It’s summertime as I write, a time when things slow down from the usual pace we experience for the rest of the year. So I’m enjoying taking time to read some new books and revisit old favorites. I think you will enjoy them too! Karolin Helbig and Minette Norman (2023) – “The Psychological Safety […]
Reading For A Change Read More »
It’s mid-summer in the Northern Hemisphere, which means that here in the Washington, D.C. area, we are experiencing the full combination of heat, humidity, and holidays! The heat and humidity are easy to find; just open the door to experience them! The holidays are less visible; there seem to be fewer meetings as people
Holidays ~ Good For Change! Read More »
You bring the change team together for one of your regular meetings. The change initiative has been underway for six months. You’ve been following the “rolling six month plan” that you developed together. You have just completed a round of collecting progress data. And things are… just a bit off course. Things are clearly moving along,
Learn and Adjust As You Go Read More »
Do you remember how you felt in April 2020? That was the point when we all began to realize that this COIVD-19 pandemic might be around for longer than we had anticipated. And all the plans we had for the year were in jeopardy! Remember that feeling? We realized that we could not simply adapt
SCAMPER your way to innovative solutions Read More »
Kolmanskop is an abandoned town on the edge of the Namib Desert in southern Africa. Once it was one of the wealthiest, most lively places in that country. Today, it is considered a ‘ghost town’ and the desert has reclaimed for itself the once-majestic houses that made up the town. The original inhabitants of
Watch out for Fatal Assumptions! Read More »
We know that not everything in your plan will go according to plan. You will need to be nimble and adaptive, responding to what is actually taking place, rather than what you hoped would be taking place! When you are Cultivating Change, I call this move on the part of leaders Iterate: Paying attention to
Monitor Progress with Key Indicators Read More »
Congratulations! You’ve started implementing your change initiative, following the steps laid out in your plan. Smooth sailing from now on, right? Unfortunately, you are going to face bumps along the way. Some of them will come from within the organization. And, as a member of the change team, it can be hard to hear some
Form a Change Monitoring Group to Stay Informed Read More »
You can learn a lot about stakeholder perceptions when you are mapping the current situation. In fact, you might even interview selected stakeholders during that step. As a structured activity, the stakeholder assessment is an opportunity to have a conversation and consider what you are learning about stakeholders in your planned change and what they
Develop a Stakeholder Assessment Read More »
There’s an inbuilt problem with change processes. Few people know about them before they are launched, often with great fanfare. And that can come as an unpleasant surprise, leading people to doubt the motives of the change leaders and to wonder what other “bad news” might follow. Now, there are good reasons why preparing for
Communicating About Change Read More »
Here’s an idea: Prepare a plan for the change process, but don’t make it too detailed! What comes to mind when you think of a plan? Many people will have an initial image of an architect’s blueprints for a new home, or a detailed Gantt chart with activities shown for each month over several years.
Make a Plan – but not too much! Read More »
Are you at the start of a change process? Do you need to better understand the context in which you are working? Consider creating a Context Map to help you learn more about this situation. A Context Map will allow you to become more informed about the current situation and the forces shaping change. And
Use Context Maps to learn more about a situation Read More »
How do you get started with a change initiative? Here’s how one of my clients, Susan, recently approached a change in her organization. Susan was the CEO of a national organization, a successful and well-known nonprofit. Revenue was rising, teams were expanding in size, and program reach was increasing. However, this success brought some challenges
Four Tips to Prepare for Change Read More »