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Change Leadership is consistently listed as the single greatest factor contributing to successful transformation. Click the Contact Steve button to get in touch with theBigRocks today to learn how we can help you as a change leader with:

Change Adoption: Guide your team’s adoption of change using theBigRocks of Change©; a proven, methodical process to build momentum, surface resistance, reinforce desired results, generate buy-in and realize the tangible benefits of your change.

Strategy & Transformation: Facilitate the innovation, leadership alignment, strategic planning and operational execution needed to create & realize your team’s best possible future.

Leadership Mentoring: Help executives & leadership teams develop their own skills, laser-focus their teams on a core purpose, realize the potential of each team member and motivate their organizations to achieve more together.

Successful Past Clients of theBigRocks include:

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They’re typically a short list of positive affirmations about “who we are and how we think” that link directly to a noble mission statement and an aspirational vision.

Even organizations with no written core values, tend to operate by a list of “assumed values” based on the shared history and experience of key team members.

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly: In the best of cases, this material serves as the beating heart of a vibrant, productive and aligned team. In the worst of cases, it can sow the seeds of indifference and cynicism.

While the idea is not new, the trend to capture written values really took off about 30 years ago and it shows little sign of slowing down. For the most part that’s a good thing, or at least a neutral thing.

But a poorly-defined set of values or a poorly-executed application of these guiding principles can make it look like a meaningless box the group checked. This can gradually erode into a sarcastic cultural subtext with negative impacts on morale, productivity and eventually, the bottom line.

So while leaders often think of defining core values as a obligatory feel-good exercise where we simply create and roll out a crisp set of idealized behavioral expectations, there is a chance they’re underestimating the work to be done and what’s at risk.

In this series, I’ll address how we can tell if our values need a refresh, how to come up with the right guiding principles for what you’re doing and how to make sure they actually create and nurture an environment where your organization can flourish.

Does it Even Matter? To get started, consider the obvious first question:

“Does our team even need written values?”

If you don’t have documented values, or you just sense the ones you have are fading into irrelevance, you’re probably not alone. The pace of change is furious.

Different demographic segments of your employee population may have a wide range of motivators.

Customers evolve into having radically different needs very quickly.

Hard-won quality levels that were once differentiators become industry-wide minimum standards.

Innovative products and services start out being trendy, then become routine.

In short, the ways of thinking that drove you to your current level of success may be ill-suited to the new challenges you’re facing. The values you wrote down a while back, (or assumed everyone knew), may need to be revisited.

A good first step might be to check how well your current set of assumed or defined values are holding up in the real world for your internal and external stakeholders.

Where to Start: Consider these five questions:

1.   Can you tell with 95% certainty what decision a given team member will make in a challenging situation?
2.   Who’s leaving your team and why?
3.   How well have the last few new hires reflected your advertised values?
4.   What business metrics are tied to your values? Are you flying blind?
5.   On your team(s), what’s the ratio of “Cheerleaders” to “Playmakers“?

Noodle on those five questions. Over the next few articles, I’ll dig into how your answers can drive positive action.

-Steve

More Questions to Consider:

1. Does your team/organization have written values?
2. Which of the five questions were easy to answer and which made you just scratch your head? Did any answers indicate potential trouble ahead?
3. When’s the last time you or a team member openly referenced one of the core values when explaining a tough decision to another team member or to a customer?

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Truly putting yourself in the shoes of another person can be summed up as understanding their “frame of reference”.

Our frames of reference are the lenses we look through when we see everything the world presents for our consideration – including the changes that people would like to see us adopt.

The meaningful exercise of empathy requires six things:

 1. Slow Down. The first and most critical skill in building your ability to empathize with others is to build your capacity for patience. Most of us are so busy trying to get everything done that we fail to slow down and even notice that others may think differently than us about a given topic. Try stepping back for 5 minutes at least once each day to create some space for practicing the art of patient, empathetic listening.

 2. Be Serious: Set down your phone. Look up from your computer screen and look the other person in the eye. Assume those you interact with have thought through their opinions and want to be taken seriously. Give them your full attention and they’ll start to believe you actually care about what they think.

 3. Be Curious: In order to be truly empathetic, you have to actually want to know how other people feel about things. Practice building your capacity for curiosity. Ask questions. Avoid making statements that primarily promote your own stances. Try to understand what experiences may have contributed to another person’s opinion.

 4. Be Real: Yes, it’s true that you can try faking empathy, Politicians do it all the time. They wear plaid shirts when talking to farmers, promise to cut taxes when talking to middle class voters and kiss crying babies – all for show. But for most of us, the risk of being discovered as a fraud by someone we may routinely see in the hallway is enough to encourage us to keep things real.

 5. Avoid Judging: Being non-judgmental starts with accepting that other people are free to think and feel as they do. Practice listening to another person describe their perspective without automatically judging them. Since empathy is more of a right brain activity than a left brain thing, be ready to hear some things that don’t match your idea of rationality or logic. Listen twice as much as you talk and you’ll start to really enhance your ability to empathize. 

 6. Verify: Finally, don’t forget to communicate what you’ve learned back to the person in a way that demonstrates you understand where they’re coming from. Avoid correcting them or trying to convince them to change their mind. It can help to rephrase what you think they said – just to make sure you heard things as they were intended. Heads up: This step can be clunky and painful at first, but it can be the most valuable part of the whole empathy process because it seals the deal by helping others believe that they were heard and understood.

Putting Yourself in Another’s Shoes: A psychologist friend of mine once told me that empathy requires you to set aside your own needs long enough to fully engage another person and actually experience their needs, opinions and emotions as if they were your own.

The Wrap: Practicing the art of empathy is a critical skill for Change Agents and Sponsors of Change.

Demonstrate that you can empathize with another person’s frame of reference and you will have opened their mind to considering the change you wish to have them adopt.

Ignore their frame of reference and you may just build a wall that will make your change very hard to accept, or even consider.

Three Word Thursday: Today’s post is the first in a new series called “Three Word Thursday“. In each article, we’ll cover a simple transformative concept that can be summarized in three words. The premise is that the easier the idea, the more likely we’ll remember it and apply as Change Agents. Leave a reply below or use this Contact link to send me any three word ideas you’d like to have included here.

-Steve

Questions for Chatter:

1. Have you ever worked for or with someone who really struggled to empathize with people? How did this “blind spot” impact the results they were able to achieve in a team setting?
2. Describe a time when a Sponsor demonstrated such a clear understanding of your frame of reference that it reinforced your belief that they really “get it” when it comes to driving change.

Today’s article is written by a guest contributor.

Bestselling author Jennifer B. Kahnweiler, Ph.D., is a global keynote speaker known as the “champion for introverts.”

In addition to her latest book, The Genius of Opposites, Jennifer has written two bestselling books about introverts (Quiet Influence and The Introverted Leader), which have been translated into 14 languages.

You can learn more about Jennifer and her work by following the links at the end of this article.

Introduction: As Change Agents, it can be very helpful help to take into account the inherent behavioral makeup of the individuals within your organization and how those people may interact – especially when facing change. Jennifer’s article draws from a Q&A session about her excellent new book: The Genius of Opposites in which she introduces us to a few common misconceptions people have about introversion and introverts. She also points out that being introverted or extroverted is neither good nor bad. Each person’s tendencies are something to be understood and leveraged for the benefit of individuals and groups alike.

Let’s hear from Jennifer…

Being An Introvert

In February, I took part in a great 4 hour session on the Linked In group Connect: Professional Women’s Network.  Here are some excerpts from that event:

Many introverts assume that because they’re not outgoing, they’re not cut out to be leaders. In your experience, what are some of the traits that make introverts excel as leaders?

Introverts are leaders. They are some of the best bosses people say they ever had. One of the key strengths they exhibit as leaders is listening. In fact, research done by Adam Grant and his colleagues several years ago revealed that introverted leaders were the best kind to have with extroverted employees because of this fact. Those teams achieved high levels of performance.

The 4 P’s is a process I designed based on what I learned from interviewing and working with successful introverted leaders. First they PREPARE for the people part as much as the task itself. Next they have PRESENCE – they are in the moment and engaged without distraction. Next they PUSH – they stretch themselves and help their teams to the same. Finally, they PRACTICE – they are continually practicing and refining their leadership skills.

It’s often easy for an introvert to be outgoing on social media but much more difficult to keep up that personality in face-to-face interactions. Do you have any tips on how to keep your on and offline personalities consistent with each other?

I don’t think there has to be a disconnect here. Introverts often are about depth vs. breadth. So when they are online or writing they tend to explore and analyze topics thoughtfully. What I love about social media is that we get to explore these thoughts online and our dialogues can be so rich.

When we meet in person we know about that person and their perspectives. It jumpstarts the face-to-face conversations. Also, introverts are very comfortable in one-on-one face-to-face conversations where they can engage. So actually both ways of communicating work beautifully together.

What can extroverts learn from introverts?

They can learn to take quiet time and pause. They can slow down, consider what they are saying and let their creativity emerge. In this world of overstimulation, extroverts are starting to appreciate these gifts that introverts bring to the world.

Another quality that extroverts are learning is the power of observation. There is so much to be learned by just watching people. One extroverted woman who was traveling alone told me recently that she observed a quiet saleswoman with a group of 10 extroverted salesmen at the table next to her. The woman’s poise, easy verbal banter and confidence impressed her so that she was inspired to try on that same approach in her company.

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Change Agent Takeaways: I enjoyed Dr. Kahnweiler’s new book The Genius of Opposites and encourage you to check it out below. Based on the book and what she has shared above, I have a short list of considerations for Change Agents:

1. Know Your Stakeholders: Take some time early in your change initiative to build awareness of the personality mix within and across the organization impacted by your change.

2. Know Yourself: Build your own self-awareness! If you are strongly introverted or extroverted, it will impact how you facilitate change. 

3. Adapt Your Approach: Tailor messages and adapt change-related activities to meet the needs of all personality types.

4. Build a Diverse Team: Make sure your change team has representation from all personality types. It can really help to use this mix of talents and perspectives as a sounding board for ideas, plans, and communications.

5. Circle Back: Don’t expect everyone to “get it” just because you or your team does. Introverts and extroverts may absorb information and internalize things quite differently.

I encourage you to learn more about Jennifer’s book here. Read it and apply her great insights to your next change.

-Steve

Questions for Chatter:

1. How does your personality profile impact your ability to relate to those on your team and others in your organization?

2. What can the introverts and extroverts in your organization learn from each other to help make change more successful?

About Jennifer Kahnweiler

A thought leader and global speaker, Jennifer B. Kahnweiler, (pronounced Con-Why-Ler) Ph.D., CSP  is known as “the champion for introverts.”  She tackles the topic of introvert – extrovert partnerships in her new book, The Genius of Opposites. This first-of-its-kind book provides readers with tools for how these two personalities can achieve extraordinary results when they understand each other and work together. An expert on introverted leadership, Kahnweiler has written the bestsellers The Introverted Leader and Quiet Influence. She has spoken at hundreds of major organizations, including GE, NASA, and the CDC. Visit http://jenniferkahnweiler.com/and follow her on Twitter at @jennkahnweiler.

This article was originally Posted on 2/19/15 at Jennifer’s website: jenniferkahnweiler.com

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When you act as an internal Change Agent, you need to pay especially close attention to the context around your innovative idea. A lack of awareness could sink your change before it gets out of the gate!

In the first article of this series, titled “Bloom Where You’re Planted: Part One”, I wrote about how Change Agents don’t necessarily need to be “bosses” – or even have resources – in order to instigate change.  Sometimes the best, most innovative ideas come from change agents toiling in the trenches. Many would argue that’s because they have better insight from being closest to the point where the most tangible business value is created.

Great ideas and the momentum organizations will need to get them implemented can be driven by executives, managers or even individual team members – as long as they diligently address a few practical change-related activities. I listed four critical steps:

1. Clarify your idea.
2. Consider the context.
3. Leverage your expertise.
4. Demonstrate a positive impact first – then try to save the world.

In the earlier post, I mentioned that an important first step for Change Agents who wish to “bloom where they’re planted” involves getting very specific about the change they are about to propose.  They should recognize that every idea could benefit from a bit of legitimate analysis and sharpening prior to its being advocated at a broader level.

Now Consider the Context: A great second step to generating positive momentum from within the organization is to take the time to consider the overall context within which it would potentially unfold.  Demonstrate that you have a genuine global perspective about what you think needs to happen and awareness of who might be impacted.

Capture how your idea will benefit the organization on three levels:
– Globally: Show how it advances your company’s overall strategy.
– Locally: Give evidence of how it will result in your division or your team being more effective.
– Externally: Describe what positive impacts your customers will experience from the change.

Being able to address the perspectives of these three audiences can really help demonstrate to others that you have a broad understanding of the transformation. It can also uncover (and start to address) gaps in your logic and this should lay the groundwork for engaging stakeholders within these groups who might view your proposal quite differently.

Avoid Assumptions: I’ve written in the past about how one of the greatest failures of Executive Change Agents is that they automatically assume most people in their organization will think rationally about a given change. (“Of course they’ll just get it.”)  Ground-level change agents can benefit from knowing that people rarely promote the positive impacts of a change until they have first processed the individualized impact they can expect to feel and come to grips with how they’ll personally adapt. The best change leaders don’t make this assumption; they do the legwork of explaining and listening so they can verify understanding.

Avoid a Pair of Rookie Mistakes: There are two other considerations Change Agents should account for when studying the context for their change. First, take the time to consider which individuals have the most to gain or lose if your change is successfully implemented.  You can expect these folks to come out of the woodwork once the ball gets rolling, so take the initiative to understand their needs as early as possible.

Secondly, the most effective instigators of change are also careful to consider their surroundings to avoid “unforced errors”. They bounce their ideas off of peers and vet them with others before launching them. For example, they do a bit of homework before leaping up and shouting out their frustrations in a crowded town hall meeting.

So don’t forget to review your understanding of the context before you charge ahead to the next step of advancing your innovation: Think Like an Expert Witness.

That will be the topic of our next discussion.

Summary: Change Agents who are not blessed with resources or the political power to demand change still have a pathway to success.  They can borrow a couple pages from the boss’s handbook and clearly define their change while considering other frames of reference and building momentum for a great idea.

Questions for Chatter:
1.  Who in your organization may have strongly supportive opinions about your change? Who might disagree with the need for it?

2.  What business units, teams, processes and roles will be most impacted by your innovation? Who could give you more insight into how the change will affect these individuals and teams?

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Being hip is cool.

Until it isn’t.

In fact, some would say that the only thing worse than being uncool is having once been hip only to lose that designation… If you don’t believe me, do David Hasselhoff, Nickelback, or Disco ring a bell?

Die-hards are offended when I say this, but each of those three has experienced a precipitous drop in their cool factor as compared to their peak popularity.

The Power of Branding: When guiding companies through transformation, I apply a rigorous method called “theBigRocks of Change”. In doing so, I often work with clients to create a simple, powerful brand for their strategic endeavors. This brand becomes a metaphor that can act as “glue” to bind together change-related work activities, communications, milestones, and recognition. Having a clear, compelling brand can be especially useful when the transformation impacts the entire organization and the changes wrapped up in the initiative promise to be profound.

As we go through this branding process, I often have to caution clients against over-relying on popular culture icons, current media-driven trends and catchy commercial references. The reason? While these metaphors are relevant and attention-grabbing during the time that they’re popular, they tend to wear out quickly and attract the wrong kind of attention once the cultural reference gets dated. They can also be subject to negative fallout if the external icon takes a hit. (Examples: you don’t see Lance Armstrong, Rob Lowe, Tiger Woods or Bill Cosby endorsing many products these days.)

Branding Guidelines: So be careful when branding your transformation and stick to things that last.

Make sure your brand:

1. Focuses on the serious attributes of your change.
2. Highlights the positive elements of your organization’s culture.
3. Points out the most meaningful benefits of your strategy.
4. Recognizes the challenges it will face and deal with.
5. Shines light on the best of what you plan to do and the great people who will help you realize that vision.

With the serious stuff out of the way, and just for fun, here are three interesting stories about being hip that I heard while listening to podcasts and reading through my newsfeed over the past weekend:

1. “LOL is Out – Replaced by Haha and Hehe”.  Facebook did a contextual word study of all posts and comments in a 7-day window toward the end of May 2015. (Yes, they can read all of our posts. You didn’t seriously think there was any sort of privacy on Facebook, did you?)

Here are the results straight from Facebook’s blog:

• “We analyzed … posts and comments posted on Facebook in the last week of May … 15% of people included laughter in a post or comment … The most common laugh is haha, followed by various emoji and hehe. … [T]he vast majority of people … are haha-ers (51.4%), then … emoji lovers (33.7%), the hehe-ers (12.7%), and finally, the lol-ers (1.9%).

Take note if you are among the 2% still using LOL. You might as well be using AOL, because you are the subject your kids are texting “haha” and “hehe” about from across the living room.

2. “Donald Trump is the New Nickelback of the Republican Party!”

Some argue “the Donald” is making a mockery of the nomination process. Others are crying foul as he consumes all the oxygen in the room. Some honestly believe he’s going to ride a wave of voter disgust into the White House, but pundits caution anyone from placing the Presidential crown on that comb-over just yet.

Why? Well, fivethirtyeight.com points to a telling statistic called “unfavorables”.

The so-called political experts say that even if Trump shocks the world and wins the party nod, there is virtually no way he can win over enough voters to take the 2016 general election because too many people in the broader electorate have such an awful opinion of him that they have already decided they would never vote for him. Even if he looks to be winning and enjoying the process, he’s apparently doomed.

Likewise, even though Nickelback stills sells millions of records to die-hards, don’t bet on them to win Rock and Roll Artist of the Year as long as they engender such revulsion from the folks who take their cue from pop media.

So let’s recap: Trump was cool as the Angry Boss on TV last year, very hip as the “Tell-it-like-it-is” candidate last week but the pundits predict he will be an uncool smoldering pariah by the Spring.

We’ll see.

Whatever happens, it should be good for the ratings.

3. Do People Still Say That? I hope you don’t use any of these worn-out terms that were designated on Lake Superior State University’s 40th Annual List of Words to be Banished for Mis-use, Over-use and General Uselessness:

  — Hack

  — Skill set

  — SWAG

  — Curate

  — Takeaway

  — Fill in-the-Blank-Nation

Wow. They’re right – I AM tired of hearing these terms.

Even though it seems they just came out a year ago and I only got the hang of using them a few months ago. I guess this just proves I’m out of step.

Here are a few more terms LSSU banished over the previous few years only to have many tragically unhip slow-pokes miss the memo:

— 2014:  “Twittersphere”, So&So-on-Steroids”, “Anything-pocolypse” and “Anything-ageddon”

— 2013:  Kick the Can Down the Road”, “YOLO”, “Bucket List” and “Double-Down”

— 2012:  “Amazing”, “the New Normal” and “Win the Future”

— 2011:  “Wow Factor”, “Epic”, “Fail”, “Just Sayin’”, “Aha Moment”, BFF” and “Man Up”

— 2010:  “Shovel-Ready”, “Friend” (as a verb), “Bromance:, “Chillaxin’” and “Too Big to Fail”

— 1989:  “Miss the Memo”

Did you notice how the words got more stale and outdated as the list continued? Of course they did. Even the slowest trend-trackers eventually catch on that these things are just not hip anymore.

Summary: To wrap it up, let’s get back to what this all means for Change Agents.

When you brand your change, go ahead and shoot for fresh.

Target new and clever.

Just avoid hip.

Stick to the things that matter to the organization and the references that will last in your culture. You introduce an unnecessary risk if you tie your change to a cool, but date-able external metaphor, and you may end up out of fashion before you’ve even finished implementing the change.

…and wouldn’t that be like, such an amazing, epic fail, dude?

Just sayin’.

-Steve

Questions for Chatter:

1. Name something that was once the hottest thing in your company’s culture but is now looked upon as tired and over-worn. Is anyone (specially in a leadership role) still using that reference as if it’s current?
2. What’s something that was once cool to you that you would now be embarrassed to tell people you were into? Whatever you just thought of is an exaggerated example of what you can expect if you tie your long-term strategic transformation to a hip metaphor.

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(Even if you’re not the Boss…)

Note: This is the first in a series of articles I’m doing in partnership with BeyondImpact. I’ve known many of the people there for nearly 20 years. They’re a different kind of company with a culture focused not only on great business & tech solutions, but on truly improving the lives of others. I encourage you to check them out here.

Bloom Where You’re Planted…

There’s a false rumor floating around the rank and file of many organizations today that goes something like this:

“You really can’t change much unless you’re in charge – and the folks steering the ship are too busy to listen anyway.”

There’s another equally limiting thought hovering around the top levels of many of those same organizations that cripples the chances for meaningful innovation. It comes from the exact opposite direction, but contributes to the same basic effect. It goes like this:

“Real progress is so slow here because people really resist change. And try as we might, our culture just can’t be overcome.”

In my experience, that first rumor is typical of a workforce that doesn’t realize their individual or collective capability to drive innovation. The second falsehood can signal an organization doomed to a rudderless drift marked by occasional and futile change initiatives. Together they represent two sides of the same unhelpful coin.

