IdeaLeap

Beneficial change is rarely the result of big upfront change plans and top-down control. Think about it. If beneficial change was the result of detailed plans, rigid processes, and “marching orders”, then change would be easy. In the 21st century, change agents must leverage complex adaptive systems thinking. In a complex adaptive system (organization) change emerges in novel ways through the interactions of stakeholders. Change agents should ditch the heavy up-front detailed plans and move from a push-based approach to change to a pull-based approach to change. In a pull-based approach, continuous small safe-to-fail interventions flow through the system and the insights gathered from them are used to inform future direction. This can be as simple as leveraging Kanban boards to flow experiments at the right time. As we continue to probe the system, patterns and solutions emerge that could not have been predicted in advance or created through a change plan. Change requires flow, not control. #change #changemanagement #leanchange

Modern organizations are massively entangled complex adaptive systems. Entanglement means that everything and everyone is interconnected in ways that are not fully understood by any one person or group of people. The entanglements mean that any change intervention, no matter how small or inconsequential it appears to be, causes ripple effects throughout the system. Just as Jello transfers energy, causing ripples effects across it’s structure, changes in a complex adaptive system reverberate and impact it’s interconnected parts in unexpected ways. Change practitioners can benefit from taking a more systems level perspective when  managing change initiatives. Limiting one’s view to only the scope of the project misses the bigger picture. #change #changemanagement #projectmanagement

We started the day off with a great Lean Change Agent workshop kickoff with a team from one of our global clients. In module 1 of the workshop we explored the intersection of Agile and Change Management with a focus on how we can apply Agile ways of thinking and doing to our change work. One exercise participants completed was to rewrite the 12 Agile values in three words or less and then vote for the most impactful values for Change Management. Which values are most impactful for you? 👇 Our next public cohorts kick off this September! #change #changemanagement #leanchange

Steal what works, ignore what doesn’t!   Everything we need to know to successfully navigate change exists in various bodies of knowledge, we just need to combine it in new and exciting ways for change management!   Lean Change introduces new ideas, metaphors, and practices to the field of Change Management, while also leveraging existing ideas and practices from Agile, Lean, Design Thinking, Lean Start Up, Complexity Thinking, and more!   Here are 5 core foundational practices that we teach participants in the Lean Change Agent workshop.   You’d be amazed at how much you can completely transform the way that you VIEW change work and the way that you DO change work with just these 5 ideas.   Out next Lean Change Agent workshop kicks off this September – details in the comments #change #changemanagement #leanchange

Our next Lean Change Agent cohorts kick off this September! Join a global group of change agents over six weeks of intensive collaboration to transform the way that you VIEW change management and the way that you DO change management! Check out the links below for more information and to register: Start Sep 17 - North America, Europe, Middle East, Africa: https://lnkd.in/gQeenVB4 Start Sep 18 - North America, Australia, New Zealand: https://lnkd.in/gFvN_8i4 #change #changemanagement #leanchange

Traditional paradigms of change management hold deep assumptions about control. Much of the change management literature is filled with phrases and thinking derived from Newtonian physics, describing how change needs to be driven by exerting pressure and force. We're used to hearing about the all-importance of that leader who sponsors the change and "pushes" it to the organization. We have accepted the false promise that organizational change is the sum and cumulation of individuals changing, The problem is, when it comes to organizational change, these paradigms are stuck in the 20th century. All organizational change happens within the context of a Complex Adaptive System in which everything and everyone is interconnected. No one, not a single person, can fully understand the organization. In this environment, the entanglement of the connections can lead to unpredictable outcomes. In a complex system, complexity arises when individuals and system agents interact with each other. The great consequence of complexity is emergence - unpredictable behaviour and patterns that arise in the system. You can't force change to take a predictable path resulting in pre-determined outcomes. You can only sense the patters in the system and respond accordingly. The goal is not to stop bad things from happening, but rather to create the favourable conditions for good things to happen. #change #changemanagement

The longer you plan your change in isolation, the larger the cognitive gap you create between you and the people affected by the change. You’ll generate context and meaning about the change long before the people affected by the change have had the chance to begin their own process of contextualization. It will take time for the people affected by the change to catch up - as long, but often longer, than it took you. Every minute of working in isolation incurs a cost down the road. #change #changemanagement #projectmanagement

Adoption begins as soon as people start talking about the change, not when the change management plan was meant to "start". #change #changemanagement #projectmanagement

The fundamental purpose of change management is to create alignment for change through shared context. If consensus is an outcome of the alignment process, great. If not, that's ok too. Not everyone is going to like or agree with change and that's fine. Alignment means that everyone shares the same sense of direction, cause, and purpose. Alignment is a must have. Consensus is a nice to have. #change #changemanagement #projectmanagement

The avian version of organizational shiny object syndrome 🤣 🐣 #change #changemanagement #projectmanagement