One of the more useful concepts that has arisen from the formal study of Organizational Change Management is the “Change Adoption Curve“. But before you toss it out as more consultant blather, I’d encourage you to consider its merits and limitations. The curve presents the simple idea that people tend to go through a predictable [...]
I was flying cross-country the other day after a long week of work when I noticed this beautiful scene out the window. It reminded me that most things worth doing involve some hidden elements. They may also be bigger and more complex than they first appear. But that shouldn’t frighten us away from taking them [...]
I’m up in the mountains today and even though the calendar and the weatherman predicted it, one of this year’s first blasts of wintery weather caught me off guard. It also looks to have altered the clothing choices of most folks – including me. A nice, warm coat is definitely this week’s hot fashion accessory. [...]
Few professional skills will correlate more closely with your ability to lead change as your ability to facilitate influential groups through critical discussions and timely decisions. Being able to guide people as they define their goals for a given interaction – and then consistently reach those outcomes – is a big part of helping your [...]
Change Agents are often asked to draft and deliver specific messages as a part of stakeholder communication. Whether a given communication event will take place by sending an email, posting website content, releasing a video or conducting a meeting, it’s easy for the details to fall through the cracks without proper planning and diligence. Hence [...]
theBigRocks Pictures of the Week! Photography is a side hobby of mine. While my hobby might not apply to helping teams through change in a text book sense, sometimes I notice little things when looking through the lens and it just clicks for me… I snapped the following pics during the Fourth of July Parade [...]
Tip #36: Consider How Your Change May Impact Existing Relationships Today’s post is a picture that tells a story of two ways one can view the impact of change on existing relationships. For clarity, it can help to think of your change as bringing about the end of something and the beginning of something new. [...]
I’m a huge fan of Freakonomics. In their books, blogs, films and podcasts, co-authors Stephen Dubner and Steven Levitt regularly explore what they call “the hidden side of everything”. They research cool topics like aligning incentives to motivate behavior, proving or disproving causality and digging into data related to all matters of systems theory as [...]
There’s a time to fall in love and a time to fall in line. Sorry to put it so bluntly, but while some changes are perceived as being a good deal for everyone involved, sometimes change is needed for less-then-positive reasons. In the world of implementing change, the chances are good that you’ll see both [...]
Change Agent Tip #31 In my last article, I described methods for Change Agents to reclaim control of their overflowing inboxes by, among other things, setting aside dedicated slices of time each day to focus on handling email and using a 2-minute rule to knock out emails that are easy to answer. Click here to [...]
Change Agent Tip #30 In the famous words of Monty Python’s Flying Circus… “…and now for something completely different!” Today’s post will address a topic I haven’t touched on yet in the nearly two years of writing this blog. I’m talking about email overload. Email is one of the main communication tools used by Change [...]
Change Agent Tip #29 Resistance is a very real force that works against your chances of successful change. Change Agents must not only recognize it – but actively address it or they may risk lukewarm adoption, or – in the worst case – total rejection of the change. In the first two posts of this [...]
Change Agent Tip #28 Open expressions of resistance can make a Change Agent’s work nearly impossible. But before diving right into confronting resistance, I recommend Change Agents take a closer look at the potential motivations behind it. In my last post, I discussed how the changing price of raw cocoa on the world market may [...]
Change Agent Tip #27: Look Under the Wrapper The Easter holiday season has just wrapped up. Last week was one of the peak periods of the year for chocolate sales. Store aisles and end caps were stacked high with bunnies, bars, baskets and all sizes and shapes of chocolate delights. Anyone who stuffed an Easter [...]
Change Agent Tip #26 A wise man once told me that one reason people struggle with change is that it often means we’re going to lose something. It’s Personal: Consider the last time you were impacted by a significant change at work (or in life). You may have been asked to give up something in [...]
Change Agent Tip #25 One of my favorite parts of helping people deal with change is the chance I get to work with some incredibly talented leaders at all levels of my client organizations. One such leader had a great way of boiling complex behavioral expectations down to simple phrases that I like to call [...]
Changing your organization’s culture is a lot like recovering from an injury. Neither situation tends to get better on its own. It takes accurate diagnosis, the right prescription for recovery and diligent follow-through by both the healer and the patient. Meet My Doc: Doctor Patrick Osgood is a fantastic Orthopedic Surgeon with North Tahoe Orthopedics [...]
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