Advocate: Individual (or group) wanting a change but without sufficient power to sanction it.

Agent: Individual (or group) facilitating the development and execution of implementation plans.

Black hole: Situations that disrupt cascading sponsorship, leading to a lack of sustaining sponsorship, and therefore a lack of behavioral change at local levels. The term is borrowed from the astrophysics label for “spots” in the universe that have gravitational pulls so strong that everything, including light, is pulled in, and little or nothing emerges.

Change management: The orchestration of change in a way that identifies and addresses the human risks involved in implementing change, strengthening the individual and organizational ability to handle change well. This increases the chances that the change will be put successfully into practice.

Clients: Recipients of our efforts, whether they are internal to our organization or members of an organization we are consulting with.

Degree of Difficulty: Three key factors help determine a change initiative’s Degree of Difficulty. How much change is required? (Transformational change is more difficult to execute than incremental shifts.) What’s the desired result? (Actually achieving the intended purpose is more difficult than installing new skills, technology, processes, or procedures.) How crucial is it to succeed? (Actually achieving the intended purpose is more difficult than installing new skills, technology, processes, or procedures. Business imperatives are more difficult to fulfill than “good ideas.”)

Dysfunctional behavior: Any action or feeling that diverts resources away from meeting productivity and quality standards. Dysfunctional behavior is an indicator of change-related overload.

Empowerment: A relationship between a decision maker and another individual in which the latter, because of his or her real and perceived value, can influence a given decision; does not come from delegation, autonomy, or consensus management, but is an earned status acknowledged by both parties; a prerequisite to synergistic relationships.

Future shock: The point at which people can no longer adapt to change without displaying dysfunctional behavior. Futurist Alvin Toffler coined the term.

Human landscape: The human component of a work environment, including perceptions, assumptions, resistance, fears, aspirations, beliefs, and values (as contrasted to the inert component, which includes structures, policies, technology, strategy, capital, and tools). Change spreads throughout a work environment or dies an early death, depending on the unique human part of the environment.

Initiating sponsor: The individual or group that has the sanctioning power to drive the change process through to realization; those who have ultimate control of the resources—including human, economic, political, and logistical—required for implementation of the initiative. This individual or group does not have to gain permission to initiate the change; however, they often choose to keep superiors informed of the project and its implementation.

Installation: The phase through which all initiatives go when attention is primarily focused on physically inserting the change into the work environment; an initiative is installed after it has been announced, training has occurred, technology set up, etc.

Local Sustaining Sponsor: The individual or group orchestrating the communications and consequences within the relevant tactical areas of responsibility necessary, to ensure successful change implementation.

Linear relationship: This is the simplest kind of sponsor relationship to understand. An example of this would be when a target reports directly to a sponsor. In linear relationships, sponsors often serve as their own change agents. This kind of target-to-sponsor relationship may not always lead to a successful implementation but it is an easy one to relate to because it is based on a hierarchy or chain of command.

Primary Sustaining Sponsor: The individual or group formally sanctioning the change within relevant areas of responsibility, providing a “united front” of leadership support for the endeavor and coordinating implementation activities (across functional or geographical lines as necessary).

Realization: Achieving the return on change expected from the change investment; occurs when the fundamental purpose for the change is achieved and the promised outcomes delivered.

Resilience: A measure of a person’s ability to adjust to change with minimal problems. There are five characteristics of a resilient person—positive, focused, flexible, organized, and proactive.

Resistance: Any thought or action directed against the change (toward the status quo or some other goal). Resistance is not bad or good, but rather a normal human reaction to disrupted expectations. It should be expected in any major change, whether initially seen as positive or negative. Individuals typically resist change when they see themselves as unwilling and/or unable to accomplish the change.

Return on change (ROC): The value gained from achieving realization objectives after taking into account the investment required to achieve the desired outcomes (in all currencies of value that are important to the sponsors).

Speed of change: The measurement of an individual’s pace of recovery following a disruptive change. The greater a person’s speed of change, the faster and more effectively he or she will adjust expectations to new circumstances.

Sponsor: Individual (or group) having the power to sanction the change.

Square relationship: In a Square relationship the target doesn’t report to the agent or agent’s sponsor. If the sponsor of a new initiative has any hope of successful implementation, he or she must convince the target’s sponsor that the change is a business imperative.

Sustaining sponsorship: The individuals or groups legitimizing the change at local levels of the organization. Sustaining sponsors cascade legitimization, support for, and commitment to a change initiative throughout the organization.

Target: Individual (or group) who is to actually change

Triangular relationship: In this kind of relationship, both the agent and the target report to a common sponsor but the target does not report to the agent. Here is a classic example of a triangle: The sponsor is in senior management, the agent is in IT or human resources, and the target is in line management. Most triangles are dysfunctional because sponsors try to pass their sponsorship duties to agents. (In this instance, for example, the sponsor might tell the agent it is his or her job to get line management to comply with the new computer system or human resources policy.)