Do You Recognize These Characteristics of Successful Change Practitioners?
(3) CommentsSponsors who aren’t adequately prepared for their role need our help. Even sponsors who have plenty of change experience and all the right “instincts” for orchestrating difficult transitions need help. They should be supported and guided by skilled change practitioners. So, what are the requirements for playing the change agent role, and how can we get better at it?
I’m going to focus on practitioners assigned to senior sponsors. Don’t get me wrong, change agents at all levels play important roles. It’s just that those who serve leaders in key positions (initiating and primary sustaining sponsors) are particularly important to the change success. more
ChangeThinking.net
©2010 Conner Partners, Inc.
www.connerpartners.com
Essential Truths About Sponsorship
Of the four primary roles in the change process (sponsors, agents, targets, and advocates), none is as crucial to successful realization of change as that of sponsor. Yet, as practitioners, we often don’t bond with these leaders effectively enough to carry out our responsibilities. I think this is the biggest problem we face as practitioners: Even though we know how important sponsors are to successful change, we don’t always do what we could to help them succeed.
Guiding sponsors toward new behaviors and mindsets is the heart of our profession. Maybe it’s time to invest more energy in exploring what we need to learn and what needs to shift in our own actions so we can be more influential with sponsors. more
ChangeThinking.net
©2009 Conner Partners, Inc.
www.connerpartners.com
The Change Practitioner’s Role in Encouraging the Right Kind of Due Diligence (Part 4 of 5)
I hope this blog provides all its readers with a vehicle for sharing not only ideas but tools and techniques as well. At Conner Partners, we use an assessment tool to help us evaluate the overall challenge an organization is likely to encounter when implementing a particular initiative. It focuses on the three dimensions I have been writing about: more
ChangeThinking.net
©2009 Conner Partners, Inc.
www.connerpartners.com
Just How Difficult Is Your Change Initiative? (Part 1 of 5)
(1) CommentCredibility gaps often exist between us as change practitioners and our sponsors. Many factors contribute to these gaps, and I’ll explore several in a future post. Here, I’d like to focus on a common one: Many sponsors see us as indiscriminate when suggesting they allocate significant amounts of time and attention to implementing change initiatives. They believe we think ALL initiatives are critical and in need of our skills.
Let’s not argue about whether this indictment is justified, or whether you personally would ever create such an impression. My point is, too many sponsors hold this view about too many of us change practitioners and as a result, they see us as tactical players (have hammer, looking for nail) rather than as trusted advisors capable of determining when implementation assistance is genuinely called for. more
ChangeThinking.net
©2009 Conner Partners, Inc.
www.connerpartners.com
Hold On—Change Itself Is Unstable
Part 2 of 2
The volume, momentum, and complexity of change are all accelerating as never before, and we run the risk that the challenges brought to us will outstrip our ability to keep up. (Maybe this is already happening for some.) At one point or another, we’ve probably all told our clients (those we serve, whether we are an internal or external resource) that “change is changing,” but are we as practitioners changing at a commensurate speed (evolving ourselves as well as the state of the art)? more
ChangeThinking.net
©2009 Conner Partners, Inc.
www.connerpartners.com
