Tag Archives: change management

No Regret Decisions: The First Steps of Leading through Hyper-Change

GUEST POST from Phil Buckley

Workplace change has never been at a higher rate or faster pace than now. Everything from consumer preferences to product sourcing models is in flux. ‘Reinvention,’ ‘transformation,’ and ‘disruption’ are popular terms to describe how private and public organizations are evolving to accommodate changing operating environments, stakeholder expectations and regulatory requirements. Leaders and their teams must enable multiple, complex changes when most organizational practices are obsolete and the future is at best uncertain.

In today’s dynamic environment, many leaders default to strategies that have worked under very different conditions. Relying on past practices to solve present challenges is often naive and highly risky. Other leaders instinctively select courses of action that feel right or appear credible based on limited or easily available data. In these cases, the speed of response and hope for simple solutions trump rigorous assessment and disciplined evaluation.

Addressing Uncertainty with No Regret Decisions

A pragmatic way to move forward through unknown conditions is to identify ‘no regret’ decisions. A no regret decision provides a net benefit under any future scenario. For example, building awareness of sanitation and hygiene good practices at the beginning of the pandemic was a no regret decision because it benefited people even if the virus didn’t spread through surface contact.

The Benefits of No Regret Decisions

There are four benefits of making no regret decisions. The first is they align stakeholders to a course of action. There is strength in agreement that leads to positive team dynamics and a foundation of success to build upon.

The second is that no regret decisions move a team from a static state to one of motion. Success in change is not about being perfect; it’s about responding to circumstances based on available information, identifying options, and selecting the best way forward. Delaying action is rarely a good strategy during change because issues amplify with time—speed of execution matters; inactivity is harmful. Taking action transitions people from being observers to participants, preparing them to address future time-bound situations and make bigger decisions. Momentum is a source of strength that ignites future efforts.

Creating a fact-base is essential to understanding the interplay of environmental factors that lead to analysis, hypotheses, and action. The third benefit is it provides opportunities to test and learn, to challenge assumptions and modify strategies to deliver the highest value.

The fourth benefit is the building of confidence of individuals and teams. They foster a belief in capabilities, decision-making process, and a high probability of success. Also, taking concrete actions minimizes the “fight, flight, or freeze” effect triggered by uncertainty. It renews people’s belief in their abilities and avoids the emotional responses of self-doubt and fear that come with unknown or vague circumstances.

No Regret Decision Examples

What decisions provide net benefits regardless of future outcomes? Capability development is an enabler of performance. The current focus on resiliency training is an example of equipping people with mindsets, tools, and behaviors, irrespective of the emerging scenarios. Critical thinking, ideation and creativity are other skills that add value when addressing all forms of hyper-change.

Simplifying and standardizing processes is another no regret decision. The decision-making process is a good example of how a consistent framework leads to shared understanding, assessment, and alignment on actions. When people use the same process, they follow the same rules and speak the same language. The symmetry of the approach leads to clarity and agreement.

Soliciting customer feedback to inform strategy development and execution offers benefits regardless of the operating environment. It is easy to skip this step of intelligence gathering when faced with multiple, complex changes requiring quick responses. The risk of doing so is that solutions don’t address client needs, risking relationships and sales.

Leaders and their teams are navigating business environments never seen before. Internal and external realities require them to rethink their operating models and pivot their strategies, initiatives, and resources to achieve their performance goals. Making no regret decisions enables them to align stakeholders on actions that lead to positive outcomes. They also provide the opportunity to test assumptions and hypotheses and refine the understanding of marketplace dynamics. The forward motion and small gains generated by no regret decisions build the confidence of individuals and teams to face challenges head-on to mitigate risks and seize opportunities.

The only regret from this type of decision is not making them. What no regret decisions can you make to help you lead through hyper-change?

Image credit: Pexels

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Co-creating Future-fit Organizations

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Co-creating Future-fit Organizations

GUEST POST from Janet Sernack

In our second blog in this series of three, we opened the door to a threshold for a new kind of co-creative, collaborative and cohesive team spirit that catalyzes change through “innovation evangelism”. Focusing on building both internal and external talent, through empowering, equipping, and enabling internally cohesive and effective innovation teams. They apply their collaborative and collective intelligence towards initiating open innovation initiatives co-creating future-fit organizations that are human-centric, adaptive, engaging, inclusive, collaborative, innovative, accountable, and digitally enabled.

Innovation evangelists are change catalysts who courageously experiment with different business models and processes, to crowdsource broad and deep innovation capabilities. Usually in new ways that breakthrough corporate antibodies and barriers and deliver sustainable, meaningful, and purposeful change. Where, according to the recent Ideascale “Crowd Sourced Innovation Report 2021” “crowdsourced innovation capabilities have grown and innovation output indicators like implementation rate and time to implement have improved. In fact, businesses that were able to rapidly adapt and focus on innovation(in 2020) are poised to outperform their peers in the coming years”.

Innovation teams don’t innovate

The purpose of an innovation team is to create a safe environment that unlocks organizational and its key external stakeholder’s collective intelligence and innovation agility (capacity, competence, and confidence) to build the capability to change as fast as change itself.

Where the goal is to create a high performing, connected, and networked workplace culture where people:

Understand and practice the common language of innovation, what exactly it means in their organizational context, as well as exactly what value means to current and potential customers as well as to the organization,
Develop a shared narrative or story about why innovation is crucial towards initiating and sustaining future success,
Have the time and space to deeply connect, collaborate, and co-create value, internally and externally with customers, suppliers, and other primary connection points to build external talent communities and value-adding ecosystems,
Maximize differences and diversity of thought within customers as well as within communities and ecosystems,
Generate urgency and creative energy to innovate faster than competitors,
Feel safe and have permission to freely share ideas, wisdom, knowledge, information, resources, and perspectives, with customers as well as across communities and ecosystems.

