OK, so you want to keep your job. But you recognize that the latest organizational change program is headed in the wrong direction. In fact, you're convinced that this change, if fully implemented, will do more harm than good. Unfortunately, you've been given responsibility for making sure the program succeeds. What to do?
Thankfullly, you can spend lots of time and energy appearing to implement organzational change, while actually ensuring program failure. Simply apply the following five principles:
Principle One: Set Unrealistic Deadlines
Principle Two: Never Admit Mistakes
Principle Three: Kill the Messenger
Principle Four: Don't Waste Time Talking to People
Principle Five: Continually Increase Scope
Principle Three: Kill the Messenger
Occasionally, someone may have the audacity to point out something that has gone wrong, is going wrong, or could go wrong. This attitude must be immediately squashed by punishing the bearer of bad news. The punishment does not have to be strong to be effective. Instead of firing the upstart, you could simply shunt them off to lower visibility and more boring work. Don’t worry, both they, and more importantly the organization, will get the message.
This approach is most effective when combined with a policy of rewarding bearers of good tidings, especially if the numbers have been fudged. After all, these team players are demonstrating the power of positive thinking.
The beauty of Principle Three is that you can avoid hearing about problems while there is still time to fix them. Few problems will simply go away. Most will continue to get worse. Best case, they will even cause new problems to occur. Over time, the build up of problems will destroy your program.
Stay tuned for Principle Four: Don't Waste Time Talking to People
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