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Advocate Power!

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webIf you want to discuss something discretely, who do you talk to? Chances are, it is not the same person as you talk to when you want to “spread the word.”

Advocates have tremendous power in supporting–or undermining–change, both at the personal and the organizational level. Millennials rely heavily on advocacy; for them, in many cases the power of their social network is significantly greater than the power of positional authority. Social movements–whether it be civil rights, women’s rights, gay rights, or any other–are all about advocacy. Lobbying carries advocacy into the halls of government.

While social movements and lobbyists are often highly successful in their advocacy, it is a resource that tends to be under-utilized in personal and organizational change. What would it take to make use of advocate power in these circumstances? [Read more…]

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All Change is Political

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It is a rarely spoken truth. All change is political. Power shifts are an inherent part of every change. As I will discuss below, this is as true at the personal level as it is at the organizational and the social levels.

We know this when we think in terms of national change. Certainly it’s true of political races, whether local, statewide, or national. There is not a broad social movement that doesn’t quickly engage—or scare off—politicians. Politics come into play in school board races, in social club elections, and in community-based organizations. They show up in our religious institutions. Parents attempt to coach their children’s athletic teams, or lead their youth groups, in order to have some control over their children’s experience. Those in power run for re-election to retain power. Those out of power run for election to continue the path of a retiring incumbent, to build on but shift the path, or to put things on a completely different path forward.

In our organizations, we have all heard of “office politics.” Every big change messes with them. While it is rarely, if ever, part of the official planning process, these changes result in power shifts which can be of significant magnitude. One place we often do see acknowledgement of the power dynamics of a change is in the leadership of acquired organizations. While it is not unusual for their contributions to be acknowledged, for a significant payment to be made, and for a place to be found in the new organization, it is unusual for them to remain in that new place any longer than necessary to receive the maximum personal benefit; they no longer have the power—the political influence—they had before the acquisition.

But underneath the surface, politics is hard at work during major organizational change. This often starts in the C-suite, where colleagues are vying for power, often at the expense of the change, and even of the organization they are purporting to serve. Following their leaders’ examples, the politics cascades through the organization as rapidly as (or more rapidly than) the change itself.

But how is personal change political? [Read more…]

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Overview: Plan the Change Journey

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15845979_lMan plans, and the gods laugh.

There is a lot that solid planning can do, and much that it cannot. Here are some of the key things that I have learned about change planning over the 40+ years I have been developing–and executing– change-related plans. (For more insights on change planning, see my Plan the Journey blog posts.)

Remember, you have your change story. You have early elements of preparation: you’ve inventoried your anchors; your resources, resource needs, and resource gaps; and the changes you will need to make; you have developed an initial set of milestones. All of these serve as input to your planning process.

Plan for What You Don’t Want!

One of the big mistakes we often make when planning a change is failing to think about what we don’t want to happen. Sometimes we catch the absence of this planning when we come face-to-face with an “Oh, No!” And, sometimes we only discover it after the fact. [Read more…]

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Every Big Change Needs a Roadmap

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The best way to successfully get from here to there is to know where “there” is, to prepare for and plan the journey, and to get on the road while anticipating you may encounter delays and detours along the way.

Your change journey is the same. While every change is different, there exists a universal set of patterns underlying change that allows us to remove a great deal of the mystery, and significantly increase the probability of success.

This post addresses the high-level roadmap that I apply to every change journey; the next five posts will go into more detail on each leg of the trip.

(I should begin by noting that while I call the elements out as separate, they are highly inter-connected; depending on the specific change, there will be times that you may be working on one, two, or more of them simultaneously.)

Every major change is a hero’s journey; as a transformational coach, my role is to guide others on that journey. In order to do so, I have developed a model that is based on Joseph Campbell’s “Hero’s Journey.” There are five modules to the model, five legs to the journey. [Read more…]

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A Few Reminders: Key Change Principles

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Abstract blueWith 93 posts focused on successfully executing your most difficult changes, a lot of territory has been covered in this blog. For an old student of change like me, keeping track of all the insights is in my DNA, but for most of my readers and those I work with, it can get overwhelming. To provide you with a quick reference, the next several posts are going to focus on providing an overview of the change journey, as well offering some critical reminders for each aspect of the trip. You can use the search function (or contact me) for additional information on any of the topics I cover.

Today I will focus on some key principles underlying every major change. Starting next week, we will review a model for the change journey. [Read more…]

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Celebrate!

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iStock_000000428622XSmallWhen was the last time you celebrated?

Not a birthday bash, or a holiday party… An “I did it,” or “we did it” celebration.

I celebrated this Saturday. I’m a morning person; I get up at 4:30 weekdays, 5:30 on the weekends. It’s what my body and mind want, and it works for me. This past Friday night I turned off the alarm clock, and found myself waking up at 6:30 the next morning…for me, a celebration!

What was I celebrating, what should you celebrate, how should we celebrate, and why is celebration so important? [Read more…]

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