How innovation teams learn and develop

Sustaining success in today’s uncertain, unstable, and highly competitive business environment is becoming increasingly dependent on people’s and team’s abilities to deeply learn, adapt and grow. Yet most people and a large number of organizations don’t yet seem to value learning and adaptiveness as performance improvement enablers, especially in enabling people and teams to thrive in a disruptive world. Nor do they understand how people learn, nor how to strategically develop peoples’ learning agility towards potentially co-creating future-fit organizations that sustain high-impact in VUCA times.

At ImagineNation™ we have integrated the four E’s of learning at work; Education, Experience, Environment, and Exposure with 12 key determining factors for co-creating future-fit organizations that sustain high-impact in VUCA times through our innovation team development, change, learning, and coaching programs.

Case Study Example

Educational customisation and alignment

After conducting desktop research and key stakeholder sensing interviews, we customized our innovation education curriculum specifically to align with the learning needs of the innovation team.

We aligned the program design to the organization’s strategic imperatives, values, and leadership behaviors, we reviewed the results of the previous culture, climate and engagement surveys, as well as the range of business transformation initiatives. We then applied design thinking principles to “bring to life” the trends emerging, diverging, and converging in our client’s and their customer’s industry sectors.

Focusing on:

enabling people to perform well in their current roles,
building people’s long-term career success,
developing their long-term team leadership and membership development capabilities,
laying the foundations for impacting collectively towards co-creating future-fit organizations.

Experiential learning a virtual and remote environment

We designed and offered a diverse and engaging set of high-value learning and development experiences that included a range of stretch and breakthrough assignments as part of their personal and team development process.

Focusing on:

encouraging people to engage in a set of daily reflective practices,
offering a series of customized agile macro learning blended learning options, that could be viewed or consumed over short periods of time,
engaging playful activities and skills practice sessions, with structured feedback and debrief discussions,
providing an aligned leadership growth individual and team assessment process,
introducing key criteria for establishing effective team cohesion and collaboration,
linking team action learning activities and evidence-based assignments to their strategic mandate ensuring their collective contribution towards co-creating future-fit organizations.

Environment to support and encourage deep learning

We aimed at creating permission, tolerance, and a safe learning environment for people to pause, retreat, reflect, and respond authentically and effectively, to ultimately engage and upskill people in new ways of being, thinking, and acting towards co-creating future-fit organizations.

Focusing on:

developing peoples discomfort resilience and change readiness,
encouraging people to be empathic, courageous, and compassionate with one another, to customers as well as to those they were seeking to persuade and influence,
allowing and expecting mistakes to be made and valued as learning opportunities and encouraging smart risk-taking,
reinforcing individual learning as personal responsibility and team learning as a mutual responsibility and establishing a learning buddy system to support accountability,
offering a series of one-on-one individual coaching sessions to set individual goals and support people and the teams’ “on the job” applications.

Exposure to different and diverse learning modalities

We designed a range of immersive microlearning bots by providing regular, consistent, linked, multimedia learning options and a constantly changing range of different and diverse learning modalities.

Focusing on:

providing an informative and targeted reading list and set of website links,
setting a series of coordinated thought leading webinars, videos, podcasts, and magazine articles aligned to deliver the desired learning outcomes,
outlining fortnightly targeted team application and reinforcement tasks,
helping the team to collaborate and set and communicate their passionate purpose, story, and key outputs to the organization to build their credibility and self-efficacy,
designing bespoke culture change initiatives that the innovation team could catalyse across the organization to shift mindsets and behaviors to make innovation a habit for everyone, every day.

Collectively contributing to the good of the whole

Co-creating future-fit organizations require creativity, compassion, and courage to co-create the space and freedom to discuss mistakes, ask questions, and experiment with new ideas. To catalyse change and help shift the workplace culture as well as crowdsource possibilities through open innovation.

In ways, that are truly collaborative, and energize, catalyze, harness, and mobilize people’s and customers’ collective genius, in ways that are appreciated and cherished by all. To ultimately collectively co-create a future-fit organization that contributes to an improved future, for customers, stakeholders, leaders, teams, organizations as well as for the good of the whole.

This is the final blog in a series of three about catalyzing change through innovation teams, why innovation teams are important in catalyzing culture change, and what an innovation team does, and how they collectively contribute toward co-creating the future-fit organization.

Find out about our learning products and tools, including The Coach for Innovators Certified Program, a collaborative, intimate, and deep personalized innovation coaching and learning program, supported by a global group of peers over 8-weeks, starting Tuesday, October 19, 2021.

It is a blended and transformational change and learning program that will give you a deep understanding of the language, principles, and applications of a human-centred approach and emergent structure (Theory U) to innovation, within your unique context. Find out more

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Innovation Teams Do Not Innovate

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Innovation Teams Do Not Innovate

Guest Post from Janet Sernack

In our first blog in this series of three blogs, we reinforced and validated the importance and role of collaboration. We then described the range of emerging new, inspirational, and adaptive models that lean into complexity and catalyze and embed sustainable innovative workplace culture change. Where some organizations, like Alibaba, Disney, Google, Salesforce, and GE, developed their future fitness by courageously investing in catalyzing, igniting, and leading change through innovation teams.

Innovation teams are teams that don’t innovate!

