Ingredients for success

Managers who have undertaken major projects requiring a culture change say there are some universal principles that apply in all cases. Some of these include:

Strong leadership — Forceful, vocal managers at the top are needed to push for changes in the ways people do their work.

Communications — Leaders must get the word to others in the affected organizations at the earliest stages of a project and then throughout the process. They have to relay accurate information and encouragement.

Champions and buy-in — Leaders at the top can't do it all. A successful project also calls for people in the middle to carry a torch for the effort and spread their passion to rank-and-file employees.

Enforcement — When all the carrots in the world won't get a few stubborn folks to budge, leaders must reach for the stick.