Recovering from a Stalled Change Initiative

Amid an age of increasing technology, innovation, and global business competition, there is no question that the pace organizational changes are introduced will increase, as well. With this pace of change, organizational leaders might find themselves short on the time and resources necessary to properly create readiness by utilizing implementation strategies. Frequently, a change initiative that is not introduced properly will meet resistance within the organization. When strong resistance is encountered, the initiative is often abandoned and replaced with some other effort. However, in some situations, the initiative can not be abandoned and implementation must continue. This research effort sought to identify the barriers leaders face as change initiatives stall by thematically analyzing responses from consultants in the organization development field. Then these barriers were reaffirmed by practitioners that experienced a stalled change initiative. Furthermore, strategies to overcome these barriers were identified by the consultants and then correlated to interview excerpts from the practitioners. The results indicate that the main barriers of stalled change initiatives include distrust, cynicism, and uncertain personal consequences. The suggested strategies to overcome these barriers included communication, creation of an open and inspirational environment, alignment of policies with the change, and reevaluation of the change effort.