Conventional team collaboration performance and development approaches are still relevant and foundational to long-term organizational success. And, a new range of organizational needs are emerging in our fast-changing and disruptive world, that complement conventional team development processes including the importance of:

Providing a unified and holistic and systemic “collective mind” focussed on adding value to customers,
Being agile, focused, and in charge to make faster decisions,
Sharing resources and insights to reduce costs,
Working interdependencies to improve efficiencies and productivity,
Shifting focus from being competitive towards co-creating ecosystems to solve bigger, more complex problems, to lead, embed, and sustain value-adding change in a disruptive world.

According to the authors of Eat, Sleep Innovate, an innovation team is formed to develop “something different that creates value” and do this best in a culture where such behaviors come naturally.

These behaviors include:

Curiosity
Customer obsession
Adeptness to ambiguity
Collaboration
Empowerment
Accountability

Purpose of innovation teams

The purpose of an innovation team is to create an environment that unlocks an organization’s collective intelligence (capacity, competence, and confidence) and builds the capability to change as fast as change itself.

Usually, through providing mentorship, coaching, and learning process in ways that align, engage, enable, equip and leverage peoples’ collective intelligence to:

Adapt to higher levels of ambiguity and uncertainty,
Challenge the status quo and help break a conventional business as usual habits, leadership styles, and comfortable ways of working,
Provoke future “fast forward” (horizon three) thinking,
Support the implementation of digital and organizational transformational efforts,
Collectively and collaboratively drive innovation across organizations pragmatically and make it a reality,
Leverage synergies across ecosystems to solve complex problems and deliver increased value to customers.

Ultimately, to provoke and evoke future “fast forward” creative discoveries and experiment with new platforms and possible future business models to help guide future renewal and reinventions.

Delivering these, as smart and multi-disciplinary teams in ways that are timely, agile, and disciplined that potentially support and bring significant value to customers, the market, and to the organization.

Unconventional stretch collaboration requires connection, cognitive dissonance, and conflict

Experimenting with, iterating, and adapting new collaborative models, enables organizations and their leaders, to shift their focus – from being defensively competitive towards being creatively constructive.

Where the goal is to create a high performing, connected, and networked workplace culture where people:

Have the time and space to deeply connect, collaborate, and co-create value,
Maximize differences and diversity of thought,
Generate the urgency and creative energy to innovate,
Feel safe and have permission to freely share ideas, wisdom, knowledge, information, resources, and perspectives.

Innovation teams create discord and generate conflict

At ImagineNation™ we have found that the best way for innovation teams to perform is through building safety and trust, whilst simultaneously being safely provocative and evocative in creating discord and conflict to disrupt peoples conventional thought processes, behaviors, and habits.

To engage people in maximizing differences and diversity to generate creative ideas, and experiment with inventive prototypes, that ultimately solve big and complex problems and deliver commercially astute, innovative solutions.

By connecting, networking, and focussing on co-creation and emphasizing collaboration, inclusion, and mutual accountability, and not on being competitive.

Dealing with the organizational blockers – Innovation teams

At ImagineNation™ our experience has enabled us to understand and reduce the range of key common blockers to transformational and innovation-led change initiatives.

Where we support clients identify, and resolve and remove them by enabling and equipping innovation teams to:

Develop agile and innovation mindsets: building capability in safely exposing and disrupting rigid mindsets through customized mindset shifting, behavioral-based, skills development programs.
Understand the impact of the organization’s collective mindset: supporting teams to develop an empathic understanding of one another, then shifting how they feel and think to act differently, and cultivate the discomfort resilience when facing the challenges and failures in the innovation rollercoaster ride.
Enable leadership development: through educating, mentoring, and coaching leaders to grow their adaptive, collaborative, engaging, and innovative team leadership and membership capabilities.
Foster the development of an adaptive and innovative culture: by applying the cultural assessment and diagnostic processes that result in pragmatic culture change initiatives.
Ensure strategic alignment: sensing, perceiving, and developing a mutual focus, common language and understanding, and a collaborative networked way of working, that bridges the gap between the current and desired states.

Setting up an innovation team – the critical success factors

At ImagineNation™ we have also helped our clients identify, and embed the critical success factors, that enable innovation teams to drive and embed innovation-led change and transformational initiatives by ensuring:

Alignment to the mission, vision, purpose, values.
Strategic allocation of resources.
Leadership team sponsorship and mentorship.
Investment in team members and leader’s capability development.
Thinking big and focussing on clarifying and delivering future “fast forward” far-reaching solutions to highly impactful challenges.
Organization engagement and enrolment in implementing changes and creating, inventing, and delivering innovative solutions.
Lines of sight to stakeholders, eco-system players, and customers, taking an empathic value-adding perspective at all times.

Innovation teams – an unfreezing opportunity to co-create future-fit organizations

Embracing this type of collaborative approach creates an unprecedented opportunity for organizations, who have been upended as a result of the Covid-19 crisis, to develop a sense of urgency toward unfreezing and eliminating their corporate antibodies.

Empathizing with the range of challenges leaders are facing right now, where many are slowly waking up to a post-covid world, where there is an unprecedented and urgent opportunity to co-create a “new normal” that is well-designed to lift any of the emotional barriers to teamwork, locked-down relationships and online fatigue.

Opening the door to a new kind of co-creative, collaborative and cohesive team spirit that allows and encourages people to re-imagine, re-learn, reinvent and co-create new, fresh future fit, adaptive and innovative, people and customer-centric systems, structures, business models, and ecosystems.

All of which are mandatory for delivering future “fast forward” strategies for applying the collaborative and collective intelligence required for increasing value in innovative ways that people and customers appreciate and cherish, in ways we have not previously imagined, that connect with and contribute to, the good of the whole.

