Change Drivers for Organizational Innovation

Every division, department, or organization in the 21st Century Company(TM) must undertake programs to maintain its competitive advantage or to meet other corporate objectives.  In today's business climate these programs may be focused on environmental stewardship, quality issues, costs, etc.  In general, there are 10 major Drivers of Change.  Of course, all of these items have been around for years - this is not something new!  These are not things that companies have never heard about.  I believe the main emphasis must be that these Drivers are constantly evaluated and a systematic approach be undertaken to ensure results are achieved when any one of them is undertaken.  A key skill to success is Project Management with Leadership skills.

Process change programs undertaken by companies can be distilled down into Ten Drivers of Change(TM):

1. Reduced environmental damage
2. Reducing energy usage
3. Conformance to government regulations
4. Developing new markets
5. Reduction in raw material usage
6. Improving manufacturing processes
7. Expanding a product line
8. Replacing products or services
9. Providing higher quality products and services
10. Minimizing labor costs

These ten can be sub-divided into many other more specific items.  There are others including financial areas, construction, etc.  However, these are the most often undertaken. 

With any program there are many opportunities to fail. You MUST understand the reasons many programs fail if you hope to succeed.  Some of the reasons may require significant cultural or process changes within your business if you hope to succeed at any of the listed Drivers above. Some of these reasons for failure will be presented in other blog posts.

See also:
- Causes of failure within the Change Driver Process
- Causes of failure for Change Drivers within the business infrastructure
- Example of a corporate Quality issue and suggested leadership approach