Throughout my career — like a chief financial officer in companies small and big, like a corporate and nonprofit board member, and now as CEO of an fast-growing privately held startup — I’ve learned to turn into a change agent. It’s a badge I wear proudly, and one which includes trained me in as to what works and just what doesn’t when managing change.

Every change initiative is exclusive, though the truths about forcing change succeed are, in general, the same. Here I’ve collected 10 truths about change management. Imagine them like tools in a toolbox — you must have them nearby, you must know putting them to use and you should determine the proper time for it to pull them out and place results. That’s the modification agent’s responsibilities.

1. Change is all about people.
I lead a software company that gives a game-changing connected planning platform. Although I have faith that technology will help our organizations grow, evolve and improve, change management is ultimately about people. As leaders, we have to set the instance from the change we would like through the people around us. Since the great NBA coach Phil Jackson said, “You can’t force your will on people. If you want these phones act differently, you need to inspire these phones change themselves.” Only if you help individuals change are you able to aspire to change a company.

Related: 5 Principles to help with Constant Change

2. Spend some time.
Some changes are quick, but real, transformational change can — and frequently must — take years. We’re all amazed with how quick things alteration of Silicon Valley, as well as the ability to react fast might be important survival. But, changing hearts, minds and finally culture (see No. 1) often can’t be achieved together with the snap of your fingers.

3. Create a vision.
Stake out where you desire a transformation to look at you at the start of Kogan Page Change Management Books. Understand what success appears to be. That doesn’t mean every item has to get fully baked from Day One. The truth is, avoid doing that — because it means you haven’t engaged those who you ought to get aboard along with you. And don’t be rigid, because that may get in the way of success. (More on that in a bit.)

Related: 5 Ways CEOs Can Empower Teams to produce Collaborative Workplaces

4. Engage your stakeholders.
This can be central to selling the vision you established. Get the people that will be suffering from the modification, and obtain them involved and committed to the work and its success.

5. Acknowledge tradeoffs.
When we are inspired to change, keep in mind the effects. Think of it like pulling the loose thread on a shirt — sometimes it can cause a control button to fall off. In case you add resources — dollars, people, space or anything else — to 1 project, make an effort to determine what normally takes a back seat. And time is the ultimate finite resource, if you ask a superstar who’s already working at ability to take action extra, realize that her productivity in her own “day job” may need to be shifted.

6. Work with the willing.
Few people with your organization is going to get on board the modification train. That’s natural; many people may have means of thinking and dealing that are incompatible in doing what you need to accomplish. So, while it’s perhaps the least fun section of change management, sometimes you need to attract new people that share up your eyes, and let go people that don’t. I don’t have to tell you that staff changes are expensive, though the costs of misalignment and wasted time on resisters are so much greater.
7. Overcommunicate — and after that communicate some more.
I’ve used every medium imagine to speak about change. Town halls, emails, newsletters, intranet sites, videoconferencing, collaboration tools — they all have a place. In some cases, it’s appropriate to discuss internal change with others outside of your organization, it mat be most people. For example, each of us were transforming Cisco’s finance department from your number-crunching machine right into a strategic business partner, we published a Q&A in the Wall Street Journal for the project. People mixed up in the effort shared the piece around, and took greater pride in the work — and several people we hadn’t had the ability to reach by other methods finally understood what we should were looking to do.

8. Listen.
The communication I simply described can’t be described as a one-way street. You need to listen to the people who are making the modification, and listen to the people suffering from the modification. That doesn’t mean you value all feedback equally, or give the those who are complaining added time. But look challenging for the useful nuggets with what people show you, and plow it to your plans. In such a way, this is the extended version of engaging your stakeholders (No. 4).

9. Empower the silent majority to communicate in up.
If you listen (No. 8), you’re more likely to hear a few voices the loudest. Be aware that they’re not necessarily speaking for almost all people. So, give the silent majority a few ways to make their voices heard: Anonymous polls and surveys will help, but sometimes you need to train and persuade folks to communicate in up. I remember one situation by which someone posted a very negative, scathing comment about a project in an exceedingly public forum. As an alternative to engage on this public platform, an abandoned but valued part of my team emailed him directly and very respectfully invited him to dicuss — one-on-one, face-to-face — about his concerns and helped develop a remedy. He or she immediately backed down, and my team member then asked him to look at back his discuss the same public forum. He did.

Related: Why Problem Solvers, Not Whiner, Always Win operational

10. Learn as you go along.
Challenges will arise as organizations change; the failure or success of your change management effort relies on how you reply to those challenges. For example, since the finance team at Cisco became strategic business advisors (rather than simply back-office human calculators — see No. 7), many people found themselves in unfamiliar territory. We were holding brilliant accountants, but had gaps of their business knowledge. We addressed this by creating new learning opportunities and career development paths for individuals in finance. The same is possible in any division of your organization.

Because i noted earlier, not all of these truths sign up for every situation. And admittedly, none of those things is particularly novel, but that doesn’t mean they’re difficult to miss. The business landscape is littered with change management projects that failed for reasons that are, looking back, painfully obvious.

But, each one of these truths is nuanced, and success lies in their application. The wisdom of change management is always to know which tool to utilize, and when to use it. And that’s where leadership is available in.
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