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Measuring the Effectiveness of Change Management Initiatives

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Measuring the Effectiveness of Change Management Initiatives

GUEST POST from Art Inteligencia

Effective change management is a critical factor in the success of any organizational transformation. But how do you measure its effectiveness? While many organizations embark on change initiatives, few actually track the metrics that determine their success. In this article, we will explore key indicators for measuring change management effectiveness and delve into two case studies that highlight these principles in action.

Key Metrics for Measuring Effectiveness

There are several metrics organizations can use to assess the success of their change management initiatives:

Employee Engagement: Levels of employee participation and enthusiasm towards the change.
Adoption Rates: The speed and extent to which the new practices or tools are adopted.
Resistance Levels: The volume and intensity of opposition to the change.
Performance Metrics: Productivity, quality, and other performance metrics before and after the change.
Cultural Shift: Long-term sustainability of the change in the organization’s culture.

Case Study 1: TechCorp’s Agile Transformation

TechCorp, a mid-sized software development company, decided to shift from a waterfall to an agile development methodology. Here’s how they measured the effectiveness of their change management initiative:

Employee Engagement: The company conducted monthly surveys to gauge team morale and engagement. Engagement levels increased by 25% within six months.
Adoption Rates: Within three months, 90% of the development teams were practicing Agile methodologies.
Resistance Levels: Initial resistance was high, but decreased significantly after implementing a series of workshops and training sessions.
Performance Metrics: Lead time and cycle time metrics showed a 30% improvement in the first year.
Cultural Shift: Two years post-implementation, Agile principles were deeply embedded in the company culture, with ongoing improvements driven by employee feedback loops.

TechCorp’s methodical approach to measuring change allowed them to pinpoint areas of resistance and adapt their strategies, ensuring a successful transformation.

Case Study 2: HealthWay’s Digital Healthcare Initiative

HealthWay, a healthcare provider, embarked on a digital transformation to improve patient experience through telehealth services. Their measures of change management effectiveness included:

Employee Engagement: Weekly town hall meetings were held to address concerns and share progress. Engagement surveys indicated a 40% improvement in employee sentiment towards the initiative.
Adoption Rates: Telehealth consults increased from 5% to 60% of total consultations within six months.
Resistance Levels: Through one-on-one coaching and extensive training, initial resistance levels dropped from 30% to under 5% within the first quarter.
Performance Metrics: Patient satisfaction scores improved by 20%, while operational costs associated with consultations dropped by 15%.
Cultural Shift: A year after the initiative, the company saw a significant shift towards a more technology-oriented culture, with continual investments in digital tools and services.

HealthWay’s focus on robust engagement and thorough training was crucial for the success of their digital transformation, significantly enhancing both employee and patient satisfaction.

Conclusion

Measuring the effectiveness of change management initiatives is not just about tracking immediate outcomes, but also about understanding the long-term impact on your organization. By focusing on key metrics such as employee engagement, adoption rates, resistance levels, performance metrics, and cultural shifts, organizations can ensure that their change initiatives are not only successful but also sustainable. TechCorp and HealthWay demonstrate that with the right measures in place, meaningful change is achievable, paving the way for continuous improvement and a resilient organizational culture.

Bottom line: Futurology is not fortune telling. Futurists use a scientific approach to create their deliverables, but a methodology and tools like those in FutureHacking™ can empower anyone to engage in futurology themselves.

Image credit: Pixabay

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Catalysing Change Through Innovation Teams

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Catalysing Change Through Innovation Teams

Guest Post from Janet Sernack

What makes Israel so innovative? And what has this got to do with teaming? One of the key discoveries, we made, almost ten years ago, when we relocated to Israel, was the power of its innovation eco-system – the result of a collaboration between the state, venture capital firms, successful entrepreneurs, educational system, business system, incubators, and accelerators. Reinforcing and validating the importance and role of collaboration, where a range of new, inspirational, and adaptive models that lean into complexity and catalyze and embed innovative workplace culture changes, have emerged. Where some organizations have strategically and systemically, courageously invested in applying these new models internally, in catalyzing change through innovation teams.

Transform creative discoveries

Innovation teams transform creative discoveries and ideas into new platforms and business models in timely, agile, and disciplined ways that bring significant value to the market and organization. Who, according to Nick Udall, CEO and co-founder of nowhere, effectively deliver the desired step-changes, breakthrough innovations, and organizational transformation, in ways that “move beyond what we know and step into the unknown, where the relationship between cause and effect is more ambiguous, hidden, subtle and multi-dimensional.”

New collaborative models

The range of new collaborative models, include teams and teaming, tribes, collectives, and eco-systems, are all designed to help organizations innovate in turbulent times.

Where they empower and enable everyone to be involved in innovating, and in responding to the diverse assortment of complex challenges emerging from the Covid-19 crises. They also empower and enable people to co-sense and co-create inventive solutions to the range of “complex” challenges, in ways that potentially engineer 21st-century adaptability, growth, success, and sustainability, in countries, communities, and organizations.

Capacity to change

Groups, teams, and teaming are now the “DNA of cultures of innovation”, who fuel organizations, with an “evolutionary advantage – the capacity to change as fast as change itself.” As we transition from our pre-Covid-19 conventional business-as-usual “normals”, organizations have the opportunity to adapt to the high levels of ambiguity by leveraging their peoples’ collective genius.

Utilizing innovation teams to multiply their value and co-create innovation cultures that catalyze growth, in the post-Covid-19 world through:

Emerging and exploring possibilities
Discovering creative opportunities
Making strategic decisions
Incubating and accelerating new ideas.

