The environment for change in many organizations is unfriendly at best, creating a challenge for leaders trying to push for innovation. In a recent article for the blog Lead Change, leadership consultant Jon Lokhorst offered these five tips for leaders trying to initiate and navigate change in a change-averse culture:

• Host town meetings with employees from across all levels of your organization to ask what they would do differently if they were CEO for a day.
• Invite a cross-section of employees to view your organization as if they worked for your top competitors. Encourage them to point out weaknesses that could put the organization at a competitive disadvantage.
• Form an innovation team with the autonomy to explore and develop new projects. Include workers from all areas of the organization critical to the project’s success. Consider including a skeptic or two to ensure that the hard questions are asked.
• Create a pilot program to invite commitment to change as a trial run. Review the program at regular intervals, so skeptical team members know it is being carefully scrutinized.
• Provide an innovation budget. Allocating resources for new ideas shows a willingness to fund them without expectation of immediate return.

See the full blog posting: “5 Ways to Lead Change in a Change-Averse Environment.”