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Five Steps to Building Commitment for Change

NCJ Number
202763
Journal
Police Chief Volume: 70 Issue: 10 Dated: October 2003 Pages: 54-55,57
Author(s)
Merle Switzer
Date Published
October 2003
Length
3 pages
Annotation
This article describes a five-step process for building commitment for change, known by the acronym IDEAS.
Abstract
A change effort needs a solid foundation. Building a rock-hard foundation by taking the time to build true consensus and commitment is important. These steps will take some additional time at the beginning but will save time and frustration later. The first step is to identify whose commitment is needed. A peer leader and shop steward are two examples of people whose commitment might be important in that others will watch to see how they weigh in on the coming change. Other stakeholders are those that would be affected by the change, could help make the change happen, or could pop up with the power to derail the change. The second step is to determine the level of commitment needed. This includes a two-step process: (1) determining how committed people are to the intended change; and (2) determining what level of commitment is needed from specific people. Step 3 is to estimate the critical mass or determine how many people are needed to implement the change. The nature and scope of the change are key factors in making this determination. Step 4 is to get the commitment of the critical mass. The key is to understand what it will take for staff to buy in to the change and take steps to meet those needs. The final step is to status check to monitor the level of commitment. Status checking refers to creating a monitoring system to identify progress in gaining commitment. One way to do this is to ask for volunteers to sign up to participate on a trial basis. Who signs up and how many can be a good gauge to determine commitment. A Commitment Ladder can be drawn on a piece of paper with rungs designated to represent a greater or lesser level of commitment. Employees can be asked to put an X on the ladder in the field that represents their level of support to give the leader an idea of how much support there is for an idea.