Realm of the creative team

According to Dr. Nick Udall in “Riding the Creativity Roller-Coaster” – creative teams embrace and work with the unknown, intangible, invisible, the unconscious and the implicate, that their key challenges are “to wander with wonder into the unknown.”

Through cultivating a 21^st-century skill set, including – attending and observing, questioning, listening and differing, risk-taking and experimenting, and teaming and networking that enables them to be, think and act differently.

Catalyzing change through innovation teams involves creating a culture of innovation, which according to the authors of “Eat, Sleep, Innovate” – is one in which (mindsets) and behaviors that drive innovation come naturally.

Where creative teams are formed around a Passionate Purpose, that propels them into the unknown, in an unpredictable world, where they connect and stretch with cognitive dissonance and creative tension, through developing discomfort resilience. To co-create collective breakthroughs that shift them beyond managing the probable, toward leading what’s possible.

Role of collective mindsets and behaviors

One of the key elements that we can intentionally cultivate is our ability to develop habits that build our mental toughness and emotional agility to cope with stress and adversity, at the same time, paradoxically, create, invent and innovate.

The one thing that we can all control, and is controllable, are our individual and collective mindsets – how we think, feel and choose to act, in solving complex problems, performing and innovating, to dance on the edges of our comfort zones, in the face of the kinds of uncertainties we confront today.

Challenges in creating a culture of innovation

Our research at ImagineNation™ has found that many organizations are disappointed and disillusioned with many of the conventional approaches to effecting culture change, largely because of variables including:

Confusion between the role of climate, culture, and engagement assessments and processes, knowing which one aligns to their purpose, strategy, and goals and delivers the greatest and most relevant value.
The typically large financial investment that is required to fund them.
The time it takes to design or customize, and implement them.
The complexity of tools and processes available that are involved in contextualizing and measuring desired changes.
Designating responsibility and accountability for role modeling, leading, and implementing the desired changes.
Building peoples’ readiness and receptivity to the desired change.
Efforts are required in removing the systemic blockers to change.
Designing and delivering the most appropriate change and learning interventions.
The false promises of “innovation theatre”.
The time it takes to reap desired results, often years.

In response to our client’s need for speedy, cost-effective, and simple, internal and collaborative culture change initiatives, we developed an integrated, simple, yet profoundly effective approach that integrates three powerful streams for catalyzing change through innovation teams:

Team development and teaming skills
Education and learning interventions
Coaching and mentoring initiatives

By taking these variables into account, focussing on building the internal capability, and offering a different and fresh perspective towards catalyzing change through innovation teams.

Creating a culture of innovation – the innovation team

We took inspiration from our 32 years of collective knowledge, wisdom, and experience across the domains of change management, culture, leadership, and team development as well as from our 8 years of iterating and pivoting our approach to the People Side of Innovation.

Coupling this with our extensive research sources, we developed and customized a team-based action and blended learning and coaching methodology for innovation teams, described as:

Change catalysts who operate with senior leadership sponsorship, empowered and equipped to trigger internal change management, engagement, and learning initiatives.
Teachers, coaches, and mentors who provide coaching and mentoring support to educate people in innovation principles and processes that cultivate sustainable innovation through co-creating learning programs and events.
A small effective and cohesive team, of evangelists, agitators, coaches, and guides and enables the whole organization to participate through partnering and collaborating on potentially ground-breaking (Moonshot) projects, aligned to the organization’s vision, purpose, and strategy.
Amazing networkers and influencers who work both within and outside of silos to inspire and motivate people to co-operate and collaborate by taking a systemic perspective, leveraging organizational independencies, to co-sense and co-create groundbreaking (Moonshot) prototypes that they pitch to senior leaders.
Being customer-obsessed and equipped with the innovation agility – capacity, competence, and confidence to adapt, transform, and constantly innovate to maximize the impact of innovation across the organization to affect growth, and deliver improved value by making innovation everyone’s job, every day, to make innovation a habit and way of life.

Developing the future fit future-facing company

Involves a commitment toward catalyzing change through innovation teams, leveraging teams, tribes, collectives as internal growth engines, who collaborate quickly to respond to ambiguity, turbulence, and rapid developments. By being nimble and agile, leading with open minds, hearts, and will to be present and compassionate to emerging human needs, courageously experiment with different business models, and creatively contribute to an improved future, for everyone.

This is the first in a series of three blogs about catalyzing change through innovation teams, why innovation teams are important in catalyzing culture change, and what an innovation team does.

Check out our second blog which describes how an innovation team operates and our final blog which includes an evidence-based case study of an effective and successful innovation team in a client organization.

It is a blended and transformational change and learning program that will give you a deep understanding of the language, principles, and applications of a human-centered approach and emergent structure (Theory U) to innovation, within your unique context. Find out more

Image credit: Unsplash.com

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Change Management Best Practices for Project Managers

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Change Management Best Practices for Project Managers

GUEST POST from Art Inteligencia

In today’s fast-paced business environment, effective change management is essential for project managers. Whether you are implementing new technology, restructuring your organization, or launching a new product, managing change effectively can be the difference between success and failure. This article outlines some of the best practices for managing change, supported by real-world case studies, to help project managers navigate the complexities of change with confidence.

Best Practices

1. Involve Stakeholders Early

Engaging stakeholders from the outset ensures that you capture their insights, foster collaboration, and gain buy-in. Early involvement helps to identify potential challenges and develop strategies to address them.

