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Short-Term Wins and Don’t Let Up

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Short-Term Wins and Don’t Let Up

Create Short-Term Wins

One way to create short-term success is to reward change agents early on, keep all leaders

on board, capitalize on momentum, facilitate change by means of sacrifice, and provide data that

is both clear and convincing. The term may also be used to describe an internal business strategy

that takes six to eighteen months to complete. A short-term victory has the following

characteristics: it is related to the change effort, it is visible to the whole company, and its

success is clear. Changes take longer to be implemented in a military context because of the

bureaucratic procedures required. The resistance to change inside an organization is reduced via

the utilization of quick victories by the steering coalition and the top management. Like long-

term successes, short-term victories neutralize skeptics by demonstrating the veracity of the

transformation vision.

In the military, it is expected that subordinates would blindly follow the instructions of

their superiors. Change implementation, however, may be a source of contention even among

leaders of same status. As a result, the typical time frame for a successful change implementation

is between three and six months. It won't take too much time since workers who resist

management changes may suffer consequences (Will, 2015). It will score a nine on a scale from

one to 10 for clarity. However, from a visibility standpoint, it will be a 9. Because of the time

and money, it will save, this will be a significant victory. Military leaders are entrusted with

authority over their subordinates and tasked with guiding them to achieve mission success.

Adherence to the command mission is essential for short-term success. Short-term

triumphs, according to Kotter and Cohen, might affect continuing operations. They help an

organization persuade skeptics, revitalize dormant team members' belief in the purpose,
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encourage the team to execute on the vision, and provide leaders critical feedback on their plans'

feasibility (Kotter & Cohen, 2012). A group's efforts may fail, and members may mistrust their

ability and quit up. Superior commanders in the US Navy try to put enlisted men and women in

their best situations. This ensures sailors get the best military experience. This will improve their

mission success in the future. Military forces always remember that completing their goal is most

vital. Military commanders assign few tasks to guarantee a swift victory. Leaders are under extra

pressure to finish the work since future teams rely on them.

Leaders with a strategic mindset look for methods to improve their teams' output, and

then they recognize and reward their employees for their efforts. Short-term victories aid in

developing a momentum of team members hence enhancing performance in the long run. In

addition, leaders benefit from short-term successes since they provide them insight into what

they need to change for the next mission. Managers analyze teams' actions and decisions in order

to determine whether or not they will achieve their goals (Kotter & Cohen, 2012). The

deployment of new technologies, improved processes, and other initiatives may all boost profits

while decreasing overhead. Senior management buy-in is crucial for ensuring the allocation of

enough resources to achieve victory. When leaders and their teams have a strong rapport, they

can do even the smallest of tasks with ease.

Many attempts to implement change in an organization fail, but the governing coalition

and top management still have resources at their disposal to keep the company focused on its

new vision (Calegari, Sibley, & Turner, 2015). By implementing short-term achievements that

are visible throughout the whole company and link to the change effort, the steering coalition and

senior leadership can keep the momentum for change going strong. In the long-run short term,

victories are vital as they are the ones that combine to modify effort on a huge scale. Without
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near-term successes, a company has no way of knowing where it is going or what it has to do

better in order to accomplish future goals. Thus, immediate successes are crucial to the success

of a larger organizational transformation.

Implementing change at a big business is not always simple to understand given that

multiple change efforts generally start with good intentions and achieves modest effects. The

aftermath of a failed organization-wide change initiative is often marked by feelings of blame,

frustration, and counter-blame. Additionally, leaders may realize that while adhering to John

Kotter's change model to a tee, they still failed to bring about the desired results (Blanchard,

2018). As a result, filling the hole requires delivering short-term successes to enable an effective

steering coalition and realize the transformation goal. Lack of early short-term

accomplishments and change effort demotivates teams resulting in poor performance. Therefore,

top management must undertake long-term changes that also provide immediate results.

Don’t Let Up

Military commanders must make reducing burnout a primary goal for their troops. The

new system will only be effective if it is maintained once it has been built. According to Kotter,

productive teams keep their egos in check and their sense of urgency high by never proclaiming

triumph too soon and never wasting time on tasks that don't matter. Similarly, the field of

organizational behavior views change as something that is not only crucial, but also requires

constant refinement (Khan, 2017). Implementing change effectively demands a motivated team.

