Principle 1: Understand and Involve the Customer
This one principle has a greater impact on success than the other four combined.
Principle 2: Fix Key Problems
If a change project is to be successful, it needs the full support of leadership. The way to ensure that support is by addressing the problems that truly matter to the CEO.
Principle 3: Choose a Powerful Change Leader
The change leader must be many things to many people: she must have the CEO’s ear, and be close enough to ask for & receive resources needed for the project. The change leader must also have leadership skills and the respect of her peers.
Principle 4: Get Ideas From Outside the Field
Developing innovative solutions to entrenched problems requires looking beyond the familiar and shaking things up a bit. Looking at practices of other industries is a way to push beyond those boundaries and find new ideas.
Principle 5: Use Rapid-cycle Testing
NIATx change projects are fueled by “rapid-cycle” testing: a series of change cycles conducted in quick succession. Change teams test potential changes to an existing process and evaluate the results using Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) cycles.