2. Clear Communication

Clear, consistent, and transparent communication is vital for managing change. Project managers should establish multiple communication channels and regularly update all stakeholders on the progress and impact of the change.

3. Provide Training and Support

A well-planned training program and ongoing support can help ease the transition and equip team members with the skills and knowledge they need to succeed in the new environment.

4. Monitor and Adjust

Continuous monitoring and adjustment are essential to address unforeseen challenges that may arise during the implementation of change. Regular feedback loops and flexibility in approach enable project managers to make necessary adjustments in real time.

5. Celebrate Milestones

Acknowledging and celebrating milestones, no matter how small, can boost morale and maintain momentum throughout the change process. Recognizing contributions keeps team members motivated and engaged.

Case Studies

Case Study 1: TechCorp’s Digital Transformation

TechCorp, a mid-sized technology firm, decided to undergo a digital transformation to enhance its operational efficiency and customer experience. The project manager, Lisa, implemented the following change management best practices:

Involvement of Stakeholders: Lisa organized workshops and focus groups with employees from different departments to gather input and ensure that their concerns were addressed.
Clear Communication: She established bi-weekly newsletters and town hall meetings to keep everyone informed about the progress and next steps.
Training and Support: A comprehensive training program was rolled out, including online courses and hands-on sessions, to help employees adapt to the new tools and processes.
Monitoring and Adjustment: Lisa set up a feedback mechanism enabling employees to share their experiences and suggestions, allowing her to make necessary adjustments promptly.
Celebrating Milestones: Quarterly events were held to celebrate the team’s achievements and recognize individual contributions, which fostered a positive environment.

As a result of these efforts, TechCorp successfully implemented its digital transformation, achieving a 30% increase in operational efficiency and a 20% improvement in customer satisfaction.

Case Study 2: HealthPlus Hospital’s EHR Implementation

HealthPlus Hospital undertook the challenging task of implementing a new Electronic Health Records (EHR) system. The project manager, Robert, followed these best practices:

Involvement of Stakeholders: Robert included doctors, nurses, and administrative staff in the planning process to understand their needs and ensure the system met their requirements.
Clear Communication: Weekly meetings and a dedicated intranet site were used to keep everyone up to date on the project’s status and provide answers to frequently asked questions.
Training and Support: A multi-phase training program was launched, including on-site workshops and one-on-one sessions, to prepare staff for the new system.
Monitoring and Adjustment: An ongoing evaluation system was created to identify and address issues as they arose, ensuring minimal disruption to hospital operations.
Celebrating Milestones: Each successful phase of implementation was celebrated with a small event and recognition certificates for employees who played key roles.

Through these efforts, HealthPlus Hospital achieved a seamless transition to the new EHR system, leading to improved patient care and increased staff efficiency.

Conclusion

Effective change management is critical for the success of any project. By involving stakeholders early, maintaining clear communication, providing adequate training and support, monitoring and adjusting strategies, and celebrating milestones, project managers can lead their teams through change successfully. The case studies of TechCorp and HealthPlus Hospital demonstrate how these best practices can be applied in real-world scenarios to achieve positive outcomes.

SPECIAL BONUS: Be sure and get your Visual Project Charter template and other FREE tools from the Human-Centered Change methodology on our FREE Human-Centered Change Tools page.

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What is Human-Centered Change?

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by Braden Kelley

Arriving into the profession of change management and leadership honestly, having led organizational change programs for world-beating organizations like Wunderman and Microsoft, I’m excited to help others take their change efforts to new heights using new tools.

What is Human-Centered Change?

People Are the Heartbeat of Change

It should go without saying that if anything should be human-centered, it should be change. But, ten years ago, and even to a great extent today, the practice of change management is still very much process-centric instead of human-centric.

Worse yet, digital transformations are unfortunately often technology-centric instead of human-centric.

Because of this mismatch between what’s needed to plan and execute change successfully and the tools available to organizational change management (OCM) professionals, I decided to create a Human-Centered Change methodology. At its core is the Change Planning Toolkit and my latest book Charting Change explains how to put the 70+ visual, collaborative tools and frameworks into practice.

Only by using the more visual and collaborative methods that humans prefer can you give yourself the opportunity to literally get everyone all on the same page for change, and to beat the 70% change failure rate.

Are People Ready for Change?

Too often we run head long into yet another change initiative without considering what the levels of change readiness and change saturation are across the organization’s various human, financial and physical resources.

PCC Change Readiness Framework

To help people identify whether the people AND the organization are ready for change I created the PCC Change Readiness Framework. It starts with the organization’s shared understanding history and context and then helps you evaluate various components of:

Psychology
Capability
Capacity

Exploring these three areas in detail will allow you to uncover many of the human elements that not only will determine whether your change effort will be a success or not, but that you will need to create a plan to manage.

Business Model Canvas and Change Planning Canvas

What does Human-Centered Change look like?

Visual, collaborative tools like the Empathy Map, Business Model Canvas, Service Design Blueprint, Lean Canvas, Value Proposition Canvas, Experience Maps, and even Customer Journey Maps have laid the groundwork for a more powerful modern way of working that leverages the whole brain of individuals and groups:

Cognitive (thinking)
Conative (doing)
Affective (feeling)

And where these tools all represent the beginning of a visual, collaborative endeavor to create change, they are missing the tools to help plan for and execute the changes that are being proposed.