When I work with organizations to improve their overall change capacity, I start by recognizing three groups of potential Change Agents and treat them each a bit differently:

•       Executives and high-level leaders with clear positional authority are often charged with generating the momentum for change and providing the vision, resources and reinforcement to enable transformation. I usually start by helping them clarify what they feel needs to be changed and why it is important. Then we talk about how they want to see this change unfold at the strategic level. (“Here is the change we need to see and here’s why it matters…”)

•       Managers and team leaders provide work direction to their direct and indirect reports and often become so consumed with driving the day-to-day operation that transformation is just not a luxury they have time to address. They will prioritize the tactical work of change more readily when it becomes clear that those in charge of the entire organization want them to make it a priority. (“OK. If that’s what you need us to focus on, give me the resources and let’s get this done…”)

•       Individual Team Members probably have the biggest challenge when it comes to being effective and impactful Change Agents. For purposes of this discussion, I’m talking about people without direct reports. They don’t control the vision. They lack the power to redistribute resources toward change-related priorities and the amount of effort they can contribute to a given change is capped at whatever discretionary time is left after they’ve churned out the ground-level work needed to deliver on their commitments to internal and external customers. (“Hey! I’m working down here. Somebody has to get into the weeds and take care of the customer. I’ll get to your change stuff when you tell me what else I should set aside in order to do that.”)

Plenty has been written to help bosses drive change and managers get lots of advice on how to execute the tactical work of change.

Today I want to ask:

Given their power and resource constraints, how can individual team members be effective as Change Agents?

Here are four practical things that individual team members with great ideas can do to contribute to meaningful transformation within their companies and their cultures:

1. Clarify your idea.
2. Consider the context.
3. Leverage your expertise.
4. Demonstrate a positive impact first – then try to save the world.

I’d like to focus on getting clarity around your innovative idea first, because it is absolutely critical. Frankly, without it – your change will not survive long enough to worry about the others.

1. Clarify your innovative idea.  First, take a little time to clarify if you are talking about a process change, a culture change or something else.  An example of a process change might be “…this could work better if we have other people unit test our modules before integration testing to reduce coder’s bias…” or “Let’s make it a rule to address the top 5 most common customer complaints in the first half of the weekly meeting, then dig into details of the one-offs.”

Examples of culture changes might include something you’ve noticed in the way people interact that continually holds your team back from realizing success. For example: “We don’t listen to each other very well – alternate opinions are quashed by dominant voices.” or “We tend to unravel decisions halfway through implementation…”.

Write down your thoughts and start checking with your colleagues to see if they agree. Focus the discussion on clarifying the problem and resulting damage it causes as well as the benefits everyone could derive from fixing it. Avoid name-calling or blaming.

Remember, this is not about finding the villain.

It’s about finding a better way to work.

-Steve

Up Next: Future articles in this series will focus on how Change Agents need to understand and consider the context in which their innovation would unfold, how to leverage their expertise for change, and why it’s important to achieve positive impact early in the transformation process.

Questions for Chatter:
1. What’s the one element of your organization’s culture that you’d like to see changed for the better?

2. Who else agrees with you and how could you frame up this culture change in a way that could start to generate momentum for seeing it actually happen?

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Have you ever wondered what goes on deep inside our brains as we face change?

Are we pre-wired to embrace change or resist it?

What can neuroscience tell us about the physical & chemical brain activity that takes place during the change adoption process?

Today’s article introduces the first of a pair of expert opinions on how the human brain responds when confronted with the challenge of adapting to new things.

As Change Agents, it’s often easier to assume that the primary reaction to change would be a psychological phenomenon, but it turns out that recent research has uncovered clearly identifiable physical patterns of response that occur within the human brain as it attempts to understand and cope with change.

Today’s first article is about a formal university study that yielded an obvious, yet useful finding. Tomorrow’s second article contains a list of specific advice given by a psychologist on how Change Agents can leverage our understanding of the human brain to plan our activities.

Let’s get started…

I Could Have Told You That!  A team at Michigan State University did a study last year to better understand how the brain reacts to change. They placed sensors on the heads of their test subjects and gave them simple, yet distinct rule changes to learn.

The not-so-surprising results showed that learning to adapt to change is not just difficult psychologically – it’s difficult physiologically. Their article called “When Rules Change, Brain Falters” is an interesting read if you’ve ever wondered what goes on deep inside the heads of our stakeholders as they prepare to adopt or reject our changes.

The full study, which focused on how the brain responds to mistakes that occur as we adapt to rule changes, was published in the research journal Cognitive, Affective & Behavioral Neuroscience. Click here to read a PDF version of the formal paper detailing the study titled “When Rules are Reversed”.

One of the authors summed up their results by saying:

“These findings and our past research suggest that when you have multiple things to juggle in your mind – essentially, when you are multitasking – you are more likely to mess up”.

Change Agent Take-Aways: While this study did not yield a huge surprise, it does reinforce the following short list of Change Agent recommendations that may sound familiar to regular readers of theBigRocks. When guiding change, it’s important to:

1.  Define the Rules and the Wiggle Room: The study tells us that people tend to mess up when multi-tasking, so be clear with your stakeholders about what the change will mean for them and what it doesn’t mean.

One source of multi-tasking confusion may be that people hear all about the new things they are expected to do – but don’t know what things to stop doing! Spell out which new behaviors are required and which are either optional or no longer expected.

2.  Reduce Complexity: Think through the details of your change – especially from the frame of reference of your stakeholders. The clearer your rationale and expectations are communicated, the less likely you’ll generate resistance based on confusion.

3.  Be Methodical and Be Available: Find all the people who are impacted by your change and cover your bases as you roll it out so no one will feel left behind. In smaller organizations, you can probably interact with each individual.

In larger ones, you may need to break out the impacts by role and use a cascading Champion model to make sure everyone gets the message and has a place to take their questions.

Summary: Recent research has given us new insights into how human brains deal with change. But even if we think we know what our stakeholders are thinking, that knowledge will only matter if we as Change Agents follow up with tangible actions to help through the process.  My next post will address more specific actions we can take based on the neurological insights of a psychologist who mapped how change effects different areas of the brain. 

-Steve

Questions for Chatter:

1. Sometimes a little bit of detailed knowledge about the human brain can be a good thing for Change Agents… But is it possible to over-think how we help stakeholders?
2. How closely do the Michigan State study’s results align with your experience as a Change Agent?

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You’ve no doubt heard that “change is everywhere” and “change is the only constant”.

But that doesn’t mean basic elements of human group transformation cannot be understood and your organization’s changes cannot be made progressively more successful.

One way to improve your team’s adaptability is to instill a Change Agent’s mindset, where people draw lessons about successful change from events in the world around them.

Today’s case in point is pulled from this week’s news headlines and offers three take-aways for Change Agents:

1. Not all predictions of doom for your change are valid.
2. Nor are all predictions of blissful change adoption.
3. Bottom Line: Don’t trust the polls.

Let’s get on with the news…

The Pre-Game Hype: British Prime Minister David Cameron was supposed to get a slap in the face from the UK electorate this past week. Pre-election polls showed that his Conservative party would experience a inconclusive result at the hands of the Labour and Liberal Democrat parties. This setback would leave the PM struggling to appease his rivals and doomed to cobble together a coalition government with no clear mandate for anyone’s political agenda.

But a funny thing happened on the way to the actual voting booth…

The Tories Tore it Up: This week’s UK general elections were as surprising as they were decisive. The decisive part: Conservatives won enough seats to form a majority government without the usual hand-wringing and negotiation associated with assembling a ruling coalition.

Cameron’s team won. He checked in with the Queen and promptly got to work on setting his chosen course for the country.

The surprising part was that the Conservatives won so clear a victory after virtually all of the predictive polls for several months leading up to the election showed the race to be a dead heat.

Reporters and pundits were shocked as they watched the initial results pour in.

Former Liberal Democrat leader Paddy Ashdown even questioned the data by offering to publicly eat his hat if the actual results matched the early exit polling trends. Of course, the results turned out to be true. But as politicians often do, Paddy backed away from his fedora-snacking pledge as easily as any politician would dodge any campaign promise. He ate a marzipan cake version instead!

If you are into UK politics, you can read all about Paddy’s reaction here and track the election fallout here.

Reams are being written about how the pollsters got it so wrong, but that’s not my concern today. Instead, I suggest that Change Agents can learn three lessons from this story:

1. Not all predictions of doom for your change are valid.
2. Take all predictions of blissful change adoption with a grain of salt.
3. Bottom Line: Don’t trust the polls.

First Change Agent Take-Away: Don’t Panic at the First Sign of Failure.

Nearly every group of humans going through transformation experiences one or two “pits of despair” along the way (See my earlier posts on “the Change Curve” here and here).

Change Agents need to know that these dark hours do not necessarily spell doom for a change. Instead they represent a call to action. Dig into the sources of the despair and aggressively address the needs of your impacted stakeholders.

Chances are they’re telling you about an element of the change that you failed to adequately plan for or they are manifesting resistance in the hope that you and your change will just go away.

In either case, you have work to do and you have no time to sit around moping!

Second Change Agent Take-Away: Take All Predictions of Blissful Change Adoption with a Grain of Salt!

The antithesis of caving to gloom at the first sign of difficulty is adopting an overly-optimistic view of how well your transformation is going. Remember that sometimes people will tell you what they think you want to hear – especially if you’re in their direct reporting chain or they perceive you have influence with the people they report to.

Some organizational cultures have such low levels of trust that people fear being honest about their true feelings toward the change will result in their being labeled as “problem people” or “resistant to change”.

The best way to nip this concern in the bud is to establish an environment where people can share their concerns and questions about the change openly and early in the process.

Third Change Agent Take-Away: Don’t Trust the Polls!

Finally, remember that in real-life elections, no poll can replace the actual vote.

Make no mistake, people will “vote” on your change by either adopting it, ignoring it or flat-out rejecting it.

As you measure change adoption and look for signs of resistance, don’t take the easy path and over-rely on surveys and anonymous email boxes to gather trends. Change Agents and Sponsors of Change need to get out of their chairs and engage in real dialogue with real people.

There is no substitute for getting out into the field and having honest human conversations with actual stakeholders.

Take the time.

Do it right.

Get your eyes and ears out there if you want to know the truth about how your change is being perceived.

Summary: Pre-election voter samples across the UK clearly failed to predict the strong showing turned in by Conservative party candidates on election night. Change Agents and Sponsors of Change can learn three clear lessons based on this cautionary tale:

Don’t get too high.

Don’t get too low.

Don’t trust the polls.

-Steve

Questions for Chatter:

1. Have you ever been part of a change that appeared to be rolling toward the finish line only to be blindsided by implementation flaws or serious resistance? What clues do you think the change team may have missed?
2. Have you ever waited until the last minute to prepare yourself for change adoption only to discover something about the change that really rubbed you the wrong way – and maybe even forced you to reject it? What could you or the team have done differently to address this gap earlier?

– – – –

Nor do they abuse their leadership position by dictating a future without input from those who will be most impacted.

Most of all; they lean into the task of setting a vision because it’s in their nature. They honestly and humbly relish the role. They actually care so much about those whom they lead that they view their role through the lens of stewardship.

I’m reading a pretty good book on servant leadership this week. It’s called “Dare to Serve” and it’s written by Cheryl Bachelder, the CEO of Popeye’s Louisiana Kitchen, Inc.

You can get the book <here>

Something to Think About: One quote Bachelder uses caught my attention the other morning – mostly because of how the author uses it to introduce what some may consider a taboo topic.

The issue at hand is how to motivate people with roles in the food service industry when many employees view this work as drudgery or see their position as a “starter job” with limited potential for personal growth.

Here’s the nugget from Studs Terkel that Bachelder uses to broach a subject that many “leaders” would rather sweep under the rug:

“Most of us … have jobs that are too small for our spirits.”

The author goes on to share a series of wonderful insights into why we should more fully appreciate food service professionals and why they should feel quite good about their work:

“I know amazing people who work in the restaurant business. They deserve respect and dignity for what they do for a living. They feed people. They develop leaders. They help kids get through high school.

They give people first and second chances for employment. They serve people kindly. They teach and counsel team members. They create jobs. They give generously in the community.

They give the best of themselves to the people and the communities they serve.”

Empathy in Leadership: This short reference list illustrates a trait that many of the best Change Sponsors whom I have worked with over the years have also demonstrated. It’s the ability to not only empathize with their employees but to truly love and appreciate those who show up at work and willingly contribute to the bottom line every day regardless of their job title. That kind of dedication on the part of employees doesn’t just happen.

• It’s the combined result of choosing a great attitude and feeling like your work has meaning.
• It can also vanish over time if it is not appreciated.
• It is also a deep and often untapped reservoir of individual motivation available to those stewards who choose to leverage it.

Knowing how to engage the untapped spirit of your team starts with the personal knowledge that can only be found through empathy. The ability to place oneself in the shoes of another person is a hallmark of servant leadership.

Active, honest empathy is a great tool Change Sponsors can employ to address a glaring risk that many ego-driven executives comfortably leave in their blind spot.

Contrary to the teachings of the “Alpha Lion as Leader Model” textbook, a straightforward admission of mutual interdependence coming from the top of the org chart can actually be the magic potion needed to start building trust throughout your organization.

The Questions We Ask Ourselves Really Matter: Bachelder and her team leveraged this sense of appreciation to get down into the weeds of what really inspires their employees. I’ll paraphrase what it seems the leadership team asked themselves:

“What could we do as a company if we knew what motivated the spirit of each person on our team?

“What if we could leverage that knowledge to bring purpose and meaning to the work of the organization as a whole as well as each individual performer?”

“How could we harness the collective power behind each person’s spirit to do great things together?”

This real-world insight helped them design a huge strategic culture change that eventually turned around what had become a sinking ship. Today, the company is quite successful by all accounts and franchisees report satisfaction levels that would probably make their fast food competitors envious.

I hope to spend more time on Bachelder’s book and how Popeye’s used a servant leadership approach to fuel their resurgence in a future article.

For now I’d like to leave you with a few challenges as Change Sponsors and Change Agents:

• As you designed your current changes, how effectively did you engage those who are most impacted?
• Do you really know what motivates the people most affected by your changes?
• Can you recall a time when a servant leader showed the kind of personal interest that demonstrated that they actually cared about you as a person? When’s the last time you did that for your folks?
• How will your team avoid the pitfall of rewarding behaviors that run opposite to what motivates the stakeholders of your change?

For more ideas on this topic, check out the Questions for Chatter section below.

-Steve

Questions for Chatter:

1. What’s the most honest demonstration of empathy you’ve experienced from a “boss” and how did this interaction help build trust and motivation?
2. Do you really know what energizes each of your team members? If you think you do, then here’s a test: Write down what you believe are the top 3 motivators and top three de-motivators for each person on your team. Discuss that list with each person to see how close your perception is to their reality. If this exercise scares you, go sit with each person before you make the list and spend a few minutes learning about them by talking directly with them.

– – – – – – –

It was all about how each of us can be Change Agents for more than just some new market expansion, business transformation, or technology adoption.

We can change the planet for the better, one person at a time by demonstrating stewardship for the great gifts we have been entrusted with.

No, I’m not a hippy nor a tree-hugger, but I can appreciate where those folks are coming from.  

So in honor of Earth Day 2015, here is a summary with links to the five articles I did as an Earth Day series in 2013.

Enjoy, and pass it along!

1.  Change How You View Water – and Save More Than Money.

The first article is about changing our perspective on water, and how we use it. You’d be surprised what a positive impact it can have to try any of these ten tips to improve your stewardship of water.

2. Go Easy on the Juice.

In this post, I offer ways that you an I can be more responsible in our use of electricity and save a ton of money on our electric bill in the process.

3. Change a Habit – Save a Planet.

Twelve ways that you can improve your interior environment, leverage cool new “internet of things” technology and save big bucks by reducing your air conditioning and heating costs.

4. Green and Going!

Use these 5 transportation-related tips to get around without total reliance on personal transportation. By doing this, we reduce pollution, save money and change the environment in a good way for everyone around us.

5. A Second Life and Then Some.

Finally, this article focused on how we can cut down on the pile of junk we throw out every week and hopefully reduce the amount of worthless trash that gets dumped into landfills or incinerators. It’s amazing what can be done with recyclables…

There You Have it.

If you found any or all of these article informative, please send your friends to theBigRocks.com and maybe together we can have a positive impact on the world around us!

-Steve

PS: Thanks for your patience Change Agents! …next time we will return to our regularly scheduled programming.

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This is Boots. —>

She is in no way shy.

She comes running at the sound of our footsteps, races us to the food dish each morning and never misses a chance to nuzzle a leg and beg for attention.

And the grinning cat below… That’s her sidekick Tilly.

Tilly has what you might call “a little communication issue”. Her  personality is the exact opposite of Boots. When she hears us coming, she turns her head and pretends not to notice anyone as she slinks away.

She ignores our calls of “Here Kitty, Kitty” and does each and every thing on her own terms. Even when she does what’s expected of her, she waits until she’s good and ready.

In my experience communicating change to impacted stakeholders, I’ve noticed that every organization has its share of Tillys and a few people more like Boots – plus every variation in between. The trick to helping all of them adapt to change is understanding each stakeholder’s unique differences and reaching them in a way that works.

Change Agents are often on the hook for communicating the rationale for change as well as news about how people need to get ready.

We craft elaborate communication plans, map out messages to key stakeholder groups and engage our sponsors to deliver the future vision.

We offer dialogue about the change, feedback channels to help the team get it right and opportunities for stakeholders to shape the change itself. We schedule recurring updates and respond to feedback questions as if each answer could tip the balance toward change adoption.

We do our best to not miss anyone, yet somehow there always seems to be a few people who respond to that message titled “Last Day to Sign Up for Training” with “First I’ve heard of it…”.

We offer the keys to their future, yet even though we may wish each person was as open to our message as Boots seems to be to our affection, sometimes those who most need to hear this information respond more like Tilly probably would:

– They pretend to not hear the subtlest hints or the loudest siren calls in hopes that the change will just go away.
– They saunter off in another direction when change approaches because they have better things to do.
– They act as if listening would surrender some element of control over their future.
– They delete your emails without opening them and blame you for not keeping them in the loop.

What Can Change Agents Do? How can we do a better job of making sure the most important information about a change gets to the right people and elicits the proper action to help them prepare?

Consider these four possible causes for this communication disconnect and four ways to potentially bridge the gap:

Possible Cause #1: Your net has a hole in it.
Sometime we miss key individuals or entire groups of potentially impacted stakeholders when we plan for communicating the change.

What to Try: Beef up your stakeholder mapping process. Early in any change initiative, I recommend that Change Agents do a thorough job of identifying those who are impacted. One rule of thumb that I use when it comes to searching for impacted people is this:

“Start with the entire org chart and only take a person off the direct communication list if you can prove they are absolutely NOT impacted by this change.”

For more information and “how to” advice on stakeholder mapping, read my detailed article here.

Possible Cause #2: You swung hard enough, but you struck out.

What to Try: Mix it up!  Even the best content can miss it’s mark if the intended target doesn’t routinely tune in to the channel you’ve used to send it. Send the same message across multiple channels and use several delivery methods.

Some folks read email, others prefer texts, bulletin boards, desk drops or verbal messages in a team setting.

Consider a mix of broadcast methods and direct means. For example, I’ll bet most of you have an intranet or internal employee website that could be used to broadcast information about your change to virtually everyone on your stakeholder map who’s inside your company’s firewall. On some projects, I’ve also built simple, secure websites that can reach anyone with a web browser. If you look around, I’ll bet you could find at least a dozen different ways to deliver the same content.

Try them all. Gather feedback and do some testing to verify which ones give you the best bang for the buck so you can optimize your communication resources.

Possible Cause #3: The quality of your communication didn’t get the job done.
What to Try: Improve the attention-grabbing design and bottom-line content.

The chances of generating action with your communication drop through the floor if you don’t first get their attention.

Like most pets, Tilly responds to signals associated with food. We’ve discovered that the sound of a tin cup clanging against a dinner bowl seems to generate the “come here” response we’re looking for. She still doesn’t jump into our laps, but this communication technique at least gets her through the door so she’ll eat and safely spend the night indoors.

Find out what turns people’s heads in your culture. Remember that using multiple channels and methods can open up a lot of new ways to grab folks’ attention.

Don’t forget that your change message will also fail if the content doesn’t meet the basic needs of the targets.

Provide a bit of context in every message so people remember where you left off. If action is required – tell people up front what they’re expected to do, when that needs to be done and where they can go for more information. Repeat these “action required” messages at several points in the communication window. Measure communication effectiveness periodically to verify that you’re getting through.

Finally, don’t inundate your audience with so many meaningless information updates that they start to delete things automatically and miss the one message that needs an actual response.

Possible Cause #4: “Your” change is not “their” priority.
What to Try: Leverage the cascade of sponsorship to influence individual priorities.
Some companies have mandatory team meetings, a “thou shalt read all emails” policy or an “answer all phone calls within 24 hours” rule that can work in your favor.  Don’t be afraid to leverage the iron hand of your Sponsor if stakeholders routinely ignore your official calls for action. Those with position authority can help you remind people of that little line in the rule book covering the simple expectation that members of a team should tune in occasionally to make sure everyone stays on the same page.

Of course, you don’t want to use this heavy-handed approach too often or people may feel as if they are being bullied. But unfortunately, it is sometimes necessary to get people’s attention by invoking voices that no one can afford to ignore.

I also sense that Change Agents sometimes feel communication is their job and they should be able to do it on their own. Others really don’t want to upset the apple cart by telling people they have to do something. I know that asking for help can be difficult if you’re the kind of Change Agent who’d rather be loved than listened to, but I urge you to monitor what’s working, mix it up if that’s warranted and call for help if it’s genuinely needed.

The Bottom Line: As Change Agents, we will probably find ourselves accountable for communicating with some stakeholders who hang on our every word and others who totally ignore us until it’s nearly too late. We need to try every method in our toolkit to reach each type of stakeholder in ways that result in their tuning in and responding with action.

