On April 26, I presented a webinar on How Organizational Anchors Impact Change Management Success. I am happy to say, the session–hosted by Change Management Review–really resonated with participants. Several commented on the value that an “anchor lens” could bring to their change practices.
Anchors “hold things in place, providing support, stability, and security.” In an environment of strong anchors, employees are able to focus on their responsibilities, ensuring high levels of productivity and quality.
On the other hand, during turbulent change, some anchors may have the opposite effect. If the connection between the anchor and employees is not strong enough, they can “break lose.” Much like the sailboat in the image, employees can end up taking the change to a very different place than intended. Likewise, if certain anchors are held onto too tightly, the change can quite literally sink, just like a boat will sink if tightly anchored and the tide rises too high.
During the webinar, I provide an overview of a process for identifying and working with organizational anchors during change. I address questions such as:
- How do you identify your organization’s anchors?
- Why is a stakeholder analysis important when considering anchors during change?
- How does an “anchors lens” affect your stakeholder analysis?
- What anchors do you need to plan around?
- How do you plan anchor changes?
- What should you pay attention to regarding anchors that are not changing?
If you are interested in learning more, a video replay of the webinar is available here.
I have also developed a toolkit for working with your organization’s anchors. You can find out more about the toolkit here.
