CUT THROUGH THE NOISE WITH THE CHANGE SIGNAL NEWSLETTER
Get my best thinking in a short & sharp weekly newsletter, straight to your inbox every Thursday.
Catch up on past Change Signal Newsletters.
Five Juicy Change Questions
Five juicy change questions
Five juicy change questions
We’re 14 episodes along in the Change Signal pod, and I’ve spent some time distilling a few of the juicy questions that have emerged.
There’s a cornucopia. These guests are so smart. But in the end, I’ve got these five to offer you today.
1. Creation or change: What’s your language? (David Lancefield)
Language really matters. When I started in this world, it was all “change management,” and since then it’s moved on to “change,” flirted with “transformation,” doubled down on “digital transformation,” and seems to have come back to “change.” Or maybe not. Maybe now it’s just “everything.”
And if we’re confused, imagine what it’s like when you’re not in it so much as being subjected to it!
So what do you call this thing we do? When we say “change” or “transformation,” it’s useful to know we might just be triggering resistance from everyone we hope will be on our side.
David tells us:
"I tend to use more words that focus on creation rather than change. If you talk about ‘How do we create something? How do we make something which will involve change?’ I think it triggers different emotions."
Listen to the full conversation with David here.
2. What’s the dragon protecting? (Dr. Liane Davey)
I remember one time when we sweepingly labelled all the managers as “the frozen middle,” that great slab of people who were going to be against our ambitious change plans.
It might be true, as Bobby Kennedy (not the ‘health’ one) said, that “25% of people are against everything all the time.” But it’s more the way we respond to them. Not up for my change? Well, it’s obvious You vs. Me.
But what if they were champions for something that mattered? What if they were, in fact, reminding us of something precious? Here’s Liane’s memorable metaphor:
"If the dragon is breathing fire, it's because they're protecting treasure."
You find not just dragons, but tents and rowers in Liane’s episode, which you can listen to here.
3. What if you added “vibe” to your metrics? (Dr Jason Fox)
Deciding what to measure as part of the change project is always a slippery task. Some things are too small, some too big, some trailing, some leading … sometimes it can feel like you’re trying to track the entire world, other times you’re groping forward in the dark. And even when you find something to hang on to, I was always reminded that what can be measured can be manipulated.
It’s clear that Jason’s a philosopher and a provocateur in his episode, willing to poke at the standard ways of doing things. He knows full well that things need to be measured, but suggested an alternative or perhaps an addition. Here’s how Jason puts it:
"Vibe is a beautiful word that articulates complex nonlinear emergent dynamics that are, if you were trying to put your finger on anything specific, too weak or too imprecise."
Jason’s full episode awaits your pleasure here.
4. Where are your best leverage points? (Dan Heath)
One of my bosses had a screensaver: “When you chase two rabbits, you catch neither.” I’ve found that out through a thousand other metaphors. Rolling too many peanuts forward. Throwing too much spaghetti at the wall. Hoping that a flurry of activity will make up for not knowing what the real challenge was.
Dan Heath’s got a long history of making complicated ideas feel doable, and his latest book on change is no different. He resets the idea of the theory of constraints in a practical way. Here’s how he puts it:
"When we're trying to change systems, find a leverage point within the system, a place where a little bit of investment yields a disproportionate return."
Dan’s episode is ready for your listening pleasure even as we speak.
5. What euphemisms are disguising your intentions? (Margaret Heffernan)
Who hasn’t listened to a leader’s speech and wondered, just what are they actually talking about? Change projects often bring out the metaphor, the euphemism, and the jazz hands.
“Don’t worry about the details, it’s going to be fine. Onwards!” Margaret is a straight-shooter, and has no time for that. It’s nothing against metaphor, it’s the patronizing infantilization she objects to. She’s appropriately blunt about explaining her point:
“If you're doing a cost-cutting program. Call it that. Let's not pussyfoot around. You fool nobody, and you just make people incredibly cynical."
You can hear what else Margaret has no time for here.
