7 Ways to Make a Client Self-Sufficient
In my last post, I shared my belief that teaching clients to execute change on their own is an important part of practicing our craft. I referred to the process of transferring deep capability to clients as implanting DNA. This includes methodology and mindset as well as the three elements of addressing problems or opportunities: content, process, and attitude. Here is a checklist practitioners can use to implant DNA in clients. more
ChangeThinking.net
©2011 Conner Partners, Inc.
www.connerpartners.com
Guest Interview—Dean Anderson
I recently had the opportunity to spend some time with Dean Anderson, a thought leader in the field of organization transformation. I have known Dean for more than 20 years, and greatly respect his work. His unique understanding of mindset, culture, and process gives him a deep strategic perspective, but he also has a depth and strength of character that very few people in the industry offer.
Dean’s current passion is helping senior executives become more “co-creative,” and less “command and control” so they can lead and build co-creative organizations. He is currently writing a book on co-creating and personal transformation.
Dean and his wife and partner, Linda Ackerman Anderson, are two of the pioneers of change management. They co-founded Being First, a leader development and transformational change consulting firm in Durango, Colorado. Their books, Beyond Change Management and The Change Leader’s Roadmap, are key resources for practitioners.
In our first segment, Dean describes the components of transformational change, and how he helps clients identify the type of change they’re dealing with and, in the case of transformational change, commit to breakthrough results that will achieve something extraordinary. more
ChangeThinking.net
©2011 Conner Partners, Inc.
www.connerpartners.com
Lessons Learned About Building Commitment to Change
After three-and-a-half decades of being a professional change practitioner, I’ve seen my share of successful and unsuccessful attempts to generate enough commitment to reach full realization. If there is one thing I’m sure of it’s that the necessary momentum and critical mass of commitment toward desired outcomes is not easy to come by. Below are some of the more important lessons that have affected my practice.
1. The commitment process unfolds at both intellectual and emotional levels.
Usually, intellectual commitment precedes emotional commitment. Most people can grasp the implications of a change at a cognitive level fairly quickly. However, they often find that they need more time to make the necessary emotional adjustments.
This split-level commitment can produce confusion, mixed signals, and more
ChangeThinking.net
©2011 Conner Partners, Inc.
www.connerpartners.com
Are We There Yet?
“When you’re that successful, things have a momentum, and at a certain point you can’t really tell whether you have created the momentum or it’s creating you.” ~ Annie Lennox
Some of the questions we are asked by clients are so straightforward (Is resistance a bad thing? Can we realize our objectives despite lousy sponsorship?) that there isn’t much room for insightful responses. But some questions provide opportunities to take clients into more sophisticated space. Of course, we have to be prepared for these deeper dives. Based on the questions being posed, some of us are primed and ready to go, some not. more
ChangeThinking.net
©2011 Conner Partners, Inc.
www.connerpartners.com
Five Lenses for Viewing Patterns of Change
We’ve been talking about lenses that practitioners can use to identify patterns, and to help sponsors deal with change. I’m sure there are lenses you pay most attention to, and I encourage you to share them here. I’ll tell you about five I often rely on:
- The importance placed on matching challenge and commitment to change
- The importance placed on the intent of the change
- The importance placed on sponsors
- The importance leaders place on agents
- Leaders’ understanding of the nature of organizational change success
Each of these lenses reveals a series of mindset and behavior patterns.
Here are a few representative examples of the success mindset patterns more
ChangeThinking.net
©2010 Conner Partners, Inc.
www.connerpartners.com
