If all organizations were frequently producing breakthroughs, we would be enjoying exponential increases in results. Did you know that creating such breakthroughs often requires a different focus than when making modest improvements?

How can we replace our improvement projects with breakthrough progress?

Breakthroughs usually take the sweat and tears of many people. But those efforts won't bear fruit unless the right mix of skills and experience is involved, properly directed by exceptional leaders and by the right thought process.

Let me put this advice in context: It's an important lesson for those who want to make lots of 2,000 percent solutions (ways of accomplishing 20 times more with the same time, effort, and resources).

The steps for creating a 2,000 percent solution are listed here:

1. Understand the importance of measuring performance.

2. Decide what to measure.

3. Identify the future best practice and measure it.

4. Implement beyond the future best practice.

5. Identify the ideal best practice.

6. Pursue the ideal best practice.

7. Select the right people and provide the right motivation.

8. Repeat the first seven steps.

This article looks at practicing to become more effective in accomplishing step seven, select the right people and provide the right motivation.

Recruit and Coach a Winning Team

People are the critical resource for any organization. Without the right people, it's hard to exceed the future best practice and approach the ideal best practice. Keep in mind that few people, no matter how talented, function well in a changing environment. Still fewer can work well on a team instituting changes. One unreasonable doubter can discourage a whole team. Someone who uses too much influence can stifle others. You're looking to create a rare and delicate balance in your dream team of change makers.

Change? Over My Dead Body!

It might seem that the best way to implement any change is to work with those who know the job best those who actually work with the process every day. But if big changes are needed, this approach isn't always a good idea. Use only the old crew and you will probably run into a very serious foot-dragging stall. Even the best workers lose their perspective over time. Experimental evidence shows that people new to a job have a much easier time with understanding the need for and enjoying the pursuit of changes. They can be taught whatever history they need to know without being stalled by it. The current crew can play devil's advocate  to keep the new team honest, as it were. But don't hold their experience against the current crew. Provide them with a new challenge in a different part of the organization where they are unfamiliar with the operations.

You need very capable relative strangers to take on a change project, but they don't have to be people from outside the organization. Look for as wide a range of perspective, skills, and knowledge as you can.

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