One of the bedrock principles of theBigRocks of Change(c) approach is that you can’t actually make people change. You can only use rational information, perceived rewards and punishments, offers of assistance and organizational/psychological levers to draw them into a dialogue where they honestly consider their options and choose to either prepare to embrace the change or prepare to exit/avoid it.  So it’s critical that change agents who expect to reach stakeholders like Tilly seek first to understand the best ways to reach each person before attempting to communicate with them, persuade them or help them through the adoption process.

What matters most is that your change message gets through and the people who are impacted get the input they need to make their own decisions.

-Steve

Questions for Chatter
– What communications channels work best in your organization? How can you tell?
– Which channels are utterly worthless and shouldn’t be used for important messages about your change?
– Have you ever asked your Sponsor to jump in and remind people that they’re expected to listen to communications about a change?
– What positive results should you expect when you call in your Sponsor(s) for communication reinforcement? What, if any backlash might you anticipate receiving?

…

…

“Don’t wait for people to fill in the blanks.

Help those impacted by your change truly understand what they may lose, what they may gain and what they’ll have to figure out for themselves in order to thrive in their post-change future.”

– – – – – –

There’s an old saying in the circles of those who work with change that comes from the field of human psychology and it goes something like this:

“People often fear the pain of uncertainty more than the certainty of pain.”

This concept offers Change Agents and Sponsors some insight into why detailed, factual communication about a change – which can be accurately interpreted at the individual stakeholder level – can be one of their most important contributions to guiding organizational transformation.

I’ve written several times over the past few years about how Change Agents would do well to help their impacted stakeholders answer specific questions about their change rather than let them “fill in the blanks”. Here are few of those articles:

• “What You’re Communicating by Not Communicating“
• “Making Sense of Silence“
• “Unwrapping Resistance to Change“

Unknowns as a Root of Uncertainty: The questions people struggle with during big transitions may seem obvious on the surface, but I can tell you from experience that many Sponsors and Change Agents simply do not invest the time, resources and follow-through to ensure that people know:

1.  What exactly is changing?

2.  Why are we doing this?

3.  Why now?

4.  What other options did you guys consider?

5.  When is this all going to happen?

6.  How can I get ready for this change so it doesn’t just land on me like a ton of bricks?

7.  Do I have any wiggle room on making this change?

8.  Where should I go if I have questions or need help?

…and the list goes on…

How Uncertainty Causes Pain: I don’t believe that organizations necessarily “think” about how change will impact them. Instead, the individuals who make up an organization each consider how a given change may impact them personally. (I call that “personal impact”) Then they process that information through the filters of what matters most to them. (aka: their Values)

So the exact meaning of a given change can vary quite a bit by person.

The organization’s attitude toward the change at a given point in time is a collective reflection that can best be understood as a tapestry of data points and trends. 

When left without solid, factual information to address each person’s value-driven needs, people often struggle with how they will operate in the future. This struggle can be painful.

In the absence of valid answers to the questions above, they may fill in the blanks with so many guesses, water-cooler rumors, past negative experiences and worst-case scenarios that they end up suffering from a kind of pain which offers absolutely no reward.

It Really Is All About Me: If you don’t believe me that these broad awareness gaps can stoke the individual flames of uncertainty, consider the following list of personal, negative inferences that could be generated directly from some of those more general concerns. People might ask themselves:

1. Do they still value my work here if my current role is part of this change?
2. Does this change imply that I stink at my job so I should be downsized? Did I recently do something to cause this need for change?
3. How much time do I have to try and figure this out? Do I need to get my resume together?
4. Will I have access to the information, training and support needed to prepare? I haven’t completed any meaningful training in years… Will I be able to balance my current work with all the effort needed to get ready for this transition?
5. What if I’m just not very good at the new way of doing things? Will I have any leeway if it takes me longer than others to “get it”?
6. Is anyone going to help me if I get stuck or am I on my own here? Will I look like I’m resisting change if I question things?

… and so on.

So it’s safe to say that some folks may not feel like diving into this sea of change without clear expectations and at least enough information to make good decisions based on their needs.

What’s So Good About the Certainty of Pain? It doesn’t sound like much fun to do something we know will be painful. But that choice may still be preferred over the pain of uncertainty. In the case of stakeholders taking individual action to prepare themselves for change, the old saying I mentioned up front implies that people start by evaluating whether making a given change is in their interest.

This bargaining process may include weighing the value of change adoption against such “painful” personal contributions as:

– Feeling that my current/past work will no longer be valued.

– Juggling additional effort during the transition.

– Initially feeling our skills or knowledge are inadequate.

– Asking for help (especially hard if we’ve previously been rewarded for being an expert in your field).

– Watching others “get it” faster than ourselves.

– Feeling like we are being judged on how quickly or effectively we adapt.

– Concern that asking questions may be interpreted as not being a team player.

I’ve found that once people have adequate information and trust in the assurances of support through the transition process, they typically conclude that this kind of pain can be dealt with.

Given this clarity, impacted stakeholders typically deduce that it’s better to “bite the bullet” and start their transition once they know what’s expected of them.

The Bottom Line: Humans don’t generally like uncertainty, and when a lack of clarity about the future relates to something as personal as one’s livelihood, the struggle can be intense. Thus, the pain of uncertainty can be worse that the certainty of pain.

But just as those mysterious bumps in the night that came from your closet scared you as a kid, the unknowns of change represent a sort of boogie man who doesn’t deserve to be feared. Instead, this paper tiger can be slain with real answers, consideration of individual needs and diligent effort by the right people.

 -Steve

Questions for Chatter:

Have you ever misread your organization’s intentions for a given change because you didn’t have all the right information?

What is worse for you: the pain of uncertainty or the certainty of pain?

– – – – – –

Have you ever been frustrated with the design of a product you’ve purchased to use at home or at work? Do you sometimes wish companies put as much effort into listening to their customers as they put into marketing to them?

One of the most commonly discussed Change Agent topics when it comes to product-oriented companies is innovation.

There has been plenty written about how Change Agents can help teams light a spark, stoke a flame or pool their energy to come up with the next big thing. But in the highly competitive marketplace, customers often find themselves at a loss to understand what those who create new products could possibly have been thinking when they designed things.

Even more shocking is how many product providers don’t take the time to circle back with those who employ their wares to identify opportunities to make them more effective.

Listen Up! One hallmark of the best change-oriented product companies is that they don’t just innovate great new gizmos and apps; they actively engage their current customers to constantly improve their existing offerings. Some would say that this form of product support is actually harder than innovation because teams are working within the constraints of an existing product.

Today, I’ll offer five ways that Change Agents who support those who create and maintain products ranging from gadgets to software can optimize the potential gold mine of feedback their customers can offer.

If you find yourself in a midst of a product development or support organization, whether you are in charge or not, consider these five ways your team can gain better insight into the things that matter most to your existing customers:

1. Get to Know The Right People: (I mean the real right people…) Foster relationships that position you as near as possible to the actual user of your product. Whether your customers are out in the field or right there in your building, seek them out and identify them by first name. Go beyond the designated representatives many overly corporatized processes may hand you. Work your way through the maze of “middle men” and “translators” until you get the actual humans who interact with your product day-to-day.

2. Watch & Listen to Real Users Really Using Your Product: Spend time over the shoulders of those who try to make a living through the use of your product.

– Observe their habitual application of “your baby” to their work.

– Avoid interfering or asking too many questions.

– Make note of areas where they work around elements of the product because they’ve discovered a better way to get things done.

– Watch also for how they directly leverage their favorite features to be more productive.

– Finally, keep track of which features appear to be unknown to them – but could be of great utility if they had only known about them and how to apply them.

3. Be Thoughtful About the ‘What’ and ‘How’ of Your Questions: Ask open-ended queries and clarifying questions routinely. Avoid phrasing them in a way that implies a “right answer” or reflects a bias toward how you want things to turn out.

4. Mix it Up! Fully integrate your customer into the development process – but watch out for the danger of over-familiarity. It’s great to work consistently with the same team, but also consider switching up the players from time to time. Fresh ideas and new perspectives are easier to generate when fresh eyes and ears are in the room.

5. Actually Use The Feedback You Get: The only thing worse than not asking your customer for feedback is collecting this information and then not using it! Be sure to apply the best observations that you gather and don’t forget to circle back and communicate with your customers about what they helped you learn, how their input lead to improvements as well as how critical their role is to future product enhancements.

Wrap Up: Some of the most useful ideas for those who create and maintain products are those changes suggested by actual users that help customers improve their daily use of those products. Some of the best ways to identify improvements and apply what we learn to make things better are relatively simple – but we must take the time to actually do them if we want to reap the rewards.

-Steve

Questions for Chatter:

1. Have you dealt with a defective or poorly-designed product only to find the provider had no interest in hearing your feedback? Did you struggle on with the original product or abandon it for an alternative?
2. What other techniques have you applied to improve the process of gathering direct feedback from your customers?….

 …

Unnecessary conflict is a serious waste of time.

It’s also an incredible waste of money.

According to a 2008 study sponsored by the team that publishes the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI), U.S. employees spent an average of 2.8 hours per week dealing with workplace conflict.

If we consider just the salaries and paid benefits of these fighting folks, that amounts to around $359 Billion in lost productivity.

Hayden D. M. Hayden has devoted his professional life to not just dealing with conflict, but teaching others to handle the inevitable sources of human discord in simple and effective ways. He’s authored a great book on the topic called “Conscious Choosing for Flow: Transforming Conflict Into Creativity” and I’d like to share a few highlights here along with a recommendation.

Why It Matters: Hayden starts by offering a few insights into the negative tendencies that often play out in the way people work and interact. He argues that these innate (and somewhat self-centered) tendencies are wired into our brains and if left unrecognized and unchecked, teams and organizations will squander a host of daily opportunities to accomplish great things together.

You’ll recognize many of these potentially destructive behaviors if you’ve ever been on a team that struggled to work together:

– Failing to set clear shared expectations

– Listening to plan our response instead of listening with empathy

– Failing to engage, avoiding confrontation or shutting down to protect our perceived self-interest

– Leaning more strongly into our preferred style when placed under pressure instead of opening our mind to alternative methods, perspectives and views (Accurately summed up in the book as “Under Stress, We Tend to Digress”)

Sound familiar?

An Ounce of Insight Can be Worth Its Weight in Gold. I especially like how Hayden reminds us that much of how we interact with our fellow humans is based on the how we choose to interact – as individuals and in teams. That power of choice is the basis for identifying and addressing areas where we are challenged.

Most people don’t spend much time studying their natural tendencies, even fewer take the time to attempt improving them. Many of us fear that identifying our behavioral profile may open us up to the embarrassment of others knowing our weaknesses, but the exact opposite is true.

I have found that one can only improve what one understands and gaining personal insight can be the start of leveraging our strengths and addressing our inherent gaps.

There are many good personal discovery tools available that can help us better understand how we tick. Most of us have heard of MBTI. I’d also recommend Emergenetics and the Enneagram.

Hayden makes the point that through self-discovery and conscious choosing, we can build our practical competence to be more effective in interactive settings without thinking about it. This is what some call “unconscious competence”. He refers to this ability to act in an habitually productive way as “flow”. This term maps well to another of his insights: “Where focus goes, energy flows”.

Questions, Questions, Questions: Next, the author lays out ways that we can establish an honest context for effective interactions by committing to curiosity. He highlights how we should frankly account for each other’s needs and feelings since they actually drive what we fight for when we try to work together.

Then he shows how building our questioning skills can open the door to making the kind of connection that will help us achieve viable, productive “flow”.

Since good questions are the key to genuine curiosity, it only follows that we will gain progressively better understanding if we constantly work on asking better and better questions and circling back with our mates to verify facts and understanding.

Regarding questions, I personally like to apply this rule of thumb:

Open Minded + Open Ended = Better Insight.

Apply Conscious Choosing for Flow to Get Results: As we start to interact more effectively, this book’s approach recommends that teams engage in a solid problem-solving process for getting work done called the STAR Process for Results.

You’ll want to check out the book for the full details, but I’ll summarize the STAR Process for Results as:

* STOP and ask questions to capture the needs of individuals, the team and the organization. Verify that you have a true shared understanding of the problem, the context and everyone’s needs before seeking solutions.

* THINK of ways to address the needs. This part of the process should leverage the diversity of opinions and experiences of your team to generate strategies to consider and options that can be evaluated. Use consensus-building techniques to select a shared approach from the options.

* ACT on your chosen approach by capturing and executing on the commitments people make while tracking accountability for the work as well as the timing and follow-up needed to ensure the solution maintains positive momentum.

* REVIEW your progress against measurable goals and modify the approach as needed to meet the expectations of the individuals, team and organization.

The STAR Process for Results is especially good at organizing what can look to be a daunting process. At one client, we blended it into our consensus decision-making process and our Agile software development process to produce an easy-to-follow technique for teams working through challenges. It can take some time to get everyone committed to using it, but the shared positive outcomes will prove to be worth the effort.

Wrap-Up: In Conscious Choosing for Flow, Hayden D.M. Hayden has captured many of the traits and processes that lead toward positive relationships and the achievement of shared results. He’s illustrated ways that we can consciously choose to change our habits and thus become better communicators, better problem-solvers and more productive human beings.

One of my favorite things about the book is that Hayden has peppered the material with personal stories of how he has screwed up some of this human interaction stuff and learned from the experience.

I’d have to agree that I have also learned more from my mistakes than I’ve ever learned from my successes!

I highly recommend Conscious Choosing for Flow and the techniques as being sound and useful for Change Agents and their teams.

-Steve

Questions for Chatter:

1. Think about a time when you found yourself defending a point to your team mates only to discover that you haven’t shared the “why” behind your needs. How did opening up about your underlying motivation help build shared understanding?
2. Have you ever worked on a team that achieved real “flow” as Hayden describes it? What elements of this experience have you built into your permanent individual and team “habits”?

Resources:

Here are links to get the book and contact information for the author:

Author & Website: Hayden DM Hayden http://consciouschoosing.com/

An informative video called “Formula for Flow”: http://consciouschoosing.com/video-formula-for-flow/

Where to Get the Book: Visit http://consciouschoosing.com/ to order a signed copy or Amazon for an unsigned copy.

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The San Francisco Giants won their third baseball world championship in five years this week.

The hero of the World Series was Madison Bumgarner – a singularly talented pitcher who not only won two games in his customary starting role, but came in to close out the Kansas City Royals with five innings of shutout ball to earn a save in the deciding game.

Bumgarner dominated each time he took the mound and clearly personified the term “Ace” in this year’s Fall Classic.

He was rewarded with the Series MVP Award and a brand new Chevy Colorado truck with “lots of technology and stuff“.  (…Read more about the awkward way the award was presented here.)

In my last post, I told the story of two more ace pitchers who came through in the clutch to help the 1948 Boston Braves win the National League pennant. Their heroics were the motivation for a famous poem: “Spahn & Sain – Then Pray for Rain.”

It’s Your Turn to Manage the Lineup: Change Leaders can borrow a page from the playbook of great managers like this year’s winning skipper Bruce Botchy or Billy Southworth of the 1948 Braves.  

Your change team has many role players, but there is a good chance you have a few aces too. While your superstars may not be in the same league as Spahn, Sain or Bumgarner, it’s important that you leverage their unique abilities.

How to Manage Your Aces

Here are five ways that you can manage your staff of change agents as you lead transitions within your organization:

1. Plan for the Pennant Drive: In life – as in change – you probably shouldn’t count on things slowing down any time soon.  Praying for a break is not much of a strategy either. Instead, manage your “game” as if the level of change in your environment will at least keep churning at the current pace. Better yet, anticipate that change is much more likely to accelerate. Build your change strategy accordingly and stick with it, especially when the waves of uncertainty start to hit.

2. Tweak the Lineup: Effective change managers – like good baseball managers – stand ready to make in-game adjustments, but resist the urge to throw out the entire game plan the first time something breaks down. The 1948 Braves did very well by all measures during the regular season using a four man rotation. They won the pennant by 6 games over the Cardinals.

But the manager was also wise enough to make a subtle adjustment in September to take advantage of a rare opportunity presented by bad weather.

3. Play ‘Em if You Got ‘Em: To leverage your best Change Agents, consider following Southworth’s example of assigning change-related work in a regular rotation, while also taking advantage of unexpected opportunities to apply your most effective people to the most challenging work.

 I recommend you start by knowing who the ace Change Agents are on your team. Who has a knack for communication?  Who are the fearless early adopters who have influence with others? Who is a great listener or problem-solver? Who has a terrific way of bringing people up to speed on new things?

Then take into account what the most challenging change-related work might be. Which stakeholder groups will be especially resistant?  Which messages will need to be delivered most carefully? Which individuals are best suited to help with these difficult tasks? 

Assign your aces accordingly.

4. Build up your Bullpen. While the legend of the 1948 Braves may describe two heroes clinching the pennant almost on their own, the facts support that the Braves were a typical winning baseball team. They had four good pitchers in a regular rotation plus a handful of solid relievers ready to come in when things got dicey. Analysis shows that the third and fourth starters that year (Vern Bickford and Bill Voiselle) were no slouches. In fact, they may have qualified as headliners on lesser teams.

One rule of thumb I use as a softball manager is to maintain a “depth chart” that shows at least two players capable of playing well at each position on the field. If someone gets hurt or misses a game, we won’t suffer a significant loss in production. As a change manager I also keep a depth chart for every position on the team and prepare a solid backup plan for eventualities such as resource turnovers, role changes or individual overload. Be ready to ask your backup players to enter the change game from time to time to sharpen their skills so they’ll be ready relieve your starters in a pinch.

5. Monitor the Pitch Count: Finally, watch your starting staff of Change Agents for signs of fatigue. Your best players can burn out if you rely on them too much. Make sure to stay in close contact with the people you lean on the most and occasionally ask them for an honest assessment of how things are going. Monitor their overtime, watch the quality of their work and keep tabs on their general mood. If you sense that they’re getting behind or their workload may be dragging down your change effort, throttle them back and bring in a relief pitcher.

Post-Game Recap: It’s important to know who your go-to people are and to leverage them as Change Agents. It’s also risky to rely too much on one or two people to drive change or to execute the work of change.

As a Change Leader, you can help your team be better positioned for the long haul if you leverage your aces while building a deep bench of change agents.

In addition to saving your All Stars from burnout, you may find that the rest of the team appreciates the confidence you show in them when the game is on the line.
-Steve

Questions for Chatter:
1. What key tasks of your change work should you only trust to aces? 
2. What techniques have you seen to help prepare your “bench players” to fill in when the aces need a break?

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We are all big baseball fans at our house.

Even though our favorite teams (the Cardinals and the Twins) didn’t make it to the World Series this year, we’re still following each game and enjoying the spectacle.

Watching the Kansas City Royals and San Francisco Giants battle it out for the Commissioner’s Trophy this week, I was reminded of one of the classic baseball legends of the past.

The story takes place during the 1948 pennant chase. It’s not just a story about baseball and superstars and heroic efforts. It’s a story about leveraging your best people in clutch situations while avoiding the urge to over-rely on your ace players so much that it places team goals at risk.

Let’s start with a little background.

The Wind-Up…: The 1948 Boston Braves played their home games in cavernous Nickerson Field and cruised to the National League pennant based in large part on their starting pitching.

In addition to a rising young southpaw named Warren Spahn, the Braves had a strong-armed righty named Johnny Sain who was so dominant that he finished as runner-up in the voting for that season’s Most Valuable Player award.

Spahn went on to become one of the greatest left-handed hurlers the game has ever seen.

Sain enjoyed a long career as an active player before becoming one the the game’s premier pitching coaches. He was so good as a coach that talented pitchers openly wished to play on his teams just to receive the benefit of his mentoring.

…And the Pitch: The Braves came down the home stretch needing a handful of victories to clinch the National League title and a spot in the World Series.  As luck would have it, a combination of rained out games and scheduled days off allowed Braves Manager Billy Southworth to continually start his talented pair of pitchers through a crucial 12-day period that unfolded like this:

Boston took both games of a Labor Day doubleheader on Septmber 6th…

Spahn tossed a 14-inning, complete game gem to win the opener 2-1, then Sain dominated the second contest by throwing a 4-0 shutout.

The team enjoyed a pair of scheduled off days, before a late-summer rain storm caused their next game to be postponed.

After that long break, Sain started the first game of a double dip against the Phillies on September 11th and won 3-1.  Spahn kept pace by winning the nightcap in a blowout 13-2.

Three days later, Sain took his turn – and of course, he won again, beating the Cubs 10-3. Spahn closed the door on the same opponent the next day by a score of 5-2.

After one more day off, Southworth tossed his regular rotation out the window and brought back his two ace pitchers on short rest for yet another double header on Friday September 17th against the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Sain won the opener 6-2, then Spahn clinched the second game 2-1 to complete a remarkable run of eight wins with no losses in twelve days!

This amazing performance was immortalized in a poem by Boston Post writer Gerald V. Hern that was published in the middle of the streak on September 14, 1948:

Spahn and Sain, then Pray for Rain
First we’ll use Spahn,
then we’ll use Sain.
Then an off day,
followed by rain.

Back will come Spahn,
followed by Sain.
…and followed
we hope
by two days of rain. 

 Hern’s clever prose were later shortened to produce the Braves’ playoff rallying cry: “Spahn & Sain – Then Pray for Rain.”

A Few Too Many Trips to the Well? It’s safe to say that such an incredible performance under the pressure of a pennant race will never be repeated in today’s era of pitch counts, sabermetrics and relief specialists.

