I love pineapple upside down cake. If you’re a pineapple fan and you haven’t tried it, you need to. When it’s done right, there are few better desserts on the planet. To satisfy my sweet tooth, I plan to bake one of these beauties the next time I have a bit of time and access [...]

The last article on theBigRocks was authored by our first-ever guest writer.  Dr. Rodger Dean Duncan is an accomplished Change Agent who worked for several decades in the field before capturing his methods in a book called “Change Friendly Leadership“. He shared part of his new book in that post. I would encourage you to [...]

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. [...]

So far in this series, I’ve focused on how Change Agents can be more effective by learning and applying the art of facilitation to their routine work. We’ve talked about different ways that people think and how good facilitators pay attention to this variance as they guide group discussions and decisions. Over the next few [...]

I wonder if the cattle-driving skills I learned as a child growing up on a farm in Minnesota influenced my interest in group facilitation. Long before the catchphrase “herding cats” became popular, I had come to enjoy pulling and pushing strong-willed people through challenging processes. Based on that experience, I firmly believe that the art [...]

As a Change Agent, one of my most common roles is that of “Facilitator”.  One moment I will be asked to guide an executive team as they make tough decisions. The next, I’ll help resolve a personality dispute that’s blocking team success. As a neutral Facilitator, I’m often called to help an individual or a [...]

In my last post, I described what often happens when Change Agents and Sponsors of Change fail to communicate with their stakeholders. I suggested that people could interpret a lack of communication in one of several negative ways. They might think you’re telling them: 1. “This change is simply not a priority.” – After all, [...]

Change Agent Tip #40: Don’t Wait. Communicate. It’s hard to over-emphasize the value of communicating with stakeholders when you’re implementing change.  “Failure to Communicate” is consistently listed as one of the top causes of lackluster change results even though common logic, past experience and routine risk management would tell us to err on the side [...]

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 #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 #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 [...]