New challenge

Disciplines > Change Management > Creating change > New challenge

Method | Example | Discussion | See also

Method

Get people to maintain interest in a change by giving them new challenges that stimulate them and keep them looking to the future.

Example

An organization that wants to stop people from drifting away back to old ways plans a deliberate series of bold market moves that both inspire and engage its people in beating new competitors in each sector attacked.

A research department that wants to focus its researchers on a new field of interest ensures everyone who was working on the old technology is formally engaged in leading-edge research into interesting possibilities in the new field.

Discussion

One of the key things that makes people happy is challenge. In particular, people who have discovered this get hooked on the buzz and fall into the psychological flow of getting deeply engaged.

Challenge is a future-based motivator that focuses people on new and different things, rather than basic motivations such as control and safety that may lead people to resist change.