When it comes down to it, all change is personal. It all comes down to individuals thinking and doing something different. Whatever you are trying to make happen in your organisation, its ultimate and sustained success will be brought about by people’s behaviours and attitudes. Change management is first and foremost the management of personal change.
There have been literally thousands of studies of the impact of key psychological factors in bringing about personal change. In isolation, each study has something important to say about a different situation and circumstance, but is there a consistent message overall?
A recent meta-study by researchers at Sheffield University reviewed the 20,000 odd papers that pertain to this subject, and narrowed these down to those where they could ensure statistical validity in the overall result, and concluded, statistically, that the key to success is frequent immediate monitoring of your own progress.
Statistically, across the whole range of situations and circumstances, you are twice as likely to achieve your personal goals if you measure your progress, you are further more 1.5 times more likely to progress if those measures are frequent. Another way to look at this is that 60% of your development investment is wasted where your people do not routinely and systematically monitor their own progress. $1200 of each $2000 training course, 36 minutes of every hour’s coaching support, almost two thirds of the potential impact of your change programme.
For more on this, take a look at the Independent’s article on the Harkin study –http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/study-reveals-the-one-thing-successful-people-need-do-to-achieve-their-personal-goals-a6713111.html
In other words, if you really want to improve meetings across your organisation, the most important strategy to bring this about is measurement.
Track your progress to ensure the efficacy of this strategy.