But as good as they were, Spahn and Sain couldn’t carry the Braves across the finish line. Boston lost the Fall Classic in six games to the Cleveland Indians.

Some say the manager may have over-used his aces, but they both pitched well in the 1948 World Series.  Others say it’s not fair to base the results of a team game on the performance of a single player or even a pair of superstars. In either case, there are lessons to be learned by Change Agents from this story.

In my next post, I’ll share ways that you can pace the work of your best Change Agents to avoid burnout and build the change capability of your organization so you don’t have to risk your goals or pray for rain!

-Steve

Questions for Chatter:

1. The Braves manager knew that Spahn and Sain were his best pitchers and used that knowledge to his advantage. Who are your superstar Change Agents?

2. Have you ever been part of a team that over-relied on a couple strong team members while letting others sit on the bench? How did that impact your team’s success?

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A big part of change is taking risks.

Not everyone is comfortable doing that, so organizations sometimes need to build their internal capacity for change by building their internal tolerance for taking risk.

In today’s post, I’ll share ten ways that you can be a Change Agent for your organization’s future by demonstrating some healthy risk-taking behaviors.

Check out the discussion points at the bottom of this post to let me know what you think about this list of:

Ten Habits of Highly Effective Risk-Takers

If there is one thing I have learned over the course of the past few decades helping organizations deal with change it is this: I have never seen meaningful change happen without someone taking a risk.

Putting It On the Line: By definition, taking a risk implies that you may very likely lose something and that’s why a lot of people would rather sit on the sidelines and wait for someone else to stick their neck out before jumping into the innovation arena.

Effective Change Agents do not get by so easily. They need to enter the battle ahead of their peers and demonstrate that the future belongs to those who take appropriate risks for the benefit of the group.

In order to impact your team for the good, you’ll need to be a risk-taker.

You’ll need to recognize when the status quo will no longer be a viable alternative.

You’ll also need to let others know through your actions that risk-taking is not just a sport for the adventurous; it’s a basic expectation of any innovative team member.

Take Ten for the Team: Here are ten ways that the best Change Agents demonstrate their commitment to innovation by taking risks:

1. They Go First: They often take risks before their peers and encourage risk-taking in others. By doing so they also encourage growth, innovation and confidence in those who look to them for leadership.

2. They Speak the Truth: They diffuse the nebulous clouds of fear that can form around new ideas by engaging their teammates in frank dialogue around the best-case, worst-case and most likely-case scenarios of different ideas. They use this dialogue to sharpen the innovative process.

3. They Balance the need for taking risks for the sake of progress with the even greater risk of doing nothing.

4. They Fail – A Lot. They establish up front that failure IS an option! They determine what percent of certainty is enough to grant themselves permission to try something – even if it might not succeed the first time.

5. They Plan to Fail. They create wiggle room in their plans to allow for a certain degree of expected failure, remembering that “failed experiments” are actually learning opportunities. They also anticipate the potential need for recovery plans in case the first attempt at something doesn’t go smoothly.

6. They Use Their Head and Their Heart: They listen to their gut, but they don’t risk it all when such a gamble is not necessarily necessary.

They look for ways to avoid or postpone “all or nothing” bets without losing momentum. They break big risky experiments into less-risky milestones and interim decision-points.

7. They “Fail Faster” than their risk-averse counterparts. One way they do this is by taking personal (and shared) accountability for failure quickly and courageously. Owning up to failure increases the likelihood that the next person will take a chance when it’s needed.

It’s a quirk of human nature that it’s always easier to admit failure as a group than as an individual. That being said, most people still like it when someone else voluntarily goes first.

8. They Invite Criticism: They are not afraid to entertain thoughts, ideas and theories that run 100% opposite of their own cherished opinions. In fact, they embrace these heretical concepts as valid inputs to the grander process of group learning. Sometimes they even adopt these radical outside ideas as their own!

9. They Measure and Deal in Facts. Appropriate risk-takers routinely take fact-based measurements of their “experiments” and provide a frank & honest accounting for the actual progress they and their teams make toward goals. When the data tells them something is not working, they look for other ways to meet the goal.

10. They Leave the Audience and Enter the Arena: The bottom line is that risk-taking individuals find a way to effectively address the natural fear embedded in the risk-taking process instead of avoiding it. They don’t fear for their jobs, their titles or their perceived reputations because they know their skills are in demand.

They treat critiques as a mix of invaluable data and collateral chaff stirred up by the innovative process. By doing so, they encourage others to leave their seats and join in the fray.

Summary: Any meaningful change is going to come with some level of built-in risk and the most effective Change Agents recognize that fact going in. They lean into the opportunity to take appropriate risks and learn from their failures instead of avoiding them at all costs. In short – they are in the arena, not in the bleachers passively criticizing those who are fighting the real battle.

I can almost guarantee that in your role as a Change Agent, someone is watching you for signs that it’s safe to get involved in your change. Use this list as a reference point as you seek to demonstrate your change leadership skills.

-Steve

Questions for Chatter: (click the “Comment” link below to join the conversation)

–       Are there any silent naysayers in your organization who are waiting for someone else to go first? How might you engage them to be active in your change?

–       Name the greatest risk you have taken as a Change Agent. What did you learn from that experience?

–       Does your organization encourage people to “fail fast”? If so, what are some great lessons that you’ve learned from this process?

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People go through a somewhat predictable process as they first encounter change and then work toward accepting it or rejecting it.

How that adoption process unfolds can differ quite a bit from person to person, but almost everyone can benefit from interacting with a peer who understands their challenge.

It can be even more helpful if that peer has already dealt with some of the issues and concerns brought on by the change.

In the past, I’ve illustrated the personal change adoption process using a “change curve”.

Poking around this website, you’ll find several articles on the topic. I’d encourage you to check out these three:

1. Everybody’s Got One: There truly are a thousand change curves out there, and most of them have some clear common sense and/or science behind them. In this post, I go into a more full description of the change adoption curve and various versions you might see: http://thebigrocks.com/curve/

2. Not So Fast: Here I list several assumptions to watch out for when guiding people through the change adoption curve: http://thebigrocks.com/change-curve/

3. Leading Through the Curve: In this article, I give practical steps that leaders can take to leverage their unique role to help their people adapt to change: http://thebigrocks.com/change-adoption/ 

Helping other people through the process can be nearly impossible if we are floundering ourselves.

This is the premise of the discussion I started in the past article base on the advice that Change Agents should “Secure your own mask before assisting others”.

The first five tips I covered were:

1.  Dig In.

2.  Feel It.

3.  Question Things.

4.  Do Your Homework.

5.  Be Skeptical, Until You are Ready to Be Supportive.

Today I’d like to offer five more ways to get our own house in order prior to taking on the challenge of helping others.

6. Balance Patience with Impatience: Change is hard, so be patient with your teammates as together you define the future and build bridges to help people get there. But also keep up your own individual change adoption pace.

Try to get ahead of the change so you experience the emotions, the challenges and the positive feelings of successful change adoption before most others. Imagine you are working your way through a dark forest where others will be guided by you as they look ahead to see your bright flashlight and hear your encouraging voice. (I’ll revisit this topic at the end of this article…)

7.   No Guessing, No Smoke & No Deception: It’s almost impossible for one Change Agent to know all there is to know about the change they represent – especially early in the process. So be very careful about how you account for the areas you don’t fully understand yet.

Resist the urge to throw up a smoke screen or take a guess at answers to tough questions. Imagine what could go wrong if your answer isn’t exactly true, or you suggest that those impacted by the change will receive some form of help that doesn’t materialize. Many times your words will be interpreted as promises!

Remember: everyone will be filling in the blanks as they are exposed to the change and we don’t want to have to back track and unwind any misinformation.

8. Consider Other Frames of Reference: Once you have a good handle on the change from your personal frame of reference, start exploring what the change will mean to others. How will their roles change in ways that yours may not? How can you help them get started? How can you gain insight into their upcoming adoption journey?

9. Give Feedback: As you adapt, make sure to share your experiences with the Change Team so they can improve the approach they’re using to implement the change with everyone. It can be especially helpful to participate in pilot projects and offer feedback as a “guinea pig” during early phases of a change implementation.

10. Tell Someone What You’re Up To: When you are good and ready to join the team as a Change Agent, make sure people know you are one of the “Go-To People” for the change. Offer to help others and collect their feedback.

Share information as you get it and keep tabs on things your peers struggle with. There is a certain sense of accountability that comes with voluntarily admitting that you are part of something. That accountability will come in handy as you seek to build trust among your stakeholders.

In Summary: “Be Quick – But Don’t Hurry”:  That’s a famous quote from the late, great UCLA basketball coach John Wooden.  He used to tell his young players that they should balance their energy so as to have a sense of urgency as they play the game, but not play out of control.

The same holds true for Change Agents. They should jump into the change adoption process earlier than the folks they intend to help. They should maintain their own personal momentum as they move along through the change adoption curve – but not rush along so fast that their own adoption of the change isn’t honest, sincere and realistic.

Remember: Pollyanna is not invited to this party.

-Steve

Questions for Chatter: 

1. Ok, so as a Change Agent, I jumped in early and I am doing my part to get ready… What happens if I discover a serious flaw in the change approach? Should I keep moving forward or stop my adoption process?
2. What should I do if I have been tossed on a Change Team but my boss isn’t giving me time to prepare?

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If you’ve ever flown on a commercial aircraft, you’re probably familiar with the pre-flight safety briefing in which a parade of cheerful flight attendants describe what to do in case of an in-flight emergency.

They point out the exits and the life rafts. They show us how to manually inflate a life vest.

They warn us not to smoke or walk around when the “fasten seatbelt” sign is lit.

They also give us the rundown on how to use an oxygen mask in case the cabin loses pressure. I snapped a picture of the instruction card on a recent flight for illustration:

I’ve always been intrigued with the logic behind that friendly, yet forceful admonition about how we should don those oxygen masks. The rule is:

“Please secure your own mask before assisting others”.

It makes sense that everyone gets a mask and each person is sort of responsible for themselves, so most people will get the thing on without help. It also seems that more people will get their masks on if each person is focused first on getting their own nose covered. (Even so, I still think I might be drawn to help my spouse and kids first. I might also be tempted to hide the mask from the nosey/noisy guy who sat next to me on my last flight and wouldn’t stop talking…)

After a little noodling on this subject, I came to realize the most important reason to get my own mask on first is that I wouldn’t be of much use to my neighbor or anyone else if I couldn’t breathe. So I guess I will probably end up following the rules and secure my own mask first if this frightful case ever comes up.

Not Just For Flyers: This air travel advice applies to Change Agents too.

You might recall a while back I introduced a little graph called “the change curve”. It shows how people tend to react to change along their journey toward either accepting of rejecting it. One premise of the change curve is that Change Agents will typically be more effective if they go through the change prior to helping others. For the full article, click the picture or click here. 

Since the primary mission of a Change Agent is to help folks make it through this curve, today I’ll share five ways you can get yourself ready to guide people through change. In my next article, I’ll share five more.

Most of these are common sense, but I believe the best things often occur when common sense is executed diligently.

Ten Ways Change Agents Can Prepare to Help Others.

1. Dig In: Seek first to understand the goals and underlying rationale for the upcoming change. Get involved with the team implementing the change whenever that opportunity is presented. Instead of waiting for the last minute to learn about what’s coming, go find out for yourself.

2. Feel It: Be honest about your own initial reactions to the change. Make note of your first impressions when confronted with the scope and depth of the change.

Does it seem simple or complex?

Will it hit you hard personally?

How does your level of impact compare to others in the organization?

Did you feel a bit nervous about your own ability to figure things out and prosper in the new world once the change is implemented?

Does the change seem to introduce a risk that you won’t know how to do your job well?

All of these early impressions are very real as they happen, but sometimes we forget that we had any fear or concern once the change has been completed. So make a few mental notes as they occur.

Being cognizant of your own emotions as you go through change will be useful later as you help others through that process.

3. Question Things: Ask those involved in rolling out the change to answer your hardest questions about the future. Be adamant about getting answers. When they tell you that some things haven’t been figured out yet, keep asking until you get satisfaction. Be sure that you fully understand:

.     – what the change involves,

.     – what it will mean to you,

.     – why the organization is making these changes

.     – when things will happen,

.     – who’s involved

.     – how the change will unfold,

.     – how you should prepare,

.     – and where to go for help.

These are all questions that others could possibly ask of you once you begin working as a Change Agent, so it’s going to help you be more effective if you get answers early. It will also help you resist to the urge to guess at the answers. 

4. Do Your Homework: As a target of the change, accomplish whatever training or preparation will be required to get ready. Make note of how challenging or easy the process and material appears to you.

This awareness will help you when others go through the same learning experience later.

5. Be Skeptical – Until You’re Ready to be Supportive: Regular readers of this blog know I’m not a fan of “Pollyanna” Change Agent behavior.

It’s not enough to be upbeat about your change – Change Agents need to be realistic to be truly helpful!

If that term is new to you, it means blindly singing the praises of something we don’t fully understand. (also known as: Mindless Cheerleading)  Click here to read my earlier article called “Smart Change Agent Tricks” to learn more about why the “Pollyanna” approach is such a crummy way to drive lasting change adoption.

The problem with blind support is that it typically collapses under the weight of the real concerns that often pop up during the adoption of change.

I don’t mean to imply that getting excited about your change is a bad thing. In fact, the opposite is true! It will be very helpful to your cause if you view the change positively and express excitement about it. Just don’t do so without a full understanding of the good, the bad and the ugly parts of what you are supporting.

Don’t stop until your concerns are addressed. Once they are addressed, get on board in a tangible way so people know you are supportive.

So there are the first five things you can do to prepare yourself to be an effective Change Agent. I’ll offer five more in my next post. 

In Summary: Get Busy!  It’s hard to help anyone with change adoption if we are resistant to the change or dragging our feet with our own preparation.

I encourage Change Agents to imagine themselves guiding fellow stakeholders through the change curve by staying just a little bit ahead of them in the personal change adoption process.

If you are okay with the likelihood that being a Change Agent means you’ll have to “go first”, then invest a little more up-front effort than the other folks and you’ll probably do quite well.

-Steve

Questions to Chatter:

1. What can you do if you and the other Change Agents are thrown into the fire at the same time as everyone else?
2. Have ever been asked to support a change you really didn’t believe in? How did that effect your ability to help others through the adoption process?

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Good News!

After a nice, long and refreshing break from writing, I’m jumping back into the mix this week.

So theBigRocks of Change will be coming back with more free tips to help Change Agents be more effective.

Look for the first article in a new series on Change Agent Skills to be posted tomorrow.

I want to thank all of my subscribers for their patience and I look forward to continuing the dialogue on these pages in the future.

If you have any ideas for article that you would like to see, just click the contact link and let me know.

It’s been a while and there’s a lot to do, so “Let’s Get Crackin’!”

-Steve

Questions for Chatter:

1. What challenges are do you face as a Change Agent?
2. What areas of change would you like to see me address in future articles?

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Don’t run and hide when you see someone react like this to your change!

Agents of change have a risky job.  They are, by definition, a threat to the status quo. 

One of the more frightening ways that people react to such threats is with anger.

…and as a Change Agent, don’t be surprised if sometimes that anger is directed straight at you!

In my last article, we looked at why it’s not okay to let the sun go down on angry expressions by stakeholders or team members.

In order to remain effective as a leader for your change, you’ll need to act – while avoiding the urge to over-react.

How Change Agents respond in these situations can lay an important foundation for how they might constructively deal with the underlying causes behind the negative display. 

I summed up the initial reaction process like this:

1. Recognize what’s happening.

2. Evaluate the risk.

3. Delay any angry response.

Click here to read more about this approach.

Before we get into today’s topic, I’ll remind you that you’d probably better be ready to deal with a few angry people if you’re planning to be a Change Agent for more than a week. Change can generate some high emotions, so it’s not a question of “if”, but “when” someone will blow their stack in your presence.

Over the years;

– I’ve been greeted with venomous words, shouting, icy glares, political back-stabbing and outright verbal threats.
– I’ve been called an instigator to my face.
– I’ve been called on the carpet.
– …and I’ve been called some awful things in hopes that I – and the change I represented – would just go away.

So if you have a weak stomach for criticism or prefer to leave the room when angry people raise their voices, you might want to think hard about your desire to guide change. If you’re okay with taking an occasional bruise for the team, read on.

It’s Clue Time: Let’s get into what Change Agents should do beyond simply weathering the barrage of an angry outburst.  Let’s get ready to address the underlying cause of the person’s anger by listening for clues in what the angry person says and how they say it.

Here are some things to listen for as the person vents:

Wants & Needs: The most important thing you can listen for are any clear expressions of what they ultimately want from the situation. Do they want a certain decision to swing their way? Do they prefer to stop something from moving forward? Do they feel a need for more resources or more time to get something done? 

Make note of their perceived needs – even if they are expressed as demands.

Facts, Inferences & Judgments: Expect a mix of opinions and facts when people blow up. I use this little rule of thumb to sort out the information as I gather it:

– Facts are readily apparent things we all agree to be true.

– Inferences arise when we cobble together multiple facts to draw conclusions.

– Judgments occur when we mix the facts and inferences with our own opinions and values.

Facts, inferences and judgments each have a place in sorting out an angry situation, but facts will hold up best when the problem-solving begins. Inferences tend to be brought up only when they support our own views and opinions tend to carry the least value. 

Non-Negotiables: Listen on behalf of the change and its most critical priorities. Make note of areas where the angry person simply refuses to accept a key element of the change that they will eventually not be able to avoid. Pitching a fit or attempting to intimidate those responsible for making the change happen won’t generally excuse the person from being subject to it.

Blind Spots: Sometime people get frustrated with situations based on false or incomplete information. Listen for gaps in the angry person’s understanding of the change.

Did they interpret a communication incorrectly? Did they ignore available information or not receive it? Do they already have the power to address what’s frustrating them?

For example, I’ve seen people explode after spending hours struggling with new technology while refusing to attend training or read available help instructions.

Summary: It would be great if people loved change so much that they never expressed frustration. It would be wonderful if those we work with never tried intimidation as a tactic to avoid change. But as a Change Agent, it’s more realistic to assume that angry challenges will arise from time to time, so we should prepare ourselves to deal with them.  

The first step in dealing with angry responses to change is to recognize what’s going on. The second is to listen for clues about what’s behind the inappropriate outburst.

Next time, we’ll look at the process of triage that can lead to resolution of the anger and a return to making progress with your change.

-Steve

Questions for Chatter:

1. What other useful information can Change Agents gather by calmly listening to an angry person as they vent?
2. Have you ever been drawn into an angry exchange only to find the confrontation damaged your ability to influence change later? How did you recover?

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“Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Your Anger.”

…or for that matter, the anger of others when it’s pointed in your direction…

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I snapped the cover picture for this post one evening this past summer. The sun was setting over Lake Tahoe and I had a couple hours to kill, so I grabbed the camera and headed to the Eastern side of the lake.

I patiently waited as the white hot sun drifted downward to become a glowing yellow ball, then a rippling orange mass and finally a deep red sliver slipping into the dark green trees on the Western shoreline.

The slow, dramatic sunset reminded me of that oft-quoted Bible verse regarding anger and our need to address it quickly and positively: “Don’t let the sun go down on your anger“.

Get Ready to Feel the Heat: As a Change Agent, there’s a good chance you’ll eventually end up in the middle of some fairly hot situations.  Let’s face it: by definition you represent a threat to the status quo and anger is a common human reaction to many threats. 

The key to performing well under this pressure is planning ahead and keeping your cool.

Let start this process at the moment loaded with the highest risk: the moment you’re faced with an angry outburst.  Over the next few posts, I’ll share five ways you can unplug the anger, let go of the emotion and be more effective as a Change Agent the next time you face angry stakeholders or team members.

Here’s what I’ll typically do first:

1. Stop When You See RED!  We’ve all been there: a person gets so upset about what’s going on that they lash out in anger. When this happens, try to:

a.  Recognize what’s happening.

b.  Evaluate the risk.

c.  Delay any angry response.

First, Recognize what’s going on. If voices are raised and faces are turning red, it’s time to simply lay down what you’re doing. Let the other person(s) vent a little regarding whatever they’re upset about. Avoid the urge to swing back immediately – that would raise the chances of the exchange heating up even more.  Just as importantly, don’t let it go as if nothing happened. Doing so would signal that lashing out is an appropriate response to the change.

Second, Evaluate the risk. If the person is gradually becoming more rational, maybe the venting can be followed by a civil, problem-solving exchange. If not, you might want to consider walking away and coming back later for another attempt at addressing the situation.  Of course, if you sense that you’re in any physical danger whatsoever – leave immediately. No point in an argument is worth getting hurt over.  

Finally, Delay your own anger. Resist the urge to respond in kind. (That could potentially undermine your credibility.) If you can bite your tongue long enough to weather the barrage, your calming demeanor could eventually be rewarded with an opening to address the person’s underlying concern.

It Isn’t Easy, But It Can Be Done: Helping an angry stakeholder or team member work through a difficult situation can be one of the most valuable skills you have as a Change Agent. However, your talent will not realize it’s full potential if you slip into the trap of responding to their anger with more anger.

Bottom Line: Angry outbursts happen occasionally in the heat of change. But anger will often cool off over time just as a hot summer day eventually cools off when the sun sets. Just remember to “Stop When You See RED”.

In my next article, I’ll get into how to address the content behind the outburst.

