-improvement effort, such organizations focus on altering systems and structures and on creating new policies and processes. To achieve collective change over time, actions like these are necessary but seldom sufficient. A new strategy will fall short of its potential if it fails to address the underlying mind-sets and capabilities of the people who will execute it. McKinsey research and client experience suggest that half of all efforts to transform organizational performance fail either because senior managers don’t act as role models for change or because people in the organization defend the status quo.2 2. For more on McKinsey’s organizational-health index and findings on organizational change, see Scott Keller and Colin Price, “Organizational health: The ultimate competitive advantage,” McKinsey Quarterly, June 2011. In other words, despite the stated change goals, people on the ground tend to behave as they did before. Equally, the same McKinsey research indicates that if companies can identify and address pervasive mind-sets at the outset, they are four times more likely to succeed in organizational-change efforts than are companies that overlook this stage.

To ensure an equitable and inclusive participation, Workcred invited executive directors and directors of certification that represented certification bodies based on selected criteria—whether their certification(s) could be aligned at the cognitive content level of a bachelor’s degree, whether the organization participates in Workcred’s Credentialing Body Advisory Council, and if they are accredited by a third-party.4 For purposes of this project, accreditation served as a proxy for the industry value of the certification. Select employers in industries related to the focus of a convening were also invited to participate.

Smart leaders will not focus so much on exhorting people not to be afraid of change and will instead work to do everything they can to increase a sense of stable, supportive community. Unfortunately, many leaders see stability, community, and a sense of belonging as enemies of innovation — when in reality they are the prerequisites.

"Organizational change management ensures that the new processes resulting from a project are actually adopted by the people who are affected.”

Center of Excellence

attaching our project’s goals to a defined institutional need allowed us to move forward