Businesses need to make sure they're always initiating change. However, leaders must learn the

hard way that change is complex and that challenges are to be anticipated. Momentum is crucial

at this "don't let up" period. Teams should take time to recognize the accomplishments of

individual members while keeping the big picture in mind.

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Procedures that provide little value to the completion of a project should be evaluated for

possible elimination. Additionally, a team leader needs to make sure that their staff are only

working on projects that play to their strengths and add to the company's overall success. A good

team leader is one who celebrates the achievements of their team members and encourages them

to keep working hard until they succeed (Khan, 2017). One must have trust in the capacity of

their teams if they are to achieve in this attempt. Confidence in one's team is what stops its

members from giving up and from ceasing their efforts to win. The second element is to push

your personnel to accomplish some type of quick achievement, no matter how tiny it may look.

This will assist them create the basis upon which their future triumphs may be based.

A team's leader should inspire team members to maintain their eyes on the target by

building on prior triumphs. To accomplish this, we will make sure that all of our efforts are

beneficial and lead us closer to our goals. The fourth is to build upon prior success by seeing to it

that all preceding stages come to fruition. This helps organizations move closer to their aims.

Building on prior accomplishments also raises confidence in an organization's capacity to attain

its objectives (Rothwell, Stavros, & Sullivan, 2015). Fifth, gather feedback from everyone who

has a stake. The total of an organization's pieces is bigger than the parts themselves, and every

member's contribution important. Every time you acquire steam as a team leader, your team

members' trust in you expands by leaps and bounds. Also, it assists in unearthing new

possibilities and drives the team towards realizing their objective. Lastly it needs having a level

head by ensuring that one is not dismayed by challenges that come along. If you keep pushing

forward, you will get where you want to go.

A successful leader should also be an effective mentor by setting an example of how to

adjust one's behavior when confronted with adversity. According to Albrecht et al., (2023, doing
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so not only inspires the members of their team but also assists them in gaining a better

understanding of the goals of the company. If one wants to be successful at whatever it is that

they are working on, it is imperative that they give their complete attention to whatever it is that

they are doing and that they put in a lot of effort into it. A leader ought to look at the changes

they bring about with an optimistic perspective. It's possible that if a team gets rid of members

who aren't contributing anything, it will be able to see further and advance more quickly toward

their goals.

Conclusion

In the ever-changing world of organizational transformation, the ideas of scoring quick victories

and keeping the ball rolling are crucial. Critical early successes may be achieved via short-term

triumphs, which build team morale, defuse skepticism, and reinforce the change goal. The

military setting places a premium on achieving these victories quickly and effectively while

staying true to the goal. Alternately, progress can't be maintained without constant tweaking and

enhancement. Premature celebrations of victory need to be avoided at all costs, and instead teams

should concentrate on activities that provide real value to the mission. Leaders are responsible

for boosting morale, maintaining faith in the team's ability to reach its long-term objectives, and

recognizing and rewarding its members for their contributions. To avoid setbacks and keep

making progress, it is essential to have open lines of communication with your mentors and to be

alert and prepared for any obstacles that may arise. Organizations can manage the difficulties of

change and make sure their transformation initiatives succeed in the long run if they use a

combination of methods that provide short-term successes and don't let up.
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References

Albrecht, S. L., Furlong, S., & Leiter, M. P. (2023, January 20). The psychological conditions for

employee engagement in organizational change: Test of a change engagement model.

Frontiers in Psychology, 14. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1071924

Blanchard, K. (2018). Leading at a higher level: Blanchard on leadership and creating high

performing organizations. FT Press.

Khan, N. (2017). Adaptive or transactional leadership in current higher education: A brief

comparison. The International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning,

18(3).

Kotter, J. P., & Cohen, D. S. (2012). The heart of change: Real-life stories of how people change

their organizations. Harvard Business Press.

Rothwell, W. J., Stavros, J. M., & Sullivan, R. L. (Eds.). (2015). Practicing organization

development: Leading transformation and change. John Wiley & Sons.

Will, M. G. (2015). Successful organizational change through win-win: How change managers

can create mutual benefits. Journal of Accounting & Organizational Change, 11(2), 193-

214.