-Steve

Questions for Chatter:

1. In addition to the obvious emotional damage it can cause, what happens to our credibility as Change Agents if we give in to the urge to argue with an angry person?
2. In your experience, how long should someone wait for another person to cool down before approaching them about an angry exchange?

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There are few more troubling emotions than the feeling that you’ve been left behind.

It’s just as true for a kid who’s lost in the supermarket as it is for an adult who’s missed his connecting flight.

It’s also true for the person you forgot to account for as a stakeholder in your change…

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In today’s article, I’d like to help you avoid the pitfall of leaving important people behind when guiding change by sharing Ten Tips for Effective Stakeholder Mapping.

Finding all of the stakeholders involved in a change is one of the very early activities that we should take on as we begin to guide a change. I use a simple 10-step process to make sure no impacted people are left behind when the communication, training and other change-related interactions begin.

Here are the ten “BigRocks” to my approach:

1.  Don’t Wait. Start looking for impacted stakeholders as soon as you know a change is coming. It becomes very difficult to circle back with folks who have been forgotten, so it’s better to get a jump start than to play catch-up. 

Don’t assume you can get to it later. 

Don’t assume it’s someone else’s job.

2.  Make An Assumption: I know I just warned you about avoiding assumptions, but here is a good assumption for Change Agents to consider: Assume everyone is impacted until you can verify otherwise. This might seem hard to do, but it’s actually easier than trying to guess who’s impacted and risking an accidental oversight.

I usually start with as broad a list of potential targets as possible… (an exhaustive org chart, a full customer list, etc.) I then ask my client to help me verify which people are not impacted.

Remember; it’s easier to scratch people off a list than it is to build the list from a blank piece of paper.

Creating this list naturally leads into a discussion of who is impacted and how.

3.  Group Your Stakeholders: It’s hard to speak with every stakeholder individually on a regular basis – especially if your change impacts hundreds or thousands of people, so I usually categorize stakeholders into impact groups.

The groups may be based on things like process steps, roles, organizational components or locations.  These collections can eventually form the basis for targeted email lists, optimized meeting invitations, specific training invitations, etc.

4.  Classify the Impact: If your change is complex, it can help to begin making notes regarding which elements of the change apply to a given stakeholder or group. 

One proven way to do this is to use an inventory of impacted processes and roles as a starting point. I have found it’s usually better to start with processes and roles than to start with the names of individuals because people may come and go during the course of the change.

It will be very helpful to leverage this understanding for the type of impact a given person might expect as we can start planning how to help them prepare.

5.  Collect Contact Data: Gather contact information such as the stakeholder’s location, email address, phone number and the best method of communicating with them.

6.  Connect the Dots: Verify who the stakeholder looks to for leadership, communication, policy interpretation and other organizational guidance.  For example, who is the Supervisor of a given location or a given team? Who do they look to for messaging or decision-making? 

These “go to people” will provide a critical link in our chain of sponsorship for the change.

7.  Quantify the Impact: If possible, identify the level of change impact a given stakeholder should expect. Will the person experience a low, medium or high degree of change? This might be hard to do initially, but keep re-visiting the impact question as the changes come into focus.

Keeping this relative impact level in mind will help you spend the proper amount of time and resources on the individuals who actually need the most help.

8.  Watch for Crosswinds: Account for overlapping changes that may hit your stakeholders in the same time frame as your change. Often a change such as rolling out a new email system or switching to a new paystub format will occur at the same time as some other big changes.

Note: Even if you feel the other changes are unrelated to yours – take them into account!

Stakeholders may find themselves overwhelmed with change during a short time window. Being aware of potential “change overload” can help you ensure adequate communication and abundant help are available for those going through simultaneous waves of change.

9.  Look for Champions: In some cases, your initial stakeholder mapping may turn up folks who are not only aware of the coming change, but are anxiously awaiting it. These people can make great change “champions” because they may be able to help you expand the reach of your communication and support efforts into their locations and make your centralized work more effective at the local level.

10.  Write It Down & Verify It! Finally, a stakeholder map is only useful if it remains accurate. As you collect all the information we’ve discussed above, store it in a spreadsheet, database, document or whatever works best for you.

Note: Avoid keeping this information “in your head”, even if you know everyone personally. 

Review the information regularly to make sure it stays current. I’ve seen some consultants offer fancy software and proprietary stakeholder mapping tools, but they’re probably not necessary if you have a basic level of skill using Word, Access or Excel tables.

The Bottom Line: Finding everyone who will be impacted by your change is a vital first step in the process of guiding people through change adoption.

I use a simple, 10-step stakeholder mapping process to make sure no one gets left behind.

Contact me if you have additional insights into stakeholder mapping or if you need any help with this process.

-Steve

Questions for Chatter:

1. What can go wrong if you accidentally leave someone out of your change communication?
2. What other techniques have you used as a Change Agent to uncover those impacted by your changes?

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I especially enjoy the Independence Day break that seems to always begin around the time the weather starts to get really hot across the United States. This year we are lucky to be celebrating the holiday with our son’s family in Round Rock, Texas.

The pace of our last couple days has been relaxing. The Tex-Mex food has been phenomenal and of course the company has been awesome.

…and then there were the fireworks…

We got a double batch this year.

We saw a synchronized show put on by the city of Round Rock and the Round Rock Express Minor League baseball team. And since I can’t seem to do anything without taking my camera along, I snapped  a few pictures to share…

<Click each image to view a bigger version of the photo…>

The whole week reminded me of how important it is to spend some time just chilling out every once in a while.

Today’s Change Agent Take-Away: Sometimes in the heat of the big project, we can get caught up in the hubbub and lose focus. That’s when it’s good to slow down, celebrate our progress and appreciate the process.

Change Agent Tip #66: Step Back and Appreciate the Process

It can be energizing to turn off the cellphone, ignore the email and just have a real conversation with the human beings sitting next to us.

Try it at home this weekend and with your team next week. You might be surprised to discover how good you feel about the work you’ve done together and how much you appreciate the folks around you who’ve helped make it all possible.

-Steve

Last year we celebrated Independence Day in Truckee, California and I had a similar message about enjoying the people in our lives and the human process that’s unfolding around us. Check out that article called “Be Yourself!” …

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Questions for Chatter:

1. What’s the best thing going on with your team right now?
2. How can you let your team mates know how much you appreciate their contributions?

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If you recognize that reference, you may be – as I am – a big fan of the old Saturday Night Live skits about a Motivational Speaker named Matt Foley who was anything but motivational.

The late Chris Farley played this recurring role of a horrible success coach back in the 1990’s.

Foley would typically be brought into a client situation to caution young people that their errant behavior might result in a lifetime of failure – and maybe even end up with their “…living in a van down by the river.” 

Of course Matt knew quite a bit about that worst-case scenario – since most of the time that was his current living arrangement.

I think just about every episode of Foley’s foibles is posted on SNL’s Chris Farley web page, which you can visit here.  Just remember to turn the sound down if you’re watching at work. :o)

Note: the awesome stylized graphic of Foley was done by Gyula Nemeth.

See more of Gyula’s work on Dribble here.

Not the Norm for “Motivational”: In addition to being a lousy motivational speaker, Matt Foley was a terrible Change Agent too.  In fact, he was everything his audience should strive not to be.

He was loud and rude, badly out of shape, obviously out of a job, and wildly out of the mainstream when it came to motivational speakers. He also wallowed in self-pity and inadvertently focused on the negative aspects of a given situation.

Of course all of this is why the character was so funny.

If anything, Matt represented all the things one could accomplish with an utter lack of self-motivation. This hilarious character prompted this tip for Change Agents:

Change Agent Tip # 65: Practice What You Preach!

Mind Your Yapper: It’s been said that the best religion is the one you actually practice… So it’s hard to be very effective guiding others toward the future if our demonstrated behaviors clash with our spoken words. Taking one look at Matt Foley, you might assume he cannot hear the words coming out of his own “big yapper”.

They’re Watching You: It’s also hard for an internal Change Agent to be taken seriously if they openly resist the change they’re trying to convince others to adopt. So when I’m being asked to help my peers adapt to something, I try to monitor and maintain a steady pace of adoption myself before asking others to commit to the change.

If you are an internal Change Agent, I’d encourage you to check yourself… Are you leaning into the next big thing or waiting for others to go first? You’ll want to have at least started your own change process before you ask others to get on board.

You’re As Credible As Your Record: Finally, remember that good or bad, the results of our past efforts are available for all to see. This applies at the individual and organizational level.

Don’t blame your stakeholders if they take into account the results you’ve been getting when they weigh their options and consider whether to go along with your change.

It’s pretty simple. Your results either support a message of “Do As I Did” or “Don’t Make the Same Mistakes I Made”.

Pick one. And be careful not to preach a “Do as I Do” message if the results don’t support it.

I’m not sure if anyone kept score of Matt Foley’s work, but the results he was getting in his personal life didn’t sound very encouraging…

To bring these ideas even closer to home, here are two examples of not following this “practice what you preach” rule that come from my own experience. 

One represents my behavior and another comes from a client executive:

1. So… Are You Certified Yourself? I once lead a National Project Office where we had a goal of improving the discipline and practice of project management across the company. One measure of progress was to track how many of our PM’s were certified by the Project Management Institute (PMI).

As an internal Change Agent, I didn’t get much traction trying to convince dozens of Project Managers in my company to invest hundreds of hours becoming certified as Project Management Professionals (PMP’s) until I myself had gone through the process.

2. What’s Good For the Goose… I once worked with a client Chief Financial Officer who was among the last people in his organization to adopt Direct Deposit for his paycheck. He held out even as the deadline approached for all employees to cut over to the money-saving new process. I recall how it once made for an awkward Q&A in front of a large employee gathering.  Oops!

The Bottom Line: The next time you’re asked to help others adopt a change, be sure to:

a. Look in the Mirror: Listen to verify that your words align with your actions so you don’t send mixed messages.

b. Stay Ahead of the Curve: If you are also subject to the change, maintain your own progress on change adoption even as you help others.

c. Check Your Record: Avoid using a “Do as I Do” message if your past results don’t support it!

-Steve

Questions for Chatter:

1. Have you experienced a situation where no one wanted to “go first” and adopt a change – but once a few people got on board, the rest soon followed?
2. Is there any part of your internal change that you’re asking others to tackle even while you personally drag your feet?

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It also makes sense that we should understand the ups and downs we’re asking people to sign up for.

Finally, the role implies that we plan to embrace the change ourselves.

All week I’ve been listening to some great rock and roll music I got for Father’s Day and keeping an ear open for lyrics that hold meaning for those engaged in change. I noticed a pair of songs that highlighted some approaches we can take as Change Agents when we engage those impacted by our work.

In my last post, I reflected on the classic Brice Springsteen tune “Glory Days”.

The story of that song reminded me of how beneficial it can be to help people place a new change into context by looking back, even as we help them look into the future.  Check out that article here…

Today, my playlist and my thoughts have drifted to another classic in the catalog of Creedence Clearwater Revival. (They’re also known by their initials: CCR).  I bumped into a familiar chart buster from the 70’s called “Around the Bend”.

Check it Out: Here are a few lines that caught my attention:

“There’s a place up ahead and I’m going – just as fast as my feet can fly.”

“Come away, come away if you’re going.

Leave the sinking ship behind.

Come on the rising wind. We’re going up around the bend.”

Later we hear:

“Better get while the getting’s good…”

Here’s what I noticed in this musical gem that might be useful for us as Change Agents:

1. We’ve Found a Better Place: Dan Fogerty definitely plans to go somewhere around the bend, and he isn’t going there alone.  In fact a bunch folks are going there. He describes this place in great positive detail. I get the impression he would take this trip even if he had to do it alone, but he’d sure love to have you join the group and share in the benefits.

2. Our Current Situation Stinks. In fact it’s a sinking ship. I’m not sure what problems they were having there, but I get a sense they might be stuck in the concrete jungle of a city while they yearn to get out into the woods. Maybe they’re having a huge celebration of self-expression like the annual Burning Man gathering in the Nevada desert? Who knows?  

In any case, he’s suggesting there might be serious negative consequences if you stand pat and miss out on the fun. OBTW: there’s also a time limit on this offer, so we’d better “get while the getting’s good”.

3. Let’s Get Excited! Finally, I’m not totally certain of the destination, but holy smokes, he sure sounds pumped up about going. It’s hard to ignore the excitement in his voice as he pulls for us to take this journey. I’m almost ready to grab my hiking boots…

Change Agent Take-Aways: CCR has some good insights for us as Change Agents and I’d summarize three of them as:

–       Show Carrots.

–       Show Sticks.

–       Show Emotion!

Show the Carrot: Just like CCR, you should paint a positive picture of where your organization is going.

Do your research to find out the positive benefits of your change.

–  What great things will take place?
–  How will life improve?
–  What measurable improvements will the change bring?
–  What problems or nuisances will go away?

Review this material with the team that’s implementing the change to make sure you are dealing in facts. Be patient and be open to feedback.

Show the Stick: Remind stakeholders of the risk of ignoring the change. (As long as you’re being honest about the risk.)  If your stakeholders really do face a “sinking ship” if they stand still, be straight-up about these facts.

• What external threat does the change address that could sink our ship if ignored?
• What internal weakness might be fatal if left unaddressed?
• What opportunity will we miss out on if we fail to take action?
• How bad could it get – really?
• How urgent is it? Is there a time limit on our need to adapt?
• When do we (and more importantly, I) need to be completely through this transition?

Big-Time Warning: Don’t make stuff up! Don’t needlessly scare people as a tactic to motivate your change. If the sky really isn’t going to fall if they don’t embrace the change, don’t scream and run in circles with your wings flapping – you’ll lose credibility quickly once people discover the truth.

Show Some Emotion! Finally, don’t assume people know the positives attached to your change: Diligently get the word out and do it in a way that demonstrates how compelling you find the case for change.

Build a compelling narrative to describe the up-side. Use active language and consider each personal interaction as an opportunity to share what the change means to you.

Gather a few real stories about these benefits from some real people in your organization.

Finally, avoid over-promising or raving about things you don’t have direct experience with.

That’s a Wrap: Creedence Clearwater Revival has a few good things to say about change in their song “Up Around the Bend”. I recommend that you do a little research to get your up-side and down-side facts straight, then share them with passion. If you lace up your boots and kick in a few of these suggestions, you could find people following you on the path of adopting your change in no time.

-Steve

Questions for Chatter:

1. What damage can it cause when Change Agents are overly optimistic about the future?
2. How can Change Agents respond to the legitimate question of whether it’s possible to talk about what’s around the bend if we haven’t in fact been there?

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I uploaded all 4 discs of the “Essential Bruce Springsteen” collection to my iPod before doing the same with Creedence Clearwater Revival’s best-selling album of greatest hits. All this new/old music provided a nice soundtrack for my morning run on Sunday.   

Music + Lyrics: Regular readers of theBigRocks know I love music of all genres and enjoy the subtle art expressed within the lyrics of songs even more.

Often as I jog, I pay special attention to the meaning of the lyrics in a way that isn’t easy to do in other settings. I really like to focus on any insights the artist’s words may contain for us as Change Agents. OK, I’ll admit that might sound weird to some folks, but it’s what I do… :o)

Two lyrics within this weekend’s playlist caught my ear because of the divergent messages they send about the way people choose to approach change. I’ll address one song today and another in my next post.

Listen Up: The first example is found within the relatable lyrics of Bruce Springsteen’s “Glory Days”:

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“I had a friend was a big baseball player back in high school.
He could throw that speedball by you.
Make you look like a fool, boy.

Saw him the other night at this roadside bar.
I was walking in, he was walking out.
We went back inside sat down had a few drinks,
but all he kept talking about was Glory days.

 Well they’ll pass you by…”

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A Familiar Story: I love the visual that The Boss paints of two old friends bumping into each other outside a bar and reminiscing about old times. His buddy goes on and on about the “glory days” when he could pump that baseball over the plate so fast that no one could hit it.

The tale comes full circle as Springsteen sums up the chance meeting by reflecting on the limited value of living in the past:

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“I hope when I get older, I don’t sit around thinking about it. But I probably will…

…Time slips away. Leaves you with nothing Mister but boring stories of glory days…

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I noticed something within this clip that Change Agents should keep in mind when helping others through the process of adoption.

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Change Agent Tip #64:

Recognize the value and limitations of looking back even as we help people look forward.

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The Benefits of Looking Back: Knowing the past is critical to understanding the future. Most of us would agree that changes make more sense to us once we’re able to place then in context. It helps to know how the change “fits in” with our past and current world.

That’s why it’s so important for organizations to keep track of their own history and understand how a new change fits into it. When faced with change, unasked questions might pop into people’s minds like:

•   Does this change represent a shift away from our previous strategies or are we “doubling down” on our familiar approach?
•   How will the change impact our culture?
•   Will this impact our team’s day-to-day priorities?
•   Should this stuff make sense to me right away or are you asking me to think completely differently?
•   …and so forth

Crack Out the Marshmallows: Some corporate culture experts stress the importance of maintaining the “campfire stories” of your organization to remind people of the basic pillars within your team’s culture. When we introduce a change, they suggest we express that change as being something different from the norm or a reinforcement of the stories people are already acquainted with.

In this process, the campfire stories provide the point of reference or “anchor” for comparison.  In Springsteen’s story, his reminiscing is harmless. In our real life stories of change adoption, campfire stories and cultural anchors can be helpful or not so helpful.

It’s Hard to Beat the “Good Old Days”: It can be risky to assume the good old days were all positive. Another even more practical reason to take a look back before looking forward is to make sure you’re ready to address concerns people may have based on their legitimate past experience with change. Whether their individual or collective experience was good or bad, past changes may have made impressions that your change now has to account for.

For example, without context it would be hard to answer stakeholder questions like:

“Didn’t we try something like this before?  I think that change failed…”

“I’ve been here a while and this new idea doesn’t seem to fit our company’s culture at all…”

Step Into That Pitch: Don’t wait for your stakeholders to “fill in the blanks” on questions like these. Take this risk on by brainstorming what forms of resistance you might get to your change based on past history.

Don’t be afraid to ask around the organization to find out what past change initiatives worked out well and what lessons can be learned from the changes that didn’t go so well.

Find out what critical success factors your change has in common with past successful and unsuccessful changes. Build your answers to potential stakeholder questions by considering lasting impressions of past changes and the facts of your new change.

A Final Word: There’s nothing wrong with looking back on our glory days. In fact, it’s important to use past success stories as a positive reference point for future changes. But I’d encourage you to also recognize the limits of “campfire stories” and use a few simple techniques like the ones I’ve described here to avoid repeating past mistakes.

In my next post, I’ll tackle a change-related classic from CCR…

-Steve

Questions for Chatter:

1. Have you been part of an organization the “lived in the past” so much that it crippled their ability to make changes?
2. What can go wrong if Change Agents jump into implementing change without considering past lessons learned?

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I miss him greatly and try to take a few minutes on Father’s Day each year to celebrate what he meant to me and what a positive impact he had on me and the rest of my family. 

Here’s the original post from 2011…

-Steve

Today is Father’s Day in the United States and a lot of Dads are getting new neckties and barbecue aprons to replace the ones they got last year.  They’re getting hugs and handshakes and full days off from their day jobs as well as the yard work.

We lost my Dad a few years ago and it served as a stark reminder that we are all on this Earth for a very limited time – and that those who love us and depend upon us will hopefully miss us when we’re gone.

I miss everything about my Dad. 

I miss his consistency, his simplicity and his honesty. 

I miss his work ethic, his common sense and his laugh.

But I know he’s still around because I see a lot of his characteristics in my own boys.

So today I have nothing to say about guiding change… I only have a simple message to encourage you to call or visit your Dad this weekend if you are lucky enough to have that opportunity.

I wrote this little rhyme a while back to sum up a lesson my Dad taught me about being honest and to share a few things we’ve tried to teach our boys about being true to themselves:

We used to tell our little boys as they grew daily older:
Your reputation lives within the eyes of your beholder.

You can try ‘most anything that’s good for you or other.
Or tell things less than true to me or even to your mother.
You can cheat or you can scam or you can blur the borders.
But I hope one day you’ll see the sense behind our little orders.
‘Cause what you do while I can see you tells me what you’re ‘fraid of.
But what you do while no one’s watching tells me what you’re made of.

Happy Father’s Day to all of you Dads!

-Steve

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Warren Buffett knows a bit about money.

He’s known as the “Oracle of Omaha” based on his lifelong track record for picking winners in the financial markets and turning poor performing companies into successful enterprises through shrewdly targeted investments of capital and talent. Few would question his intellect or clarity.

Wise Words: One of my all-time favorite quotes from Buffett is shown below and it has a direct application to the world of change:

As it turns out, Buffett also knows a few things about what it means for leaders to be honest in their description of the future when selling change to their stakeholders. His logic is based on tons of experience and it goes something like this:

Build & Maintain Trust: People place their trust in us as leaders and Change Agents. That confidence is an easy thing to lose if we try to “bait and switch” a positive change for a negative one. if you are holding a rock concert – tell them to expect one. If your change is actually a ballet – be straight-up about that.

Do Your Homework: Don’t tell folks the change will be “minor” if in fact it will not be “minor” from their frame of reference. If your change will have different impacts on different roles in your organization, be clear about that too. For some folks it might be fun. For others it might be a pain. In either case, do your research and be honest.

The Truth Will Set You Free: Be truthful about the good, the bad and the ugly when you are describing the future for your stakeholders.

They Know If You Know: Be above-board about what you know, what you don’t know and what you are assuming/guessing. You don’t have to use those words, but you should apply that sentiment.

