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 #32 Over the past couple posts I’ve introduced several things Change Agents can do to take control of their individual email inboxes and increase their effectiveness with this critical communication tool. Another angle worth exploring to improve communication effectiveness is your team’s use of email. Today I’ll propose a set of ten [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

Many teams struggle to maintain positive morale through the long slog of a project. Today’s tip is simple to understand but surprisingly difficult for many Change Agents and Sponsors to follow through on. I call it: “Throw ‘Em a Bone”. The idea is to make sincere team appreciation an active, planned part of your project. [...]

In an earlier post, I advised Change Agents to treat their change like a project in order to give it the structure and discipline needed for successful execution.  I also described a set of four “must haves” for Change Agents to deliver these projects. The list of key ingredients in my recipe for change project [...]

Some teams work for months or years to implement a change, then limp across the finish line burned out and ready to shut down. Others reminisce fondly about having been part of a great team that accomplished something significant. What sets the two apart? I would argue the one of the most critical factors in [...]

Sponsors and Change Agents often use a common metaphor when they encourage the targets of their change to “get on the bus before it leaves“. When it comes to helping people deal with change, the only outcomes worse than seeing stakeholders miss that bus could be seeing them get on the wrong bus or even [...]

Play Ball! Who doesn’t love the smell of fresh cut grass on a balmy Spring day and the crack of a baseball hitting a hardwood bat? This month in Florida and Arizona, the 2011 Major League Baseball Spring Training season got underway.  As a baseball fan, I love this time of year because the optimism [...]

One of my favorite quotes of all time is attributed to US President Theodore Roosevelt. Teddy spoke directly to Change Leaders, Change Agents and Receivers of Change when he said the following at the Sorbonne in Paris on April 23, 1910: “It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how [...]