Outcome-Driven Change Framework by Braden Kelley

This is where the Change Planning Toolkit comes in. It has been designed with the Change Planning Canvas™ at its core to feel familiar to those already using the aforementioned tools and empower teams to take the next steps on their journey to be successful:

Change Initiatives
Digital Transformation
Design Thinking
Service Design
Experience Design
Customer Experience (CX) Improvement Efforts
Projects (make sure you also get the Visual Project Charter™)
Innovation and Intrapreneurship
Startup Creation
New Product Development (NPD)

What About Other Change Methodologies like ProSci ADKAR or the ACMP Standard for Change Management?

The human-centered change methodology is informed by the very best thinking in the various change disciplines to date, and consistent with other methodologies like ProSci’s ADKAR, PMI’s PMBOK, and the Association of Change Management Professionals (ACMP) Standard for Change Management. These other methodologies have their uses, and in fact I’ve created a poster-size visualization of the ACMP Standard:

ACMP Standard Visualization

But Human-Centered Change goes beyond these process-focused methodologies to create more visual and collaborative approaches for change leaders to use in planning and executing productive change programs.

How to Begin Practicing Human-Centered Change

The Human-Centered Change methodology will help you beat the 70% change failure rate, create more efficient and effective change initiatives (and even projects), and accelerate your pace of successful change in order to keep up with the accelerating pace of change all around us and to be more nimble, agile, and responsive than your competition.

There is a simple three step process for people to familiarize themselves with the Change Planning Toolkit’s 70+ tools used with the Human-Centered Change methodology:

I’ve invested more than $1 million into the Change Planning Toolkit so you don’t have to, and so you can leverage this investment to gain all of the benefits above while also saving yourself thousands or millions of dollars in consulting fees – every year.

Accelerate your change and transformation success

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What is Change Management?

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What is Change Management?

by Braden Kelley

Organizational Change Management (OCM) is an incredibly important part of management science, but a very immature part.

So immature in fact that as the profession began to coalesce the unfortunate decision was made to anchor on the term change management to describe the profession.

This is an unfortunate choice because IT professionals, construction professionals, and others had already been using the change management term for many years to mean the careful tracking and execution of changes from a steady state, tracking of change orders and contract addendums, etc.

So, what is change management in an enterprise context?

My Definition of Change Management

“Change Management manages the change activities necessary to achieve the change objectives.”

Simple and straight to the point…

What Five Things Are Key to Change Management?

But Change Management is but one of five change practice areas in my Five Keys to Successful Change framework that each require focused attention.

Five Keys to Successful Change

Change Management NOT a Subset of Project Management

It is also problematic that many business professionals mistakenly view Change Management as a subset of Project Management, but we should really practice it the other way around. I represent this visually in another of my change frameworks – Architecting the Organization for Continuous Change – which is available along with the Five Keys to Successful Change in the Ten Free Tools I make available from the 70+ tools of the Change Planning Toolkit™ at the core of my Human-Centered Change methodology.

The other components in the Five Keys to Successful Change framework are equally important and even less mature in their professional practice, and the entire profession suffers from a lack of effective tools, making it less than surprising that 70% of change initiatives fail.

Where Can I Get Change Management Tools?

It is because of this lack of tool availability that I created the Human-Centered Change methodology and its growing library of 70+ tools captured in the Change Planning Toolkit™. I’ve then explained how to use all of these tools in my book Charting Change along with a lot of important change best practices and new thinking for professionals, not just from myself but from a carefully selected roster of guest experts.

ACMP Standard for Change Management Visualization

What is Involved in Change Management?

If you’re not sure what change management is and you’d like to know all of the subcomponents, I’ve created a nice poster-size visualization of the Association of Change Management Professionals’ (ACMP) Standard for Change Management methodology that is available as part of the ten free downloads and separately as a 35″ x56″ poster that you can print on a plotter and hang up on your wall.

You’ll see that the Association of Change Management Professionals (ACMP) visualization identifies five core practice areas:

Evaluate Change Impact and Organizational Readiness
Formulate the Change Management Strategy
Develop the Change Management Plan
Execute the Change Management Plan
Complete the Change Management Effort

What Are The Typical Change Management Activities?

Under each of these headings you have a lot of the typical change management activities like:

Sponsorship
Organizational Readiness
Communications
Stakeholder Management
Training
Etc.

Change Management is again but one of five keys to successful change, and is the one that focuses on the productive execution of a well crafted change plan by passionate change leaders.

But, each of these headings and practice areas deserve multiple posts by themselves and so we’ll save those details for another day.

In the meantime, grab your Ten Free Tools and check out my book Charting Change to learn more.

Architecting the Organization for Change Management

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Implementing Effective Change Management Strategies in Your Organization

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Implementing Effective Change Management Strategies in Your Organization

GUEST POST from Chateau G Pato

Change is an essential aspect of any organization’s growth and success. However, managing change can be a challenging task. Organizations must develop effective change management strategies to ensure smooth transitions and maximize the benefits of change. This article explores two case studies that highlight successful implementation of change management strategies, providing practical insights and lessons learned.

Case Study 1: Organization A – Streamlining Technology Integration

Background:
Organization A, a global technology company, was experiencing productivity challenges due to the lack of streamlined processes and fragmented technology systems. They recognized the need for change to improve efficiency, collaboration, and innovation. However, they faced resistance from employees accustomed to their existing systems.

Change Management Strategy:
Organization A developed a comprehensive change management strategy to address both the technical and human aspects of the change. Key steps included:

1. Communicating the Vision: Clear communication about the vision for change was vital in gaining employee buy-in and support. Organization A conducted town hall meetings, sent regular updates via email newsletters, and used internal social media platforms to foster transparency and encourage feedback.

2. Engaging Stakeholders: Involving employees and stakeholders in the planning and decision-making process created a sense of ownership and empowerment. Organization A formed cross-functional teams to gather insights, address concerns, and design the new technology integration plan collaboratively.