It All Comes Out in the End: When facing decisions, big changes or any element of the future, the facts as we know them are basically the facts. Eventually the facts come out, so it’s best to avoid hyperbole and deception from the start.

People Can Spot a Fake: What we know and don’t know is all we have to work with, so don’t pretend to have “insider knowledge” if you don’t – because again – deception is an unnecessary and dangerous thing when your messing with someone else’s future.

Change Agents might do well to heed the Oracle of Omaha as they plan to roll out big changes… or risk the storm of resistance that may roll in when stakeholders catch on that they have been duped.

-Steve

Questions for Chatter:

Have you experienced what can go wrong when Change Agents over-advertise the positive expectations for a change?

How have you seen fellow Change Agents “keep it real” when it comes to selling a change that isn’t all “good news”?

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Recent research has uncovered new levels of understanding about how the human brain deals with change.

In my last article, I outlined some key findings of a Michigan State University study that identified patterns within the brain activity of people who were subjected to rule changes.

I also offered three “Change Agent Take-Aways” based on this knowledge of how humans face change.

When guiding change, we should:

1.  Define the Rules and the Wiggle Room: Communicate new things stakeholders are expected to do – but also share those things you expect them to stop doing.

2.  Reduce Complexity: Make sure your instructions and your rationale are clearly communicated.

3.  Be Methodical and Be Available: Find who will be impacted by your change. Ensure they all get the message and have a place to take their questions.

Avoid Frying Your Brain On Change: If we can assume that the brain will go through predictable response patterns in reaction to change, then what can be done about it?

Leadership Consultant Dr. Carol Kinsey Goman suggests that Change Agents can leverage this awareness of how the brain functions by following six simple rules – each based on neuro-scientific realities:

1.  Make change familiar.  She reasons that “It takes a lot of repetition to move a new or complex concept from the prefrontal cortex to the basil ganglia.”
2.  Let people create change.  “When people solve a problem by themselves, the brain releases a rush of neurotransmitters like adrenaline, and this natural “high” becomes associated positively with the change experience.”

3.  KISS your communication. “The prefrontal cortex can deal well with only a few concepts at one time.”

4.  Never underestimate the power of a vision. – “<Create>…a clearly articulated, emotionally charged, and broad picture of what the organization is trying to achieve.”
5.  Don’t sugar-coat the truth. “The prefrontal cortex is always on guard for signals of danger.”

6.  Help people pay attention.  “The act of paying attention creates chemical and physical changes in the brain.”

Here’s a link to her entire article and her business website which are both excellent.

Six More Change Agent Take-Aways: I agree with Dr. Goman’s six steps and have a few observations to add.

1.    Familiarity Doesn’t Just Happen: I’ve found it very effective to use a “positive repetition” approach when it comes to introducing change. First, I help my clients define the basics of the change:

a.     What’s changing and what’s not changing.

b.     Why we’re doing this.

c.      Who’s impacted and who’s involved in helping everyone get through the change.

d.     When it’s going to happen.

e.      What each impacted person can do to get ready.

f.      Where to go with questions.

Then instead of assuming this stuff will all make sense based on one leadership pronouncement, we plan to repeat the positive messages multiple times using multiple messengers and multiple channels. We also plan to gather feedback on what parts are making sense and what parts need more follow-up.  As the key points become more familiar, the questions tend to diminish.

2. Engage Stakeholders in Creating and Rolling Out the Change: People generally react more favorably to a given change when they have an active role in shaping it. I like to help my clients identify potential “Change Champions” within their organization. We work together with these early adopters as they assist the team in “sanity checking” the premise for the change, tweaking the approach to rolling it out and identifying areas where they feel we may face resistance.  By participating in the formulation of the change, these Change Agents are better prepared to help others through the process of change acceptance.

3. Keep Communication Simple: As Dr. Goman suggests, use the K.I.S.S. principle. Others have their own definition of this acronym, but I interpret it as “Keep It Short & Simple”.  Boil down complex concepts into bite-sized, relevant pieces and guide people through the information.  It’s especially important to coordinate the main points of your change-related communication with sponsors, managers and Change Agents so there is limited chance of sending mixed messages. I often help my clients develop simple bullet points that they can interpret (within reason) as they personally deliver the message to their stakeholders.

4. Create a Clear Vision: Take the time to build a very clear picture of where the organization is going and how this change fits into that future. Be sure that the vision you paint also demonstrates roughly how the team will get from the current state to the positive future so people can start mapping out their journey. People react poorly to a new change if past change efforts have failed. The negative connotation of “yet another doomed change” is hard to overcome, so don’t assume your vision will be greeted with open arms.

5. Be Honest: Just as important as painting a clear and compelling picture of the future is making sure that the picture is realistic. Assume people in your organization are smart enough to remember the failures of the past and don’t want to see them repeated. In fact, I have found that risk aversion based on experience is one well-intentioned source of resistance that’s often overlooked. Be frank about the things you’ve tried unsuccessfully in the past and describe how this change will be different. Be equally honest about any significant caveats or limits on the expected benefits of the change so stakeholders can realistically look forward to sharing in the success.

6. Help People Pay Attention: Dr. Goman’s final point is not hard to address if you take a methodical approach to guiding the change. That involves planning the work of the change – then following through on the plan. Map out the activities that contribute to building stakeholder awareness, understanding and adoption of your change.

I use a straight-forward methodology that has five “big rocks”:

– Lead: Create a change leadership team that verifies strategic alignment of the change and demonstrates sponsorship for the change across the organization.

– Communicate: Get the word out about the rationale for the change, how it will impact different stakeholders and how people can prepare to adapt.

– Enable: Offer targeted learning opportunities, messaging and support for people as they learn about the change and prepare to do things in a new way.

– Deliver: Use structured project management methods to plan and track the execution of Organizational Change Management (OCM) activities. If the change is being driven by a larger project, make sure the OCM work gets accounted for within those project plans and execution.

– Teamwork: Ensure that the team working to roll out the change is firing on all cylinders by using effective methods to make decisions, resolve issues and generally get their work done.

A Final Word: Scientists are learning more about the inner workings of the human brain as it goes through the change process. We can leverage our knowledge of these reaction patterns to help guide change adoption.

Helping people through the process can be hard, but following a crisp, structured approach will help impacted individuals build the temporary neural links that eventually lead to permanent positive pathways within their grey matter regarding your change.

-Steve

Questions for Chatter

1. Based on the research noted above, do you think it will someday be possible to significantly speed up the process of change adoption by tweaking areas of the brain?
2. Do you think some people are “hard wired” within their brains to be excellent change adopters?

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Change Agents are often asked to make the case for their change in public settings.

Launch events, employee meetings, town hall discussions and educational sessions all rely heavily on the art of public presentation. 

Building your skills in this area can be one of the best investments you will make in yourself as a Change Agent.

Speaking in public can make some people downright nervous. But communicating with large groups of stakeholders is such an important skill for effective Change Agents to have that we should address that concern head-on.

Public speaking is commonly listed as one of our greatest fears. But it doesn’t have to stay that way!

A while back I wrote an article entitled: ‘Seven Tips for Delivering Great Presentations”. 

Over time, that article has become one of the top ten posts on theBigRocks.com with thousands of hits. Today I’d like to revisit that topic and add a couple more suggestions to the list.

Click here to read the original post which has a lot more detail, but for now, here’s a quick summary of the 7 Tips for Delivering a Great Presentation:

1. Know Your Material. Speakers speak. Readers read. Avoid over-scripting your presentation.

2. Know Your Audience.  Take the time to research the audience you will be addressing. Take into account their frame of reference, their priorities and their background – then tailor your material and delivery to match.

3. Be Interesting. Keep your material focused on the topic at hand. Peer Review your content with others and ask them for candid feedback. Just because we find our stories and messages interesting doesn’t mean others will, so ask your reviewers to point out any “flat spots” or potentially confusing messages in your material.

4. Pace Yourself and Vary your Tone. Like most of us, I tend to speed up my delivery under pressure, so watch out for this trend. I offer a few ways you can learn to pace yourself in the full article.

5. Go Gadgetless:  It’s tempting to use clickers, pointers and other tech gizmos, but sometimes people find them distracting. I once had a client say this about her boss after he used a red laser dot to point at each slide as he read to the team:

“If the material was interesting, I wouldn’t need him to point.”

6. Move Around. It keeps you engaged and it’s a good way to keep your audience from falling asleep or drifting into checking email on their smart phones!

7. Engage People. Look at your audience – but don’t stare them down.

Those 7 ideas were part of my original article.

Here are 3 more suggestions that I’ve also found useful:

8. Brutally Edit: Make sure everything in your presentation actually needs to be there. If your initial attempt to create material resulted in 20 slides, try cutting that number in half. If each of your slides is packed with 20 bullets in a size-12 font, cut it back.  Remember, you’re not writing a novel to be read, you’re creating an outline so folks can follow along as you speak with them.

Also, be aware of how the material fits together. Sometimes it’s tempting to re-use a great slide that worked in another setting – just make sure it applies to your topic. Resist the urge to include stuff that isn’t germane to the subject at hand. Your peer review should catch this mistake.

9. Try the 5-Minute Rule: When I build presentations, whether they’re designed for a half-hour-long meeting or a 2-day training course, I use a simple rule of thumb:

Allow five minutes for each slide.

This might seem like a long time for one slide, but I’ve found it’s easier to add time to the discussion than it is to rush through a presentation that I’ve overloaded with too much content.

If you absolutely cannot survive without “the crutch of too much” – consider holding a few extra slides off to the side in a separate presentation that’s queued up in the background just in case the discussion gets drawn in that direction.

10. Practice Makes Perfect: Finally, going through your material alone – or better yet with someone else as an audience – can help you become more familiar with your message and less likely to freeze up in front of an audience.

Try to make the practice sessions as realistic as possible.  If the room where you will present is available beforehand, go check it out. Stand in the spot where you will deliver your talk and look out over the space. Take a few deep breaths and give your material a dry run. 

In the more likely case that you cannot practice in the actual room you will use, consider finding another room that mimics the size and layout of the one you will present in. It can really help to practice several things in this environment:

   – Walk as you talk while scanning the entire room from left-to-right and front-to-back.

   – Look at the people (or empty chairs) and build confidence in your ability to connect with your audience.

   – Pausing for effect and experience how that potentially awkward silence feels.

   – Work with or without notes and see how familiar you truly are with the content.

There’s no substitute for practice when it comes to building your skills and comfort level as a public speaker. Even veteran presenters are more effective when they invest in practicing the delivery of their message.

Summary: Many Change Agents struggle with delivering public presentations. But public speaking is too important to the job to let that fear stop us from improving this vital capability.

Start with the list of suggestions I’ve provided here and seek out opportunities to speak in public.Start with small groups of people that you are already comfortable with and grow from there.

Instead of retreating into a shell and letting others deliver key messages, volunteer to be the spokesperson for your change.

I assure you, with solid preparation and diligent practice, you will build this important skill very quickly.

-Steve

Questions for Chatter:

1. What other public speaking tips have you found useful?
2. Who is you favorite public speaker? What did he or she do particularly well to be so effective?

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Great news!

I’ve been added to the team of contributors on the Global Community Forum for ForwardMetrics!

The facilitators of this forum describe it as “a global community of forward thinkers”.

Contributors range from current and former C-Level executives to business coaches, senior consultants and facilitators who guide the development and execution of strategy.

Material ranges from topic overviews to checklists to expressions of professional opinion from experts in their fields.

There are tons of useful articles on the community forum and fresh content is added almost every day.

My First 2 Cents: My first post on this forum is about resistance to change.

I offer 8 Ways Change Agents Can Deal With Resistance to Change.

The article can be found here – or by clicking the picture below:

Stop by and give it a look…

I’d love to hear your feedback on the article.

Thanks again to everyone for reading my stuff and make it a great week!

-Steve

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Nineteen years ago this month, Nelson Mandela assumed the presidency of South Africa.

His inauguration in Pretoria culminated Mandela’s self-titled “long walk to freedom” that had wound an incredible path across his country and the tapestry of global history.

A Humble Hero: The nation’s first black President had left his childhood village of Mvezo in Umtatu to become the first member of his family to attend school. He worked his way through law school. He became a political activist during the most tumultuous, racially-divided time in any nation’s history.

His activism landed him in prison for decades. The tide of history eventually turned in favor of freedom through his struggle and the efforts of millions of like-minded blacks and whites within and beyond the borders of South Africa.

Nelson Mandela wasn’t just an agent of change.

He fully embodied the purpose, the actions and the results of real and lasting change from within.

Respect or Revenge? One quote from Mandela’s many writings holds particular meaning for us as Change Agents. It’s about how he was to deal with those who had suppressed black South Africans prior to his rise to power. 

He was asked; now that he had the authority to rule the nation, would he take revenge?

Would he drive out the former white oppressors and risk a collapse of the South African economy as their wealth fled with them?

Or would he work directly with the whites as partners and risk appearing weak or capitulating to the millions of blacks who had placed so much faith in him?

His answer was clear, practical and loaded with political risk from every angle.

Not only would he tolerate his enemies, he would directly engage them.

He reasoned:

“If you want to make peace with your enemy, you have to work with your enemy. Then he becomes your partner.”

Mandela’s quote may sound similar to these words attributed to Sun-Tzu, the dispenser of timeless advice regarding the craft of war, politics and power in “The Art of War”:

“Keep your friends close and your enemies closer.”

But Sun-Tzu’s admonishment should be considered within context.

He was advising warriors in the unforgiving art of battle. Some would argue that politics are unforgiving too – and they also involve life and death. But the biggest difference between the two fields is that, in most cases, political struggles allow more room for non-lethal engagement.

So do our change situations, unless something has gone terribly wrong of course…

Change Agent Take-Aways: I suggest Change Agents take Mandela’s approach when dealing with strong opposing forces of resistance to your change. Especially if those forces are gearing up for a fight.

Our goal as agents of change is not to defeat an enemy or overpower the weight of resistance. It’s to guide people through a transition and help along the process of change adoption. In that spirit, we should consider ways to partner with those who disagree with us.

Consider these five guidelines for this challenging task based on Mandela’s direct engagement approach:

1.  Commit to Progress Rather Than “Victory”: Remember that the chances of the adoption process moving forward improve if there’s give and take, so avoid entrenching your positions. Reach out to the other side and establish a forum for dialogue. Value the progress higher than “winning” on behalf of your position in the argument.

2. Be Principled: Successful change may at times involve compromise within the confines of a clear set of principles – so take the time to identify what those principles are for your team. For example, the new President was committed to a non-violent approach, so he tried to maintain a pace of change that would not set off unwarranted altercations.

Detractors screamed that he was rushing the social change process even as supporters argued that he was dragging his feet. Both groups felt they were right from their frame of reference. Mandela’s perspective needed to encompass all positions, so he adopted a guiding principle of engagement and consideration over bending to the critics on either side.

3. Define Expectations: Decide in advance if there are non-negotiable expectations you’ll need stakeholders to meet. In Mandela’s case, he insisted that ALL South Africans deserved economic and political opportunities, so any proposed issue resolution that restricted this freedom was a non-starter.

4.  Avoid Fruitless Confrontation: Direct engagement is meant to head off direct conflict and avoid some of its negative consequences. Direct conflict will often lead to unnecessary collateral damage. Especially if we over-react and use a much stronger force than the situation calls for.

Do your homework before you confront people. Only use the strongest language to address resistance after more considerate overtures have failed to achieve results. This is not to say that you won’t sometimes need to confront stakeholders who are stalling. It’s just to say that you shouldn’t call for tanks in the street at the first sight of slow change adoption.

5.  Your Friends are Still Your Friends – Even if They Occasionally Question You: Be prepared to answer accusations of weakness from your strongest supporters. This doesn’t mean they’re getting ready to flee or they don’t share your goals. They may just question your motives, pace or approach.

Keep the lines of communication open within your team. Listen to their concerns and adapt where you feel it’s appropriate, but avoid the urge to promise confrontation with “the enemy”. You don’t need to convince every single team member to fall in love with the engagement approach, you just need to keep them working together and moving in the same direction.

Conclusion: As Nelson Mandela frittered away endless years in captivity, he could have developed a bitter, revengeful sentiment for those who eventually became his political opponents. He could have taken out that revenge when he became President of all South Africans.

Instead, he chose to represent the broadest definition of his stakeholders – all South Africans, black and white – and he guided them through one of history’s most unlikely transitions. 

The next time you find yourself in a potentially bitter battle over a change, open your mind to the idea of direct engagement.

You may be surprised to learn that your “opponents” are open to dialogue as well.

They were just waiting for you to go first…

-Steve

Questions for Chatter:

1. In what way do we introduce unnecessary risk when we refuse to engage those who disagree with our positions?
2. How can we deal with the perception of weakness that may arise when we chose to engage “the other side”?

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Today’s ‘Link-O-Rama’ has a distinct focus on advice about how humans interact. 

There’s arguing, listening, situational awareness and all the drama of a street fight.

Read on to learn more about authenticity, transparency and how people can actually conflict in a constructive way.

-Steve

1.  I Can See Right Through You: In this short article, Janet Louise Stephenson offers definitions for three characteristics of great Change Agents: “transparency”, “authenticity” and accountability”.

Even when we think we’re “being real”, she suggests that we might be covering up our true needs and perspectives. She argues that once we consider the amount of social conditioning everyone goes through, our knee-jerk responses may not be as authentic as we think!

2.  How to Really Understand Someone: I enjoyed this piece on interpersonal dialogue by Mark Goulston and John Ullmen. Harvard Business Review posted their article as a part of a running series on “High Impact Influencers”. 

The premise of their work is that we can get beyond the superficial layers of conversation and get into some real dialogue if we patiently consider the human/social process of connecting. In this third of four steps along that process, the authors suggest that there are three layers of awareness that really sum up the path to truly understanding someone:

• Situational Awareness: Show the other person(s) that you “Get It” and see the larger context for the dialogue.
• Personal Awareness: Demonstrate that you “Get Them” and understand their personal needs, frame of reference and limitations.
• Solution Awareness: Show that you understand their approach to solving the problem at hand… you “buy in” to at least part of their logic.

I recommend the entire series so click around the links once you get there.

3. Conflict is Good – So Let’s Fight!  Only kidding.  Finally, I ran across an article this morning about how effective teams actually encourage a degree of conflict. They reach higher levels of interaction by letting things flare up a little from time to time. Once the juices get flowing, they enter into a stage of beneficial “sharpening” of ideas through worthwhile criticism. Lisa Kohn of Chatsworth Consulting Group suggests that there are 5 ways to improve how we conflict:

a.  Remember What We Really Want: I’ve always believed that it’s hard to get what you want if you haven’t honestly described a perfect outcome. You can always work toward a compromise postion if you know the basics of what you need in order to be satisfied. But it’s hard to reach contentment ina conflict situation if you don’t clearly capture what would make you happy.

b.  Take a Step Back: Try not to be reactive. Consider the overall context for the engagement. Try to keep from burrowing into only the areas that bother us or excite us.

c.  …But Not Too Far Back: Stay engaged. It can be dangerous to appear disinterested or unwilling to stand up for your opinion.

d.  Get Into Their Shoes: listen to their side with a goal of truly understanding where they are coming from. We can all learn a bit from listening, right?

e.  Get on the Same Side (of the problem) Look for common ground related to solving the problem – not making sure the right person takes the blame, etc.

That’s a Wrap: As long as humans need to interact in group settings, there will be conflict and a need for better problem-solving interactions. We have all seen what happens when we are left to our own devices to figure out how to reconcile competing interests, and the results are typically not that good.  So check out these articles and keep sending your ideas for future posts here on theBigRocks.

-Steve

Questions for Chatter:

1. Have you ever been the victim of someone refusing to even try to understand your position? What did you learn from that interaction?
2. Describe the best facilitation of conflict you’ve ever witnessed. What techniques might you be able to add to your toolkit from that experience?

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That’s a pretty impressive accolade considering that many people – including some of these same peers – believed his business model was destined to failure when he launched Amazon (as Cadabra) not even a decade ago.

Yes, He Built That: Bezos incorporated his dream company in July 1994, and the website now known as the world’s top internet retail destination went online as Amazon.com in 1995.  Amazon now employs over 88,000 people and generated annual revenues of over $60 Billion in 2012.

The hallmarks of Bezos’ leadership style have been innovation, customer service and maintaining a long-term focus.

A Radical in a Suit: I believe he’s one of the world’s premier Change Agents and we can all take a cue from him.

Today’s discussion introduces one of my favorite Jeff Bezos quotes and offers a few insights Change Agents can draw from it.

His quote refers to the addictive power of shiny objects:

Change Agent Take-Away:  There’s a common negative phrase that often pops up during failed change initiatives.  It’s called “Flavor of the Month”. This disparaging term is meant to describe a shiny new idea that “the boss has fallen in love with”. The problem is that the boss falls in love with some new idea every month – and these ideas rarely get fully implemented.

With “flavor of the month” changes, there could be a lot of loud and impressive rhetoric shared at the launch event, but not a lot of clear rationale. The flash of attention and hand-waving can mask holes in the business case.

Even though the shiny new idea is made to sound super-important and everything else is shoved aside to make room for the new concept, everyone knows the romance won’t last.

It Won’t Last: The track record of follow-through is all the average employee needs to see in order to decide to postpone jumping on the bandwagon. Of course the results of this type of change are usually poor. Worse yet, people start to ignore future changes in hopes that they will just blow over like a spring rain shower.

The boss will lose focus. Other priorities will crowd the change out. A different hot idea will catch the leader’s eye next month – so the shiny change can safely be ignored. 

