How to Get Unstuck
(1) Comment“You don’t drown by falling in the water; you drown by staying there.” ~Edwin Louis Cole
In my last post, I wrote about what happens when initiatives become “stuck.” Challenges and obstacles to implementation are a regular and expected occurrence in any change initiative. They become problematic, however, when the attending change agent doesn’t have a plan he or she believes in, or even an idea, of how to solve the problem.
There is a framework practitioners can use to determine how to get unstuck, regardless of the nature of the desired outcome, or the implementation approach used (Kotter, Bridges, Anderson, Prosci, Conner, etc.), or the specific actions they call into play. This post provides a way to look at a generic intervention process and how to apply it to any change or execution methodology. more
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©2010 Conner Partners, Inc.
www.connerpartners.com
Are You Stuck?
“Most obstacles are imaginary; the rest are only temporary.” ~Scott Sorrel
We all get stuck sometimes…it’s part of the human experience. We know what we want to achieve and have a plan for doing it, but suddenly we’re faced with a challenge that mystifies us. The situation may involve a problem or opportunity, but the fact is, we don’t know how to resolve it given the present circumstances (or aren’t willing to because of certain implications). In other words, becoming unstuck isn’t about problems/opportunities—it’s about problems/opportunities with no clear way to address them.
There are as many ways to be stuck as there are aspects to our lives. We can become stuck with our spouse or kids, our friends, our careers or boss, our physical well-being, our spiritual development, etc. Anything of significance that we set out to accomplish can, and most likely will, become stuck at one time or another.
Professional change facilitators are not immune to being stuck. From time to time, even the most accomplished practitioners, applying the most capable execution methodologies, are unable to find a viable resolution to a particular more
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©2010 Conner Partners, Inc.
www.connerpartners.com
Five Lenses for Viewing Patterns of Change (cont’d)
In my last post, I shared three of the lenses I use to observe the patterns (mindset and behaviors) that I pay attention to:
- The importance placed on matching change challenges with the appropriate commitment
- The importance placed on the intent of the change
- The importance placed on sponsors
Now, I’ll continue with the last two lenses: more
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©2010 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
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©2010 Conner Partners, Inc.
www.connerpartners.com
Use Mindset and Behavior Patterns to Your Advantage
(2) Comments
Once you understand that a specific mindset and its associated behaviors can either facilitate or impede success, you have a level of insight that can be truly invaluable to a sponsor who is less familiar with these kinds of change dynamics.
Mindsets are made up of frames of reference (the ways individuals make sense of situations) that lead to the formation of priorities (the relative importance of various options). Shared mindsets within an organization serve as the foundations of culture and ultimately lead to common patterns of behavior.
Successful change requires a specific mindset that is shared among key players as they perform their respective roles. This “success mindset” reflects the more
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©2010 Conner Partners, Inc.
www.connerpartners.com
Patterns: Order Beneath the Confusion
(1) Comment“What we call chaos is just patterns we haven’t recognized. What we call random is just patterns we can’t decipher. What we can’t understand we call nonsense. What we can’t read we call gibberish.” ~Chuck Palahniuk
How do we make sense out of the often extremely complicated and confusing dynamics that influence the outcomes of our change initiatives? And once we understand what’s going on, how do we help our sponsors (and, of course, agents and targets) grasp what is unfolding and choose the best course of action, given the present circumstances?
We could use simplistic explanations, but those don’t describe the depth of the situation. Too often, we get lost in the convoluted intricacies of the change and offer help that is more baffling than enlightening. Instead, what we must find, more
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©2010 Conner Partners, Inc.
www.connerpartners.com
How Does a Trusted Advisor Act?
(1) CommentWe’re talking in this series about change agents who function as trusted advisors, which is the highest level of partnership with a sponsor. Trusted advisors engage in some or all of the following activities. more
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©2010 Conner Partners, Inc.
www.connerpartners.com
How Much Is a Trusted Advisor Worth?
We’ve been talking in this series about becoming trusted advisors to our sponsors. An important exchange takes place between sponsors and practitioners when advanced trust is explored. We want to earn trusted advisor status, but sponsors want to be sure they grant this rare level of confidence to someone who is truly worthy. In effect, we want to purchase (earn) the sponsor’s trust while they want to sell (grant) it only if paid the right price. What sponsors want in exchange for their trust is to be “paid’ with the proper currency. There are several types of currencies more
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©2010 Conner Partners, Inc.
www.connerpartners.com
Are You a Trusted Advisor?
(1) CommentIn my last post, I wrote that the highest level of partner relationships is that of trusted advisor. In this post, I’d like to break down some of the terms and frames of reference related to the trusted advisor role. I’m sure you have your own views on these issues and I hope you’ll share them with us.
First, I’ll offer a definition that works for me: more
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©2010 Conner Partners, Inc.
www.connerpartners.com
How Influential Can a Change Agent Be?
“Our distrust is very expensive.” ~Ralph Waldo Emerson
The sponsor-agent relationship is so important that just about everything we can hope to accomplish hinges on it. Without that relationship, our knowledge and skills are underutilized, poorly allocated, or worse, not called on at all.
It’s true that we work with and support the targets of change initiatives. We also work with advocates who want change but don’t have the ability to make it happen on their own, as well as with other internal or external agents. While our relationships with people in these roles are necessary and valuable, our key function is more
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©2010 Conner Partners, Inc.
www.connerpartners.com
