Harness the Momentum of Synergy to Realize Change Goals
This is the last post in my series on developing synergistic work teams. I have been describing a four-phase model that includes Interacting, Appreciative Understanding, Integrating, and Implementing.
Phase IV: Implementing
Finally, all the hard work of communicating, and appreciating and merging divergent views begins to pay off. The synergy process I’ve been describing has many benefits: more
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©2012 Conner Partners, Inc.
www.connerpartners.com
Use Ethical Ploys to Change the World
In this series, I’ve been discussing the use of ethical ploys by practitioners to add value where it is needed, but not solicited. I define an ethical ploy as a “noble ruse” that guides someone toward seeing a point of view he or she might not have otherwise been open to.
In this post, I’d like to present two examples of ethical ploys that highlight the concept of enticing people, in an honorable way, to see more than they asked for or expected from a situation. As you will see, the results of either can have benefits far beyond the realization of the change goals. more
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©2011 Conner Partners, Inc.
www.connerpartners.com
How to Measure the Discomfort Level of a Tough Conversation
In my last post, I described a Discomfort Continuum that I use as a guide when I’m planning for or engaged in tough client conversations. There are various ways to determine where clients are on the continuum. more
ChangeThinking.net
©2011 Conner Partners, Inc.
www.connerpartners.com
How to Be Direct and Explicit When Reframing Others
(2) CommentsIn this series, I’ve been describing the skills required (there are five of them) to reframe a person’s mindset during a change initiative. In this post, I’ll talk about the final skill.
Reframing Skill #5: The Willingness to Confront
For many change facilitators, this final skill is the most difficult part of the reframing process. Being direct and explicit with other people by challenging their way of looking at the world is risky, both personally and professionally. People can become trapped in their existing perspectives and lose their ability to adapt to important changes. Most people tend to believe only what they see, but see only what they believe exists.
Sometimes, the only way to effect movement from the status quo is to “confront” people more
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©2011 Conner Partners, Inc.
www.connerpartners.com
Danger? Opportunity? You Decide.
In this series, I’ve been talking about the importance of being able to reframe a person’s mindset during a change initiative to shift how he or she sees and interprets certain things. There are five key reframing skills:
1. Address the “context” as well as the “content” of interpersonal communications.
2. Redefine the other person’s frame of reference (FOR) in a way that sheds positive light on the successful implementation of the change at hand.
3. Reset the person’s priorities.
4. Respond effectively when the other person reacts to the reframing attempt.
5. Confront the person with the real price it takes to achieve success.
I’ll focus on the fourth skill in this post.
Reframing Skill #4: The Ability to Respond Appropriately Based on the Person’s Reaction
The disruptive nature of major change produces a crisis in the sense that the status quo is no longer viable. The Chinese express the concept of crisis with two symbols.
The top symbol represents potential danger, the lower, hidden opportunity. By combining the two, the Chinese position change as a paradox. Observing how people respond to the stress produced by the crisis of change reveals two basic orientations that reflect similar characteristics. more
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©2011 Conner Partners, Inc.
www.connerpartners.com
Changing Someone’s Mind—The Basics of Reframing
(3) Comments“The greatest danger in times of turbulence is not the turbulence; it is to act with yesterday’s logic.” — Peter Drucker
An important part of successful change facilitation is the ability to influence others (especially sponsors). Sometimes we only need to explain to them what needs to be done. Much of the time, however, their behaviors and/or mindsets must be carefully reshaped for an initiative to be fully realized.
There is a close interdependency between a person’s mindset and his or her behavior. Each reflects an important component to the change process, yet many practitioners are better prepared to address the behavioral dynamics than the mindset implications. Although successful change facilitators attend to both when attempting to redirect a person’s natural reaction to a situation, this series will focus only on how to encourage new mindsets that support an initiative’s desired outcome. more
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©2011 Conner Partners, Inc.
www.connerpartners.com
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
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©2011 Conner Partners, Inc.
www.connerpartners.com
How to Work Yourself Out of a Job
“A true voyage of discovery does not consist of seeking new landscapes but rather of seeing with new eyes.” —Marcel Proust
As change professionals, we often say that we want to leave clients free from the need for additional services from us. Unfortunately, our track record doesn’t support that claim. This is less true for pure training interventions; however, consultants (both internal and external) engage in more “doing” than in “transferring capability.”
I realize not all change facilitators share this view, but my personal bias is that teaching clients to execute change on their own is a crucial part of practicing our craft. Some internal practitioners lack the charter to do anything but solve problems. (“Just help us get this project implemented. We’ll worry about learning how to do it ourselves later.”) Some external practitioners operate within a business model that doesn’t include teaching clients how to stand on their own without the consultant’s help. This series, however, is for a third category of practitioners more
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©2011 Conner Partners, Inc.
www.connerpartners.com
An Approach to Successful Culture Change
(1) CommentAs I wrote earlier in this series, the self-reinforcing nature of culture almost always guarantees resistance toward change. If there is a wide gap between the current culture and the culture required for success, expect a high level of cultural resistance. Quite simply, culture does not evolve on its own to support new strategic solutions. You can understand this better by looking at the role that momentum and critical mass plays in the implementation of change. (I have written a separate series on this topic.)
A Culture Shift Must Be Planned
When the current culture won’t support delivery of the promises of our clients’ new strategies and they determine not to “change the change,” our focus as professional change facilitators is to guide them toward changing the culture. You’ll need to help them build the momentum and critical mass necessary for success. The cultures that emerge more
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©2011 Conner Partners, Inc.
www.connerpartners.com
What Role Does Culture Play During Change?
(2) CommentsCulture—“the way things are around here”—is often beneficial to organizations during periods of relative stability. After all, culture reinforces itself. It operates in ways that ensure its own continuity, which is a good thing when all is well. When we introduce change (a disruption to or intrusion on what people expect), however, the culture works hard to defeat it, and to maintain the status quo. Bigger change means more disruption and even more intrusion, and the culture will work even harder to defeat it. more
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©2011 Conner Partners, Inc.
www.connerpartners.com
