why creating a sense of urgency is a terrible idea

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I recently wrote a blog with the same title http://www.media1.us/harrison-withers/creating-a-sense-of-urgency/, that I got a bit of positive feedback on. I decided I could shorten it and give it more impact as a SlideShare. It's about a "best practice" in change management that seems like a good idea at first blush, but as you really think about what the words mean, it turns out it's not that helpful at all.

TRANSCRIPT

by

Harrison Cates Withers III

Why Creating a Sense of Urgency is a Terrible Idea

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/ or send a letter to Creative Commons, 444 Castro Street, Suite 900, Mountain View, California, 94041, USA.

Copyright © 2014 Media 1. All Rights Reserved.

I was recently told that a best practice of

change management was to

“create a sense of urgency”

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what

does it

really mean?

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and is it relevant in

today’s business climate

of openness and

transparency?

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Let’s break it down:

Create a Sense of Urgency

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what is it you are trying to create

when it comes to change?

If you want people to help create a

solution, you should engage them

before it’s urgent.

Create

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sense alludes to a

feeling.

you may “sense” you are

getting a cold, or maybe

you just need a drink

of water.

Sense

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the fact that something is

urgent does not mean

it’s important.

Urgency

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Source: First Things First, Stephen Covey

human beings tend to be quite literal.

create a sense of urgency

is translated as:

a fictional account that will make me feel uneasy

and that I need to take care of immediately, but that probably isn’t important.

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what you really need is:

communicate an

expectation

and explain the

importance

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words matter

if your people understand it’s really important,

they’ll make it urgent.

(be transparent)

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For companies understanding that user adoption is the key to

the success of their enterprise technology

investments, Media1 is a transformational firm that goes

beyond training and communication strategies delivered by

consultants and trainers.

Media1 delivers a unique process and technology that

engages users, aligning them with strategy, enabling

measurable progress against critical business goals,

leveraging customer-specific Human Capital Analytics, and

delivering more than a return on the technology investment.

Media1 delivers a Return on People and empowers the

customer to build a more engaged workforce.

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Why Creating a Sense of Urgency is a Terrible Idea

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