March 12, 2013
(1) COMMENT
We’re continuing to unfold the story of Sara, a fictitious change practitioner who is on a journey to find out who she is and learn to redefine how she shows up with clients. After recouping from the draining victory over the “dragon,” Sara reengaged with the practitioners she had left behind at the beginning of her odyssey. She was excited about sharing her wonderful news and couldn’t wait to see them develop the strength and freedom she now enjoyed as a practitioner. But it didn’t go as she expected…
August 21, 2012
(2) COMMENTS
Contrary to how some people relate to the term “burning platform,” I don’t see it as a story of disaster. To me it’s a tale of courage and tenacity that illustrates the commitment necessary to face the risk and uncertainty inherent in departing from the current state of affairs.
I never intended to give the impression that an emergency was always necessary to motivate sustained major change. If one word is associated with the story, I would prefer it be resolve rather than peril. People don’t have to face a life-threatening situation or organizational insolvency in order to support fundamental change. I’ll say more about that in this post.
May 24, 2012
(3) COMMENTS
In this series, I will talk about how to respond to a client who wants you to give him or her a straightforward, broad perspective of what an organization will have to do to fully realize the goals of a large change initiative. I will share my responses to two hypothetical questions: “What is a realistic set of expectations I should have about embarking on this change?” and “Can you give me some general DOs and DON’Ts that will likely apply to what we’re facing?”
July 26, 2011
NO COMMENTS
I recently interviewed Dean Anderson, a thought-leader in the field of organization transformation. Dean’s unique understanding of mindset, culture, and process gives him a deep strategic perspective, but he also has a depth and strength of character that very few people in the industry offer. During our conversation, Dean talked about the correlation between success and leaders’ mindsets, whether change should be managed from the top down or bottom up, and the number one way to make resistance to change go away.
July 13, 2011
NO COMMENTS
In this series, we’ve been exploring the evolution of organizational paradigms. In my last post, I talked about the collapse/renewal phase, the place where either shift “happens” or it “hits the fan.” Here, I’ll pick up with an exploration of what is involved when orchestrating a new paradigm. It requires a four-part approach involving leadership, a learning environment, a new culture, and resilience.
September 21, 2010
NO COMMENTS
Collectively, businesses spend hundreds of billions of dollars on strategic initiatives each year. The evidence is clear that, when using traditional planning and delivery approaches, each initiative begins with a 70 percent chance of failing. Lack of clarity, poor expression, and inadequate attention toward integrity all contribute to the failures. It doesn’t have to be that way.
An intent architect can explicitly and deliberately manage intent to avoid disappointment and provide the critical starting point for creating transformational results in the organization.
June 10, 2010
NO COMMENTS
We’ve been talking about lenses that practitioners can use to identify patterns, and to help sponsors deal with change. I’m sure there are lenses you pay most attention to, and I encourage you to share them here. I’ll tell you about five I often rely on:
* The importance placed on matching challenge and commitment to change
* The importance placed on the intent of the change
* The importance placed on sponsors
* The importance leaders place on agents
* Leaders’ understanding of the nature of organizational change success
Each of these lenses reveals a series of mindset and behavior patterns.
Here are a few representative examples of the success mindset patterns
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