Dandelions and the sequel, were for awhile, my most popular posts.
And so the triquel.
Let’s say there is absolutely no hope for a change entity in the future. Corporate Change Management is an impossibility. Functional CM isn’t looking so pretty either. Where is an energetic worker to go to get things done, to find end states and to change? The answer is that you do many of the things the external consultants do; you are actually in a scenario that is typical of most change management engagements (the silly 70% failure “stat” goes here blinking in bright green). It is very common for CM to be placed in the middle of the organization, in the middle of a project, in the middle of a function, with little budget, no leverage, previous sour history and no time.
If you are contemplating organic change, odds are you are standing in that very spot.
A rare list (numbered no less) …:
- You must describe the end state. All change must make sense. Yours must make sense, be clear and be visible (and maybe touchable).
- Do that by collaborating with people supportive and willing balanced by a couple of possible dissenters.
- Have coffee or lunch with the dissenters and listen, listen, listen.
- Do something about a leadership connection to the change. Get one on board. Talk one into paying for the change. If forced to, pit one leader against another- be nice and be careful. Or take a cue from an external and do all the above with a calculated approach.
- Use what is available and supportive of the change and attach extensions (a little like our dandelion man- imagine his body or head as the status quo and the appendages changes/additions). Get the old to weave into the new or if you have to the other way around.
- Have a crisp and lean project plan.
- Communicate what is necessary- no more no less.
- Remember it is safer to enjoy the journey then get too optimistic about reaching your described end state.
