Change CAN happen if just a few of your staff are on board. And cars can run on three cylinders—just don’t expect high performance.
Until an organization is filled with people who will pick up the hammer and ring the bell and commit to being a 10 on a zero to 10 scale, nothing great really happens.
No matter who you are, ask each and every member of your team to answer this direct question: On a scale of 1 to 10, how committed are you to a breakthrough? Most people will give an answer somewhere between 7 (“pretty committed”) and 10 (“committed out of my friggin’ mind”). A 7 from any member of your team might just as well be a 3 for all the good it will do you. Anything less than 10 gives that person a place to hide, an escape clause, permission to fail. “I wasn’t that committed anyway,” goes the tune.
And it just won’t do.
If anyone gives an answer other than 10, congratulate their honesty, then find out why. Some people will say, “I don’t have enough time,” or “Well, I don’t know. Explain what you mean by breakthrough,” or “I’m a practical person. I can’t commit until I know exactly what I’m committing to.” For each answer below a 10, you need to help them understand why their answer will end up hurting the rest of the team because they must be unified for a major breakthrough to happen. And a major breakthrough benefits EVERYBODY.
Make it clear that the breakthrough you seek is not an extra credit assignment, above and beyond the job. It IS the job. “I don’t have time for the breakthrough” means “I don’t have time for my job.”
Once everyone is fully on board at the highest level, willing to go the distance AND to hold each other accountable, there will be nothing in Heaven or Earth to stop you from achieving the profound and lasting transformation you need and deserve.