Avoid the Shiny Trap: To avoid getting hammered by the hazards of hollow hoopla, Change Agents should:

2.  Expect to Measure: Define how that benefit of this change will be measured in tangible terms that stakeholders will recognize.

5.  Work the Plan: Ensure that the organization follows through on the work behind the change.  (“Work the Plan”)

 

6.  Collect Data: Insist that you be allowed to gather real data on change adoption. (Here’s an earlier post on this subject called “Data is King”.)

1. Have you been a victim of “flavor of the month” change?
2. What has worked for you as a Change Agent to ensure that your change doesn’t stall out before the implementation is complete?
3. Have you ever found it intimidating to question the “boss” about the logic behind a change? 

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In some years, that joy is magnified by the experience of a harsh winter.

Such is the case for a lot of my friends in the Northern United States this year. They had one of the longest, most miserable winters in recent memory. For some reason, this winter seemed to linger way beyond its normal duration.

Storm after storm rolled through, dumping down unwelcome snow and ice.

People started to wonder if their calendars were lying to them.

Judging by the flurry of candid Facebook photos my friends posted this past weekend – showing people bike-riding, picnicking and doing just about anything as long as it’s done outdoors – I’d say they appreciated the arrival of Spring 2013 a little bit more than most.

In dozens of blog posts over the past several years, I’ve talked about something called the “change curve”. It’s a well-worn theory that people go through a process as they adapt to change.

Sometimes that adoption process moves along smoothly, but many times it stalls out in a “pit of despair”.  Sometimes all progress toward change adoption hits a brick wall when a person recognizes the true impact of their pending choices. Eventually that realization leads people toward a decision whether to adopt the change or just plain leave.

As a Change Agent, you’ll often be asked to help guide people through dark, chilly times like that.

So bundle up and dig in, because it won’t be easy… At times it will feel like a blustery season of discontent.

But the satisfaction you’ll feel when your stakeholders “make it through” that curve will be worth it.

It may even feel a bit like the warm, welcome sunshine my friends up North enjoyed this weekend after a long, cold winter.

-Steve

Question for Chatter:

• How can you help someone who’s struggling to face a difficult change?

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I encourage you to wander through these tips and pick a few to try.

Before I jump into today’s final list of things Change Agents can do to help their planet, here’s a recap of the week:

Monday: Ten Ways to Save Water

Tuesday: Five Ways to Use Less Electricity

Wednesday: A Dozen Ways to Reduce Heating & Cooling Costs

Thursday: Five Transportation Corners You Can Cut

Friday: Five Ideas for Recycling & Reuse

Today, I’ll close this series with a nasty topic; the amount of chemicals we pour into our environment.

Chemicals, Chemical, Chemicals… Yuck!  We all enjoy the convenience provided by “a better life through science”. But the downside is a dangerous one. Our society produces a lot of toxic waste and that mess needs to be treated with caution.

I’m neither a medical professional nor a scientist, so I’ll leave the study of the negative impacts of environmental pollution and rampant chemical use to the experts. Either way, I think it’s probably a good idea to keep nasty products far from the water we drink and out of the air we breathe.

Below I offer you a handful of ways we can all contribute to lowering the amount of dangerous toxins that flow into the ecosystem:

1.  Ditch that Drawstring Bag: Buy clothes that don’t need to be dry cleaned. Think of the money and time you’ll save!

2.  If You Must…: Consider patronizing “green cleaners” if you absolutely must dry clean items.

3.  Clean Up Your Household Cleaners: Consider using natural, non-toxic cleaning products where you can.  We use vinegar and water around the house with good results and we use this stuff called ‘Simple Green” to wash outdoor items like patio furniture.

4.  Mix It at Home! Check out this great list of homemade cleaning products from Earth Easy that includes basic ingredients like baking soda, alcohol, borax, lemon and corn starch.

5.  If It Really Bugs You: This site from PioneerThinking.com has a ton of natural ways to control bothersome garden pests without resorting to dangerous chemicals.  

6.  Avoid Tossing Electronics into your regular trash. They typically contain mercury, which is a known cause of all sorts of health problems in the general population. Donate them or look for recycle bins at your local electronics retailer or hardware store.

7.  Safely Dispose of Florescent Bulbs: The phosphorus and mercury inside some florescent bulbs can be dangerous, so recycle these at your hardware store or city recycling center. In some municipalities, you can actually get in trouble for placing items like this with toxic heavy metals in with your regular trash.

8.  Clean Up Your Trash: Instead of dropping wicked chemicals onto your trash, click this link to Earth911 to find where you can drop off toxic stuff in your community. This is the most comprehensive recycle site I’ve seen – it even tells you how to safely dispose of aerosol cans, pesticides, paints and old medications!

There You Have It! During this Earth Day week, I’ve tried to make the point that taking care of the Earth is not just some big idea that’s so huge the average individual cannot have an impact.  In fact, a series of small decisions and simple acts repeated by millions of individuals thousands of times can and will make a difference.

Next week, I’ll get back into more standard fare for theBigRocks. (…fun stuff like teamwork, leadership, communication, change agent skills, resistance to change and the like…)

Until then, thanks for reading and keep sending me your ideas for future articles!

-Steve

Questions for Chatter:

1. What can you do if your community doesn’t have a chemical drop-off point?
2. Do you have any favorite natural cleaners or simple substitutes for harsh chemicals?

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Earth Day was Monday and I’ve spent this week offering ways that Change Agents can go beyond impacting their work for the better by contributing to protecting the environment.

Here’s a recap of the week:

Monday:  10 Water-Saving Tips

Tuesday:  5 Ways to Save on Your Electricity Bill

Wednesday:  12 Heating & Cooling Cutters

Thursday:  5 Earth-Friendly Transportation Tips

Today, we’ll consider a few easy things that anyone can do to reduce the amount of junk they pile into their local landfill:

1.  Think Before You Toss It. Stop yourself each time you pull out the wastebasket. Consider if the item you are pitching could be recycled. Recycling is almost always a good idea with paper, cardboard, clean plastics and glass.  It’s best to rinse out all bottles and cans before recycling them.

2.  Say Hello to the Big Green Bins: Sign up for community recycling program if your community offers it.  Usually its free – or included in the cost of your trash collection.

3.  One Exception: Most recycling programs don’t accept packaging that has food stuck to it. A pizza box is a great example of an item that might look like a perfect candidate for recycling, but the embedded food can mess up the recycling process, so most recyclers advise that we do not mix them with our recycling.

4.  Can It Be Reused? If you think about it, almost everything we throw away could have a potential secondary use. Food scraps can go into a compost pile, empty containers can be used in the garage, egg cartons make great mini-pots for starting plants, etc.

5.  My Personal Favorite ReUse Story: Coffee grounds provide a great source of additional organic matter for your flower beds. Starbucks actually gives used grounds away for free. Look around next time you’re getting a mocha-frappe-half-caff-latte there. You’ll see a box, basket or pail with basketball-sized bags of used coffee grounds tightly-wrapped in their original packages. 

They will be labelled “Grounds for Your Garden”. Sprinkle the used coffee grounds liberally over your soil and work them in with a small hand rake. I’ve turned this little trick more than once and each time it makes our garden smell great for several days!

Let’s Do It! Being a Change Agent for the planet not only helps put change back in our pockets, it helps us improve the world around us and feel better about the way we interact with our environment.

Tomorrow’s final post of this “Earth Week” will get into a nasty subject: Chemicals – and how we can reduce the amount of harmful pollutants we allow into the air and water systems we share with those around us.

-Steve

Questions for Chatter:

• What can you do if your community doesn’t have curbside recycling?
• Do you have any other unique recycling tips for us?

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So far we’ve looked at three areas where we can easily make a positive impact:

Monday: Ten Ways to Conserve Water.

Tuesday: Five Simple Tips to Trim Our Use of Electricity.

Wednesday: A Dozen Ways to Reduce Heating & Cooling Costs.

Today, I’ll address another area where Change Agents can adjust their habits and really contribute to the world around them: Transportation.

Let’s Get This Show on the Road! Consider the following ways we can use personal transportation to a lesser degree.

By doing this, we reduce pollution, save money and change the environment in a good way for everyone around us.

Here are 5 transportation tips that might work for you:

1.  Queue up your Errands. Instead of running out 2-3 times a day to get one or two things, plan to go out just once per day – or better yet, just a few times per week. We keep an index card or a scrap of paper on the kitchen counter and build a list of what we’ll need and then knock out several errands in one trip.

2.  Make a Loop: Arrange your stops in a circuit so you don’t waste gas or time by back-tracking.

3.  Phone It In: If your job allows it, telecommute when you can. I regularly use NetMeeting, WebEx, Skype and the good old Conference Call technology to join my clients in meetings from my home office.

(I’ve heard that MeetingBurner and OmniJoin are very good too, so check them out if you get a chance.  I’m not sure if DimDim is still around but I used it a lot a few years ago.)

Do the math: Just one day of telecommuting per week should reduce your transportation costs by 20%. Depending on your situation, this approach might also save you money on parking, car maintenance, lunches and highway tolls.

4.  Take a Bus, Train or Subway. This doesn’t work for everyone, but plenty of folks are so good at it don’t even bother owning a car.

5.  Ride a Bike or Walk. This is another tip that might not work all the time, but it might apply to some of those short trips and situations where you don’t have to carry lots of heavy stuff. We live near a university and we’ve noticed a regular flow of bike-riding commuters who live in our neighborhood.

Bike-to-Work Month! Several cities are participating in the National Bike-to-Work Month during the month of May. Some communities will focus on biking for a day, a week or the entire month. Apply a little Google Magic and you can find out what’s going on with that in your neck of the woods.

Check out National Bike-to-Work Month

Two Birds. One Stone: In addition to the cost savings and the obvious environmental positives, biking and walking are among the most efficient ways to exercise!

So Let’s Get Movin’! Being a Change Agent for the planet not only helps put change back in our pockets, it helps us improve the world around us and feel better about the way we interact with our environment.  Try a few of these locomotion tips and see if you feel better about your transportation habits in no time.

Our Next Stop is Greenville! Tomorrow’s article will touch on an area where you can feel pretty good by changing just a few simple habits every day: Recycling and Reusing.

-Steve

Questions for Chatter:

In what other ways can we reduce our transportation costs & environmental impact?

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Change Agents can do more than impact their places of work. They can change the world – starting in their homes and communities.

In recognition of Earth Day, this week, I’m sharing a few simple tips that each of us can take to contribute to sustaining the planet. In Monday’s article, I listed ten ways to save water. Tuesday’s post included five simple ways to cut your use of electricity.

Today I’d like to get into the single largest area of energy use for most of us: heating and cooling.

Check out this list of a dozen straight-forward ways to reduce the amount of energy we use keeping our spaces warm in the winter and cool in the summer:

1.  Check Your ‘Stats: Most of us only look at the thermostat when we feel a need to change it. So it’s easy to get complacent about how much AC or heating energy we actually use. Heating and cooling costs make up 54% of the typical home energy bill according to the U.S. Department of Energy. Start by taking a few minutes to understand how your thermostat works. 

2.  Program Your Thermostat. If your thermostat has a programmable feature, use it to save energy when you are out of the house or asleep.

3.  Let Your Thermostat Program Itself! Better yet, check out the Nest thermostat. We bought one a few months ago and it’s freakishly programmable. It comes with an iPhone app that allows you to control your home environment remotely. It even “learns” when we’re away, sleeping or otherwise less likely to need heating or cooling. We’re well on our way to saving enough cash on our energy bills to pay for this cool gadget. According to this article, many homeowners are saving up to 20% using just the built-in features of the Nest.  I highly recommend it.

4.  Check your filters. Decreased airflow = extra run time for your system, so keep air flowing freely. We swap our filters out the first weekend of every month as a habit. Seems like a no-brainer, but I had an Air Conditioning service guy once tell me that he often sees units break down in half their expected life span just because they were unnecessarily overworked due to dirty filters. This is the single easiest way to prolong the life of your HVAC system.

5.  Clean your vents and ducts regularly. Also make sure nothing is blocking the intake or output vents so air circulates more readily.

6.  Try Reusable Filters: We invested in a reusable filter for our main intake vent and we wash it monthly. This cuts waste and saves money over the long run.

7.  Bundle Up! Toss on socks and a sweatshirt in the winter and set your heat as low as you can.

8.  Keep a Blanket on the Couch. You’re more likely to keep the heat down it if it’s handy.

9.  Open Wide! In winter, keep the shades or curtains on your south-facing windows open during the day to let in natural sunlight and heat. Close them at night to reduce the radiating cold effect of the windows.

10.  Chill Out! In the summer – wear shorts and go barefoot around the house – and set your AC as high as you comfortably can.

11.  Be More Shady: During the summer, keep shades or curtains closed during the day to block the sun’s heat and open them at night to take advantage of the cooling effect of the exposed glass.

12. Lemme Upgrade! Finally, when you replace appliances and heating/cooling systems, look for energy-efficient models with higher “Energy Star” ratings.

Start by checking the settings on your heating and cooling system this week and determine where you can save. Try a few more of these tips and you’ll soon be cashing in. It will not only pay off for you personally, but it will contribute to your work as a Change Agent for the planet.

Tomorrow we’ll get into transportation as a source of savings and a topic of environmental awareness.

-Steve

Question for Chatter:  In what other ways have you cut your Heating and Air Conditioning costs?

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It saves money.

It’s also good for the environment.

In honor of Earth Day, this week I’m sharing a few easy ways we can impact our world for the better.

Today’s focus is on saving energy.

Here are 5 simple tips to cut your electricity bill:

1.  Use Smarter Light Bulbs: The basic operation behind the incandescent light bulb is largely unchanged since it was invented over 100 years ago. I’ll bet Thomas Edison wasn’t thinking much about cutting his light bill when he flipped that switch on the first marketable filament bulb. 

Even though the technology is far more efficient today, it pales in comparison to that of Compact Fluorescents and LED’s. Of course the new bulbs are much more expensive per bulb to install, but they pay off in the long run.

If you find the cost of these new high tech bulbs a bit steep, consider buying one package of CFL’s or one LED bulb per month and gradually swapping out those heat-generating incandescent dinosaurs.

2.  Kill the Vampires! Unplug stuff when you’re not using it – especially cords that plug in with those big black cubes. These “vampires” suck a certain amount of electricity even when idle, so unplug them in between charges or only use them with a “smart power strip” that senses when energy is not needed. 

It’s kind of like whacking a wooden stake through their energy-wasting hearts…

3.  Nuke it! Use your Microwave to cook instead of using the oven or stove top. The microwave is far more efficient and obviously faster.  

Avoiding the oven all together also keeps your house cooler in the summer.

4.  Lighten Your Laundry Load: Line dry your clothes as much as possible. Consider getting a cheap clothes rack or hanging stuff over chairs, towel bars or a shower rod to dry overnight. Line-dried jeans might start out a bit stiff, but you’ll feel good stretching them out because you’ll know you did the right thing…

5.  Keep Your Eye on the Ball: Use dryer balls to keep the clothes you do toss in the dryer from clumping up and taking longer to dry. Yes, they actually work.

Try a few of these energy-saving pointers this week. You’ll save a bit of money and contribute to the larger cause of saving the planet. That’s the kind of impact a Change Agent can be proud of.

Tomorrow we’ll continue the Earth Day theme by taking a stab at that Air Conditioning and Heating bill.

-Steve

Question for Chatter:

What other energy-saving tips have you tried?

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Monday is Earth Day in the United States. 

I’m not positive, but I think the original purpose of Earth Day was to have us take one day each year to step back and appreciate the beauty and fragility of our planet – and then commit to doing something to preserve it.

Hip, Hip, Hurray!  I’m not exactly a hippie – but I am hip on saving a few bucks on my bills. So today’s post is not about the usual change agent stuff.

It’s about a different type of change… the kind that jingles in your pocket.  It’s also about changing the way we interact with the planet so we can each leave this place better than we found it.

Over the course of the week, I’d like to reinforce the notion that we are each agents of change within our communities. We can make small choices that are not just good for our pocketbooks, but good for everyone.

Today’s focus: Change How We View Water. Doing so can change how much water you consume and how much you pay for it.  Considering that only 1% of the Earth’s water is actually available for humans to use, you might want to change your thinking and try some of these 10 water-saving tips:

1.  Ditch Bottled Water. Get an aluminum or hard plastic water bottle and fill it with purified/filtered tap water.  Most community buildings have water fountains of course, but did you know that many airports are adding filtered water stations for passengers who carry containers in lieu of buying little $5 jugs of H2O once they’ve cleared through security?

2.  Get a Rain Barrel. Collect natural rainwater for watering gardens and flowerbeds. The ones with screens and devices that filter the rain on the way in are good for reducing the risk of developing icky algae in your free water supply.

3.  Choose Drought-Resistant Plants & Grasses when you design your landscaping. They’ll be less thirsty and look good with minimal upkeep.

4.  Bath or Shower? The average bath takes about 70 gallons of water. The average shower takes 12-25. Looks to be an easy call.

5.  Time your Showers. Then Cut Off 1 Minute. Shorter showers obviously use less water – but they can also dramatically cut your bills by reducing the money you pay to heat that water.

6.  Try a Low-Flow Shower Head. It might not be for everyone, but it can decrease your use of shower water by as much as 75%, so it could pay for itself in no time. The water department in one town where I worked even gave these gadgets away for free.

7.  Fill ‘Er Up! Only do full-sized loads of laundry. The average washing machine uses 40 gallons to do each load. With many machines, the amount of water used is nearly the same or even higher with small loads.

8.  Same Goes for Your Dishwasher – Only run it when it’s full. Tests show that most people rinse their dishes way too much while they load the dishwasher too. Rinsing can be drastically reduced for most machines with a savings of 10-20 gallons per load.

9.  Wash Your Clothes With Cold Water. As much as 85% of the energy used to wash clothes with hot water is eaten up by simply heating the water!

10.  Get Some Big Air! Finally, check that you have aerators on all of your faucets. If the water flow hisses slightly and the stream is white, you probably do. If the flow is dense and clear, you might not. The aerator is that little device that injects air into your water as it comes out to increase water pressure and provide a more full stream while using a lot less water. If your aerator gets gunked up, pop it out and replace it or soak it overnight in vinegar to break up corrosion. Here’s a self-help guide on how to do that.

Water is a precious resource and using it wisely isn’t just good for the planet, it makes good financial sense.

Be a Change Agent for the Planet and try a couple of these tips this week.

Tomorrow I’ll share several easy ways to save money by changing our habits around the use of energy.

-Steve

Questions for Chatter:

• What other water-saving tips have you learned?
• Is saving water such a big deal? Isn’t there plenty of water to go around?

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Most of his tales of the Hundred Acre Wood involved characters such as Tigger, Eeyore and Christopher Robin, but some of the most memorable lines are exchanged between best friends Pooh and Piglet.

Milne’s writings may have been directed toward children, but they contain embedded insights of great value to adults as well.

Some of my favorite Milne references involve being less impulsive and reflecting fondly on one’s friends and the comforts of life.

Milne’s works even became the subject of a popular book a few years ago called “The Tao of Pooh” which encouraged people to slow down and take a more introspective view of life and relationships.

Today I’ll share six quotes related to Milne’s work. 

Each quote has a message for Change Agents.  

Enjoy!

I’ll start with my personal favorite from “The Tao of Pooh”:

“You can’t save time. You can only spend it. But you can spend it wisely or foolishly.”

This one is pretty self-explanatory. We each start the day with the exact same time resources. Even if half of our day is already defined for us before we wake up, as Change Agents we should always remember that how we spend our time is – and always will be – the collective result of the choices we’ve made based on our values and our priorities.

If my statement makes the hair on the back of your neck stand up, please take a deep breathe, re-read it and try again.

“Don’t underestimate the value of Doing Nothing, of just going along, listening to all the things you can’t hear, and not bothering.”

Early in my career, a boss introduced me to an old rule of thumb based on the number of holes in my head. He called it Cardinal Rule 2.2.1 and it goes like this: “You have five holes in your head and they are meant to be used in proportion. Spend 40% of your effort using your two ears to listen and another 40% using your two eyes to watch. Spend the other 20% opening your mouth to talk.”  

I encourage Change Agents to listen first, talk second and continuously watch for the telltale signs of stakeholders in need.

“Weeds are flowers, too, once you get to know them.”

As a Change Agent, I can almost guarantee that you will eventually bump into someone who doesn’t think highly of you. In fact, they might express outright disdain for you. Sometimes this is because you represent a change that is going to be difficult for them. Sometimes it’s just because of the way you look or speak. 

Rather than confronting the person or seeking to “defeat” them or “fix” them, try listening to their needs without absorbing the negative blow. This will not be easy, but it can be done and the payoff can be great.

I still remember the first time that I handled this type of situation well. Someone blasted me without mercy – mostly because I of what I represented. I calmly and respectfully allowed him to vent (in front of a large room full of people) and he eventually caved in to peer pressure and started contributing in a more productive way. It opened new doors of capability for me to be able to help people who genuinely disliked me.

“You’re braver than you believe, and stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think.”

Don’t shrink from your role as a Change Agent. You have more influence than you may realize and your knowledge of the overall situation gives you a unique perspective. Even if your natural inclination is to be more introverted than extroverted, you can still represent the change in a way that positively influences others.

 “Rivers know this: there is no hurry. We shall get there some day.”
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 “The things that make me different are the things that make me.”

Each person brings unique skills and experiences to the change process. Instead of trying to squeeze everyone into the same mold, Change Agents should consider leveraging different “champions” to reach different stakeholders and allowing stakeholders to adapt at their own pace (within reasonable limits). Listen to the experiences of others as they go through the change and share these potentially helpful ideas with others. Most of all, don’t try to “hammer” people through the change adoption process. Instead take the approach of providing them with the resources and time to adapt on their own where possible.

