Do You Have Change/Initiative Fatigue?

Chances are you've got a story like Andrea Zintz's. Now president of Andrea Zintz & Associates, a consulting firm in Pennington, N.J., she was working for a health-care concern in 1997 when the firm's executive committee decided to launch an innovation initiative for 800 managers across all of its operating companies. Two weeks after the kickoff event—three fabulous days of inspirational talks by inventors, creators, and consultants—each attendee received a big box with the words "Tool Kit" on the front. It was filled with binders, pamphlets, videotapes, all kinds of useful information—and it sat on managers' shelves. No follow-up ever took place.

You're probably laughing—or wincing—in recognition of what has become a familiar tale of corporate change efforts. Indeed, with all the transformation efforts going on these days, the workplace seems to have transmogrified into one continual change initiative. Maybe it's a relief to know that only a few of these efforts will actually be carried through to completion, but that knowledge doesn't do much for morale. Change fatigue is rampant, and it's exacerbated by a natural tendency to distrust change that is imposed from above. The remedy, say the experts, flies in the face of the revolutionary approach to change that reigned during the dot-com era's heyday: Pare down the number of initiatives. Be less preoccupied with large-scale transformation, and focus instead on small improvements. Above all, lose the notion that you need heroic leaders in order to have meaningful, sustained change.