Comments on: An Irrational Approach to Change Management http://www.dennisstevens.com/2009/09/10/an-irrational-approach-to-change-management/ Enabling the Agile Enterprise Mon, 14 Nov 2011 14:15:27 -0800 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 hourly 1 By: Jack Vinson http://www.dennisstevens.com/2009/09/10/an-irrational-approach-to-change-management/comment-page-1/#comment-1545 Jack Vinson Sat, 19 Sep 2009 23:35:32 +0000 http://www.dennisstevens.com/?p=222#comment-1545 Just because someone is afraid does that make it "irrational?" It tells me that while they understand the business benefits, the organization hasn't done a good job of describing how the change is going to affect the people in the business. I saw this in a simple example at a "meet the CEO" session about a year ago. One person expressed understanding that project X would help reduce paperwork, but since her work included a lot of that paperwork, she wasn't so sure about the project. In more involved examples, the source of the resistance may not be so obvious. But if it's there, it is the change agent's job to find it and resolve it. Just because someone is afraid does that make it “irrational?” It tells me that while they understand the business benefits, the organization hasn’t done a good job of describing how the change is going to affect the people in the business.

I saw this in a simple example at a “meet the CEO” session about a year ago. One person expressed understanding that project X would help reduce paperwork, but since her work included a lot of that paperwork, she wasn’t so sure about the project.

In more involved examples, the source of the resistance may not be so obvious. But if it’s there, it is the change agent’s job to find it and resolve it.

]]> By: Rick Austin http://www.dennisstevens.com/2009/09/10/an-irrational-approach-to-change-management/comment-page-1/#comment-1528 Rick Austin Fri, 18 Sep 2009 11:37:39 +0000 http://www.dennisstevens.com/?p=222#comment-1528 Spot on! We tend to do a good job creating the "parade" that begins change efforts but we don't do to good on providing the support necessary for people to move and finish. We all have a mental map in our minds about how the world operates and as you noted, that map has worked well in the past. If a person is very competent today then there is a high possibility that the change will put them in a situation where they are no longer competent or the expert at what they do. We're asking people to move from being that expert, doing things that have made them successful, to a new thing for which they have little or no experience. We must provide the support necessary to shift their mental map and provide them with the tools needed to get to the new place. We need to help them finish. Geez, this is getting long… feels like a new blog post may be in the works. One final thought, those that have already made the leap, redrawn their mental map, have a very difficult time remembering the journey they took to get there. That is an important thing to remember; we can't them complete their journey if we can't empathize with their plight. Spot on! We tend to do a good job creating the “parade” that begins change efforts but we don’t do to good on providing the support necessary for people to move and finish. We all have a mental map in our minds about how the world operates and as you noted, that map has worked well in the past. If a person is very competent today then there is a high possibility that the change will put them in a situation where they are no longer competent or the expert at what they do. We’re asking people to move from being that expert, doing things that have made them successful, to a new thing for which they have little or no experience.

We must provide the support necessary to shift their mental map and provide them with the tools needed to get to the new place. We need to help them finish.

Geez, this is getting long… feels like a new blog post may be in the works.

One final thought, those that have already made the leap, redrawn their mental map, have a very difficult time remembering the journey they took to get there. That is an important thing to remember; we can’t them complete their journey if we can’t empathize with their plight.

]]> By: strategic change management http://www.dennisstevens.com/2009/09/10/an-irrational-approach-to-change-management/comment-page-1/#comment-1476 strategic change management Fri, 11 Sep 2009 19:22:20 +0000 http://www.dennisstevens.com/?p=222#comment-1476 <strong>strategic change management...</strong> Great post. My approach to strategic change management says the quality of the first five percent determines what happens in the rest of the process. This same principle applies to many situations.... strategic change management…

Great post. My approach to strategic change management says the quality of the first five percent determines what happens in the rest of the process. This same principle applies to many situations….

]]> By: Brian Sondergaard http://www.dennisstevens.com/2009/09/10/an-irrational-approach-to-change-management/comment-page-1/#comment-1473 Brian Sondergaard Thu, 10 Sep 2009 19:45:21 +0000 http://www.dennisstevens.com/?p=222#comment-1473 Good stuff Dennis. It's critical that change agents and leaders grasp these underlying principles of organizational change. I find it useful, too, to fully understand and leverage Kotter's change management process (or another similar approach). I summarize the process in my post "The Process of Managing Change" here: http://blog.softwarearchitecture.com/2009/05/process-of-managing-change.html. Good stuff Dennis. It’s critical that change agents and leaders grasp these underlying principles of organizational change. I find it useful, too, to fully understand and leverage Kotter’s change management process (or another similar approach). I summarize the process in my post “The Process of Managing Change” here: http://blog.softwarearchitecture.com/2009/05/process-of-managing-change.html.

]]> By: Jesse Fewell http://www.dennisstevens.com/2009/09/10/an-irrational-approach-to-change-management/comment-page-1/#comment-1472 Jesse Fewell Thu, 10 Sep 2009 13:49:06 +0000 http://www.dennisstevens.com/?p=222#comment-1472 Good stuff. You should put this into some kind of book ;) Good stuff. You should put this into some kind of book ;)

]]>