3. Training and Support: Providing adequate training and ongoing support to employees was crucial. Organization A organized training sessions, workshops, and one-on-one coaching to ensure employees gained the necessary skills and confidence to adapt to the new technology.

Results and Lessons Learned:
By effectively implementing their change management strategy, Organization A achieved impressive results. Productivity and collaboration improved significantly, and employees reported higher job satisfaction. The success of this case study demonstrated the importance of clear communication, stakeholder engagement, and robust support mechanisms in driving successful technology integration.

Case Study 2: Organization B – Cultural Transformation

Background:
Organization B, a traditional manufacturing company, recognized the need for a cultural transformation to adapt to a rapidly changing market landscape. They aimed to shift from a hierarchical and siloed culture to a more agile, collaborative, and innovative one. However, existing mindsets and resistance to change posed significant challenges.

Change Management Strategy:
Organization B designed a change management strategy centered around three core pillars:

1. Leadership Alignment: Top-level leaders embraced the change and conveyed a clear commitment to a new culture. They attended workshops, openly discussed the benefits of the transformation, and led by example.

2. Empowering Middle Managers: Organization B acknowledged the crucial role of middle managers in driving change. They provided training, coaching, and equipped them with the necessary skills to effectively communicate and support the transformation to their teams.

3. Cultural Reinforcement: Organization B implemented various activities to reinforce the desired cultural shift. This included recognition and rewards programs, cross-functional collaboration initiatives, and regular feedback mechanisms to monitor progress.

Results and Lessons Learned:
Following the successful implementation of their change management strategy, Organization B witnessed a significant shift in their organizational culture. Employees showed increased collaboration, innovation, and adaptability. This case study highlighted the importance of leadership alignment, empowering middle managers, and ongoing cultural reinforcement for a successful cultural transformation.

Conclusion

Implementing effective change management strategies plays a vital role in facilitating successful organizational transformations. The case studies of Organization A and Organization B demonstrated that clear communication, stakeholder engagement, training, support, leadership alignment, empowering middle managers, and cultural reinforcement are fundamental factors contributing to successful change implementation. By adopting these principles, organizations can navigate change and unleash their potential for growth, innovation, and sustained success.

SPECIAL BONUS: The very best change planners use a visual, collaborative approach to create their deliverables. A methodology and tools like those in Change Planning Toolkit™ can empower anyone to become great change planners themselves.

Image credit: Pixabay

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Change Management Best Practices

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Lessons from Successful Change Initiatives

Change Management Best Practices

GUEST POST from Chateau G Pato

Change is inevitable in any organization striving for growth and innovation. However, successfully managing change can often be a daunting task, encompassing various challenges and uncertainties. This thought leadership article delves into the best practices of change management, drawing valuable lessons from two impactful case studies. By examining these successful change initiatives, valuable insights can be gained to inspire and guide future change management efforts.

Case Study 1: Netflix

When Netflix emerged in the late 1990s, it disrupted the traditional video rental industry dominated by brick-and-mortar stores. Recognizing the shift in consumer preferences, Netflix changed its business model from a DVD-by-mail service to an online streaming platform. This transformation required effective change management to maintain and expand its customer base.

1. Crafting a Compelling Vision: Netflix defined a clear and compelling vision that emphasized convenience, variety, and personalization. This vision motivated employees and stakeholders, acting as a guiding light throughout the change process.

2. Agile Organizational Structure: Netflix adopted a more agile and decentralized structure to enable quick decision-making and adaptability. By empowering employees and encouraging innovation, the organization created an environment primed for change acceptance and implementation.

3. Transparent Communication: Effective communication played a central role in Netflix’s successful change initiative. The leadership team consistently communicated the rationale behind the change, its potential impact, and involved employees in decision-making processes. Transparent communication fostered trust and encouraged active participation, resulting in smoother transitions.

Case Study 2: Microsoft

Under the leadership of CEO Satya Nadella, Microsoft successfully transformed its organizational culture, moving away from a traditional software-driven company to a more agile and cloud-oriented enterprise.

1. Embracing the Growth Mindset: Microsoft encouraged employees to embrace a growth mindset, fostering a culture that valued learning, adaptability, and continuous improvement. This mindset shift allowed employees to tackle challenges head-on and view change as an opportunity for personal and professional growth.

2. Prioritizing Employee Enablement: The leadership team at Microsoft understood the importance of equipping employees with the necessary tools, resources, and training to succeed in the new paradigm. By providing ongoing support and enabling employees to acquire new skills, Microsoft ensured a smoother transition and minimized resistance to change.

3. Celebrating Successes: Recognizing and celebrating milestones along the change journey is crucial in reinforcing change initiatives. Microsoft actively celebrated both small and significant victories, acknowledging the efforts of individuals and teams who embraced the transformation. Such positive reinforcement reinforced the new culture and motivated others to follow suit.

Conclusion

Change management is a complex process with no one-size-fits-all approach. However, the valuable lessons extracted from successful change initiatives can serve as guiding principles for organizations seeking to navigate transformative journeys. By focusing on crafting a compelling vision, fostering transparent communication, nurturing a growth mindset, prioritizing employee enablement, and celebrating successes, organizations can increase the likelihood of successfully implementing change. Embracing these best practices allows organizations to adapt and thrive in an ever-evolving business landscape.

SPECIAL BONUS: Futurology is not fortune telling. Futurists use a scientific approach to create their deliverables, but a methodology and tools like those in FutureHacking™ can empower anyone to engage in futurology themselves.

Image credit: Pixabay

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