It turns out that Pooh Bear had some pretty sharp insight for a stuffed animal…

-Steve

Question for Chatter:

1. Which of Pooh’s ideas for Change Agents sound like they might work for you?

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Today’s article is written by a guest blogger named Robert Blaga.

Robert is a full-time trainer for a European based multinational company and he’s passionate about leadership, communication and learning.

I highly encourage you to check out his blog for internal trainers at http://robertblaga.com/. There you will find useful materials and great insights from someone who is working “in the trenches” – but also has a great eye for how to make things better for his team.

In the article below, Robert shares a simple, effect technique to address a common problem Change Agents face when good ideas are rejected because they represent a threat to “business as usual”.

The Trojan Horse Inside the Walls of Change

Last week I received this question from a friend involved in a major change effort:

“How can I implement my ideas when I have no power? What I think we should do to support change is not how business as usual is conducted.”

His challenge has also been my challenge over the years and I’m sure if you have ever been asked to make change happen in your organization, you have faced similar uphill battles.

Those in positions near the bottom of the organizational chart often have great ideas to improve how things work, but they lack the authority and resources to make these changes happen by themselves. And when they propose things to upper management, very often they are shut down by excuses like “that’s just not the way we do business around here”.

Sound familiar? I’m guessing it does.

What can we do about it?

To answer this question, first we must understand the reason behind rejections based on “business-as-usual”.

Often, upper management gives the impression that they have other, more important things to deal with than new ideas that originate within the employee base. So they don’t really listen – and by doing so, they fail to recognize an idea’s potential. They use this “gentle” approach to reject something they don’t fully see as an opportunity.

When this happens, Change Agents have two options:

1.  Forget about it. Let your good idea wither on the vine.

2.  Fight for it. Prove to the organization that your idea is solid.

If you chose the first option, you should stop reading right now.

If you chose the second one, I’ll offer a tactic I’ve been using successfully for the past five years. I call it “The Trojan Horse”. The idea may sound familiar, however, unlike the wooden horse that brought down the city of Troy, this approach is used to make things better, not worse.

Here’s the strategy:

1.  Scale It Down: If upper management rejects your initial proposal, the first thing to try is to take your idea and scale it down.

For example, a few years ago I begged a training manager to allow me to completely redesign a leadership course I was being asked to deliver. The concepts and the method within the original material was “old school” – as in 250 words/slide and the trainer is a presenter rather than a facilitator. My suggestion to improve the material was initially rejected. The explanation?  The material was written in the company’s “official training style” because it was important that everyone deliver consistent training. So I scaled down my idea, and instead of thinking about the whole training, I decided to focus on introducing only one new concept.

2.  Just Do It: The second step is to completely ignore the rejection and implement the scaled down idea. In my case, I took that new concept, delivered it to the group and collected feedback on it. In this case, the feedback was great.

3.  Report Back: The third step is to report back to the manager what you’ve done and the results. They might be upset with you, but you can play innocent since you only implemented a tiny fraction of your idea. And besides, you have data to prove the effort was worth it.

4.  Ask Again: The fourth activity in the Trojan Horse approach is to humbly ask for permission to continue with this small idea of yours. It has been my experience that in 9 cases out of 10, the person in charge will say yes because this time you don’t just have an idea, you have data to prove the opportunity.

What you’ve just done has opened the gates of Troy for the Trojan Horse that is your great idea. You’ve also proven the value of the idea with facts and data. Now that you have permission for a small change you can take further steps to implement the big change.

The Rest of the Story: It’s now a couple of years later and the leadership program that I wanted to redesign is now 90% changed because I chose the Trojan Horse path. It took a while, but as I returned from time to time to report new “tiny” but successful changes in the program, the discussion became easier and the approval rate for my ideas grew.

Robert offers a free Manifesto for Internal Trainers on his website.

The keys to successfully implementing The Trojan Horse strategy are to choose your approach carefully, to strive for a steady rate of progress, engage in small steps and to take your time.

Keep it Real: Finally, as you discover and test out new ideas, it’s very important to be true to yourself!  For example; if, while testing a new change, you discover that the idea is actually bad for the business, let business as usual continue and choose to attack another castle.

Summary: Change Agents can choose to abandon their great ideas when faced with the familiar management rejection tactic called “business as usual”. 

Or they can choose to storm the castle of resistance using the Trojan Horse approach I’ve described here. I’ve used it successfully to implement incremental improvements in my organization and I believe it could work for you.

Questions for Chatter:

1. Have you experienced the kind of internal resistance to change that Robert describes?
2. How well do you think a “Trojan Horse” approach might work in your organization?

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Thomas Jefferson loved to write – not only because he was good at it, but because he knew it to be one of the most effective ways to motivate people toward social progress.

Prior to serving as the third US President, he was was entrusted by the Founding Fathers to draft the Declaration of Independence – the most focal document of the young American Revolution.

Jefferson’s writing style was direct, yet eloquent. His mark on history is undeniable.

I love this Jefferson quote on brevity:

With a nod toward Monticello, here’s a rule of thumb I try to follow when drafting written communication:

1.  Brainstorm everything that might be a part of the message.

2.  Organize the ideas into a crisp outline. Include a context-setting intro, a logical flow of content and a brief summary.

3.  Edit down the content. My goal is to try cutting the word count in half. (Per Jefferson’s suggestion to never use two words when one will do…)

4.  Review the material with someone you trust. Insist on independent feedback – especially focus on the message’s clarity.

Jefferson knew the power of words well written. 

He also knew the incredible impact of brevity.

The most effective Change Agents follow his example every day.

-Steve

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Major League Baseball returned this past week signaling the official end of winter.

Most fans don’t start to pay attention to baseball until the games count in the pennant race. But the 30 Major League teams have actually been practicing and playing for well over a month now.

Today’s post is about an idea that comes to my mind every year around this time…

It’s the notion that teams – whether they are business teams trying to implement change or baseball teams trying to win the World Series – need to prepare before “taking the field”.

The Sounds of Spring! Consider all the familiar rituals baseball teams go through each spring as the season approaches:

–  Players report to training camp early to stretch out and get their wind back before “real” games begin.

–  Coaches run players through intense drills to reinforce fundamentals.

–  Managers experiment with different lineup combinations, pitching rotations and batting orders.

–  Pitchers test out new pitches and batters adjust hitting techniques.

–  Even the TV and radio announcers gather details about new players who’ve moved around during the offseason.

And of course, everyone sharpens their skills by actually playing under the lowered pressure of Spring Training games.

All of this preparation was done in March so players, coaches, managers and announcers could perform at their best starting this week.  Everyone knows the upcoming schedule will include playing almost every day, so there will be little time to make adjustments without risking a dip in actual on-field performance during games that count!

Time to Prepare: The same ideas about preparation hold true for Change Agents. You’ll want to have a clear plan.

You’ll want to have your lineup set. You’ll need everyone working together from Day-1.

Once your transition begins, the activity level could get so high that it will be difficult to introduce new plans.

In the spirit of a manager preparing a baseball team for the upcoming season, Change Agents should start getting people ready for their change initiative well in advance.

Before you launch your big change, decide who will be on the roster for your Change Team and who will play what roles. (Sponsors, champions, activity coordinators, project managers, communicators, trainers, support roles, etc.) Identify the key skills your team members will need and have your team practice these skills before you have to count on them in real situations.

What’s the Plan?  Lay out your team’s game plan by identifying these 15 things:

1.  The rationale – exactly what your change is about and how to explain it to those who are affected.
2.  The specific measurable achievements your team should expect to accomplish (and what you’ll do if you miss those milestones!)
3.    What big decisions need to be made and the timing of these decisions.

4.  Who will be impacted by the change.
5.  The degree and nature of the change impact – especially if it varies by different parts of your organization.
6.  How you’ll measure change readiness among your stakeholders.
7.  What activities will be needed.
8.  Who will do the work.
9.  The timing and sequence of change-related activities.

10.  Resources, money, materials and access to equipment you’ll need over the course of the change initiative.

11. How inter-team communication will be accomplished.

12. What specific “gives & gets” you’ll need from sponsors, champions, trainers, etc.

13. How you’ll communicate with stakeholders about learning opportunities, progress of the change and where to go for help.

14. How you’ll support people through their transition.

15. The specific activities, outcomes, and deliverables needed from any vendors who are helping with your change

Take the time to gather this information before your project starts. Review commitments and plans with those who will be involved just to make sure your team is on the same page before the first pitch.  Verify the skills your team will need and practice prior to launching into your change.

Borrowing this approach from the ball field could potentially help you avoid a change shutout! 

Who knows, if you do your Spring Training drills and diligently prepare your team for the upcoming “season of change”, you might find yourself winning the pennant!

-Steve

Questions for Chatter:

–       Have you been part of the change that failed to adequately prepare before diving into the work? 

–       How did a lack of preparation impact the final results for your change?

PS: Read another baseball-themed article about the preparation needed to be successful with your change by visiting another post I created on this topic called “Turn the Promise of Spring Into a Ring”.

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So today’s post celebrates the work of one of the game’s great mentors.

As a young man, Ray Miller was a baseball pitcher – and a good one.

He was talented enough to get drafted out of High School and rise to the AAA level of minor league ball.

Although he never made it to the Big Leagues as a hurler, Ray Miller did find his calling as a pitching coach.  He served in that role with the Baltimore Orioles and Pittsburgh Pirates where he helped several young stars reach the 20-win plateau. Three of his staff members even won the coveted Cy Young Award which is given to the League’s best pitcher each year.

It’s safe to say that Ray Miller knows a thing or two about throwing a baseball.

Coach Miller boiled down his gift for teaching the art of pitching into a simple six-word mantra which he pounded into the minds of his pitchers for decades:

“Work fast.    Throw strikes.   Change speeds.”

Based on his results, I’d say he got it right.

Change Agents can take a cue from Coach Miller as they work to help people adapt to change.

Here’s how:

Remember that as a Change Agent, people will be watching you! They will be looking for leadership, communication and assistance. Don’t let the team down!

1.  Work Fast: Come out of the gates with a bang and you’ll get the attention of those you seek to help.  Establish a rhythm as you work and you’ll be in the game.

–  Communicate the basis for the change.
–  Explain the rationale.
–  Give people a place to go if they have questions.
–  Once your change initiative gets rolling, you need to maintain momentum.
–  Execute the work of guiding your change – show up and get the activities done.
–  Don’t let your work as a Change Agent get lost among the other priorities of your week. Keep plugging away and track your progress.
–  Seek feedback on how the work of change adoption is going.
–  Provide regular status updates to your leadership team and your stakeholders.

2.  Throw Strikes.  As a Change Agent, you’re only going to get so many opportunities to get your point across – so make every pitch count:

– Make sure your team gets aligned and stays aligned on what the change means and how it will unfold.
– Take the time to develop your messages before communicating.
– (See my earlier posts on how to develop good change-related communications)
– Explore how the change will impact different people in different ways.
– Target your training and communication efforts based on the various levels and types of change people will face.
– Seek out questions from those who are impacted.
– Find out how well individuals are adapting and stay focused on their needs because that’s your strike zone!
– Answer stakeholder questions in an honest and straight forward way.

3.  Change Speeds. Avoid getting stuck in a rut when it comes to helping people adopt your change. Even a .250 hitter will eventually hit your best fastball if that’s all you throw!

–  Mix it up a little. Read up on innovative ways to help people adapt and try something new when things get stale.
–  Don’t forget to reward people for trying to adopt the change! Many work settings are so devoid of recognition that even a simple “thank you” will be met with great appreciation.
–  Use multiple channels to reach your impacted audiences.
–  Try different training and communication techniques. People respond to different adult learning methods and messaging approaches.
–  Take into account that some folks are self-starters while others may need to be dragged forward!
–  Don’t guess what people are thinking about the change – go ask!
–  Fill in the gaps based on that feedback.

Bring in the Closer: One final thought: Avoid assuming you’ll win the game of change just because you have talent and you tried hard. Whether you realize it or not, you can check the score of your game at any time by gathering data.  One sure sign that you have lost momentum for your change is when you hear people asking:

–  “Whatever happened to that big change?”
–  “It seemed to make a lot of noise initially then it fell off the radar…”
–  “Is that still a big deal?”

Don’t let this happen to you!  Fire a fastball over the plate with your first pitch and keep your momentum up from opening day until the playoffs. Mix up your techniques and stay focused on the key points that drive the rationale for your change.

Give people a place to go for help and never forget that the game is on your shoulders. Throw every pitch as if it matters – because the game is yours to win or lose.

Now settle down and get back out there Kid! …And throw strikes!

-Steve

Questions for Chatter:

1. What creative techniques have you seen for “mixing it up” as you help people adapt to change?
2. Have you witnessed a Change Agent “throw strikes” by delivering a helpful message that was right on target for you?

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In order for her retail enterprise, called Ciliac Supplies, to avoid the fate of Borders Books or Blockbuster Video, her store started to charge people who “just look” at products a fee of five dollars. The fee would be refunded – if the customer bought something at the store that day.

She reasoned that the time and expertise it takes to advise consumers ought to be worth something. The $5 collection was the only way she could think of to gather some revenue in this case since the clandestine “customer” wasn’t actually a customer at all. They fully intended to buy the product – just not from her. They would use her knowledge to snap it up for the cheapest price on the Internet.

Worse yet, if this practice of helping these information freeloaders was allowed to continue, her store could become known as the best place in the region to get no-cost counsel. That was unacceptable. She argued on behalf of brick and mortar retailers around the world: “I had to wake people up. Everything in life is not free”. 

While the intention seems sincere, I fear that this practice might not work for most retailers. In fact, it might have the unintended side effect of driving some consumers away.

Rather than imposing a fee to help people make buying decisions, I think it might be more profitable in the long run to help them AND compete with other sources like internet, big box stores and warehouse clubs. This would take a lot of effort and a bit of crisp differentiation.

But I’m getting ahead of myself.

Resistance to Change Can Be Fun! It sounds like Ciliac is at least a bit resistant to the change in consumer shopping habits. So in the spirit of a Change Agent wanting to help a retailer adapt to their new external reality, today I’ll suggest nine tongue-in-cheek ways that Celiac could raise more revenue.

I’ve also added one serious recommendation that might help them survive if they eventually have to deal with the same market forces that others already face…

Top Ten Ways for Celiac Supplies to Raise Revenue While Combating The Evils of the Internet

1. Be Yourself – Or At Least Be Your Future Self: Re-label your store as a Museum of Dead Business Models and charge $5 to enter.

2. Hey! That Was Our Idea! Set up a gate on the sidewalk and charge $1 to walk past the store – after all, customers might be viewing your adverts to get ideas of things to buy elsewhere!

3. Live and Breathe Your Strategy: Charge $1/liter to breathe the air in and around the store. After all, the oxygen in “your” air ends up in “their” brains and indirectly fuels all of this deadbeat research. Might want to capitalize on that…

4. Learn to Love the Internet: Leverage the viral publicity you’ve generated! Launch a website to sell concrete blocks online at “BrickN-Mortar4Ever.com”. Charge $10 each to ship your bricks anywhere around the world.

5. Demonstrate Visual Commitment to the Strategy: Build an actual brick and mortar wall between the customers and the products to match the customer service wall you’ve just erected with your new browsing policy. Add a door and you could charge people $2.50 to walk in and $2.50 to walk back out!

6. Go All In! Save electricity and maintenance costs by replacing your current POS system with an abacus and a change drawer.

7. Be Jammin’ Mon! Install a limited-range cell phone jammer and charge people $4.75 for a code that unlocks it for 30 minutes while they’re in the store.  You’d only need a couple victims per month to start showing some real profit!

8. Be Green to Make Some Green: Declare a rule that all customers need a $5 eco-friendly shopping bag to enter the store. They could also rent the bag for $10 and get a $5 refund when they return it after not buying anything.

9. Hire a Band! Serve free drinks, but have a $5 cover charge. Just like on the Titanic, folks could listen to them play “Nearer My God to Thee” as your store sinks to the bottom of the retail sea after hitting that undetected iceberg they call the Internet!

10. …and finally, Raise Your Sails to Raise Your Sales: My only serious suggestion of the day is to lean into that tailwind you just stirred up. Go on Radio and TV to explain your marketing plight. Tell us that you were scared and frustrated, so you felt like you just had to do something. Then while you have our attention, recant your ill-conceived strategy and introduce a new one where you:

   – Acknowledge that you have real competition and it’s everywhere.

   – Provide real live people who know their products as well as anyone.

   – Encourage comparison-shopping by offering reasonable price matching. (You’ve already admitted your prices are close to those of your competition.)

   – Tout your local expertise and local accessibility to local shoppers.

   – Leverage your website and beat them at their own game! Aggressively market those unique products shoppers can get from you and no one else.

   – Advertise your red-blooded employee’s ears and eyes as being better organs of customer service than anyone could hope to come across if they were to buy the same product from the sorry raft load of fly-by-night, rented warehouse, basement-operated, drop-shipping, big-box desperate, internet commerce hacks that they would potentially subject themselves to if they blindly bought something off the web based solely on price.  In other words – get to know and exploit your competition’s weaknesses even as you respond to their strengths!

   – Serve your true customers while attracting new ones by actually meeting their needs for good products at a reasonable price with an emphasis on (free) value-added human interaction.

Summary: I know adapting to externally-driven changes like this is rarely easy, but these techniques do seem to be working for the stores who are leaning into this new form of competition.

The challenge might be getting past the urge to vilify people who naturally do what’s in their own best interest and dig a little deeper so you can make a profit by fulfilling a new unmet need.

-Steve

PS: I’d love your comments on this story!

       Use the “leave a reply” feature below to tell me what you think!

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It tells the story of how one retailer refuses to face a huge external force for change. 

Or better yet, how a small store approached the new change with a glaringly outdated strategy that reminded me of the old, hopelessly sarcastic motivational poster that read:

“The Beatings Will Continue Until Morale Improves!”

Here’s the Scoop: An Australian retail store will start charging people $5 to “just look” at products. 

That’s right.

Charging a “service fee” to display stock and answer customer questions is their response to the customer-driven trend of comparison shopping that includes seeing and touching a potential purchase in a genuine brick and mortar retail store before buying it online.

In a previous post, I admitted being guilty of this practice.

Here is the actual text of the window sign at Celiac Supplies in Coorparoo near Brisbane:

It continues:

“Why has this come about?
There has been high volume of people who use this store as a reference and then purchase goods elsewhere. These people are unaware our prices are almost the same as the other stores plus we have products simply not available anywhere else.
This policy is in line with many other clothing, shoe and electronic stores who are also facing the same issue.”

Lots of other stores are doing this?

Really?

I haven’t noticed that trend anywhere on this side of the globe. It sounds more like resistance to a nearly inevitable change.

The owner (named Georgiana) went on to say:

“If you’re going to be asking bucketloads of questions, you’ve got to pay for the information”. “I’m spending my time … my effort. I’m not a charity.”

“I have to wake people up. Everything in life is not free.”

I almost busted a seam from laughing when I first heard this. 

The owner defiantly insists that this $5 charge will have very little impact on sales – but I wouldn’t advise other retailers to follow this example.  

In case you’ve missed it, a change has overtaken the average consumer. They have access to tons of information about every imaginable product directly on the web. And they can buy these things directly from their mobile phones.

And retailers have learned that they can do it while standing in their store looking at their product display.

That’s the new retail reality.  Most retailers have adjusted by offering price-matching, offering free shipping on the same product from their website and dishing out free product advice as a way to build customer loyalty. …But not this retailer! They are doing the exact opposite.

Before we throw Ciliac under the bus, there could be an explanation for how they can ignore changes that most retailers cannot simply write off:

– Ciliac may have a relatively captive market of consumers who will buy from their store even if they could get better deals elsewhere.

– Last I checked, Australia was a free country and it is Georgiana’s store… so she may simply have no desire to help customers who also shop the Internet.

– It’s her prerogative to avoid dispensing “free” advice – even if that practice may build the kind of loyalty that generates long-term repeat purchases. Maybe repeat business isn’t as big a deal for them as it is for most stores.

– Finally, I noticed that Ciliac has a sharp website. This made me wonder if Georgina is actually a savvy new age marketeer who’s pretending to be an angry Luddite to generate web hits.  So while us geeks freak out, maybe she’s happy to swim in a ocean of free publicity?

Meanwhile Back in the 2013 World where the other 99% of retailers live… This consumer research / browsing trend could be deadly if ignored.

In our fast-moving, consumer-driven social media age, retailers know that their public reputation could drift from helpful to selfish in a matter of hours. Doubling down on an anti-customer approach to raise revenue the way this store has seems a little bit like learning to juggle by shoving three little bean bags into your pocket and picking up five chainsaws instead. There seems to be so many better ways to go about this…

Celiac Supplies may not have to serve “browsers” – but most retailers eventually will have to deal with this change head-on.

So instead of offering themselves up for ridicule as a poster child for bankrupt retailers who kept their collective heads in the sand while missing this turn – I suggest that retailers embrace reality and fight for their slice of the market.

In short: sell up their strengths – instead of selling out to their fears.

Tomorrow I’ll share ten less-than-serious ways that Celiac might consider to raise revenue without charging $5 to browsing customers.

-Steve

Question for Chatter:

• So what’s your opinion of the shopkeeper who charges people to browse?
• Is it better to resist the trend of giving free advice to browsers or lean into this change in consumer behavior?