Faced with the need for massive change, most managers respond predictably. They revamp the organization's strategy, then round up the usual set of suspects$-$people, pay, and pro$-$cesses$-$shifting around staff, realigning incen$-$tives, and rooting out inefficiencies. They then wait patiently for performance to improve, only to be bitterly disappointed. For some rea$-$son, the right things still don't happen.

Why is change so hard? First of all, most people are reluctant to alter their habits. What worked in the past is good enough; in the ab$-$sence of a dire threat, employees will keep doing what they've always done. And when an organization has had a succession of leaders, resistance to change is even stronger. A legacy of disappointment and distrust creates an en$-$vironment in which employees automatically condemn the next turnaround champion to failure, assuming that he or she is "just like all the others." Calls for sacrifice and self$-$discipline are met with cynicism, skepticism, and knee$-$jerk resistance.

Our research into organizational transfor$-$

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mation has involved settings as diverse as multinational corporations, government agencies, nonprofits, and high$-$performing teams like mountaineering expeditions and firefighting crews. We've found that for change to stick, leaders must design and run an effective per$-$suasion campaign$-$one that begins weeks or months before the actual turnaround plan is set in concrete. Managers must perform signifi$-$cant work up front to ensure that employees will actually listen to tough messages, question old assumptions, and consider new ways of working. This means taking a series of deliber$-$ate but subtle steps to recast employees' pre$-$vailing views and create a new context for action. Such a shaping process must be ac$-$tively managed during the first few months of a turnaround, when uncertainty is high and setbacks are inevitable. Otherwise, there is lit$-$tle hope for sustained improvement.

Like a political campaign, a persuasion cam$-$paign is largely one of differentiation from the past. To the typical change$-$averse employee, all restructuring plans look alike. The trick for

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