Which one strikes a chord for you?
Each of these insights shines a light on a different part of the change process. Some are about big picture things, others are about the details. They all matter.
Which one felt most helpful for you today?
Pod Wisdom: Stop searching for agreement
Adam Kahane, from the Change Signal episode "You have to work with the resistance.":
"You're not going to be able to figure it out before you start. You're not going to be able to have the right answer and get everybody to agree to it. You're not going to be able to tell people what to do. You're going to have to feel your way. What do we agree on? What do we not agree on? What do we have in common? What's different? What can we try next? What's my role in this?”
Listen to the full episode with Adam Kahane now
Adam Kahane has worked to change social systems at all scales for over thirty years. His most recent book is Everyday Habits for Transforming Systems.
ACMP: The Virtual Change Management Conference of the Year
Gather with thought leaders from the field of change management and related disciplines for three days of dynamic education and networking at the ACMP conference.
Association of Change Management Professionals (ACMP) is a Change Signal partner.
The Last Word
“Thousands of people don’t like what I do. Fortunately, millions do.”
~ James Patterson
What’s the least you can do?
The Change Question: What’s the least you can do?
The Change Question: What’s the least you can do?
When we teach practical coaching skills at Box of Crayons, our three mantras are: Be Lazy, Be Curious, Be Often.
They’re deliberately provocative, because they often upend what people think coaching “should” be.
I particularly like the “be lazy” one. I suspect its inspiration started with that delightful quote from George Bernard Shaw:
The reasonable man adapts himself to the world: the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man.
Which led me to Bill Gates:
I choose a lazy person to do a hard job. Because a lazy person will find an easy way to do it.
Which got me to that classic “2 x 2” with lazy/not lazy on one axis, and smart/not smart on the other.
I suspect many change leaders are not lazy and smart. And I’d like you, yes you, to get a little lazier.
What’s tricky is, to do that well, you may need to get a little smarter and a little braver as well.
You’ll need to step back and see the system as messy, complex, emerging.
You’ll need to do the hard analysis, so you can take your best guess at the intervention that will make the most difference.
You’ll have to tell people no, and people rarely like to be told no.
You’ll have to let things keep failing, and bear people’s disgruntledness.
You’ll have to do less, but do it better. Commit ferociously to something.
You’ll have to manage your own anxieties about the ambiguities.
It’s irritating, really. Being lazy and doing less seems very appealing, but it might just take more work after all.
Want to go deeper? You’ll enjoy my conversation with Dan Heath on the Change Signal pod. We talk leverage points and committing resources.
Pod Wisdom: Invite them in
Cassandra Worthy, from the new Change Signal episode "Can Feelings Fast-Track Your Transformation?":
"When we leave emotion at the door of business, we leave humanity at the door of business. And we can't afford to do that, if we want to remain relevant, competitive, thrive and win. That is the change myth that drives me into action and irritates me the most. The idea that feelings and inviting feelings into the conversation is going to slow us down and that we don't have time for it.”
Listen to the full episode with Cassandra Worthy now
Cassandra Worthy is a renowned Change Management expert, speaker, and author of Change Enthusiasm: How to Harness the Power of Emotion for Leadership and Success.
ACMP: The Virtual Change Management Conference of the Year
Gather with thought leaders from the field of change management and related disciplines for three days of dynamic education and networking at the ACMP conference.
Association of Change Management Professionals (ACMP) is a Change Signal partner.
The Last Word
"Our feelings are our most genuine paths to knowledge."
~ Audre Lorde
What’s *your* best change wisdom? (Tell me, please.)
The Change Question: What’s your best change wisdom?
The Change Question: What’s your best change wisdom?
You’re reading this, so there are some educated guesses I can make about you.
You’re smart.
You’ve collected some scars and some trophies from change projects past.
You’re generous.
You’re very, very good-looking.
(I’m confident you score at least 50% on that test. 🙂)
Knowing all this to be true, I’m curious to know what your Best and Most Essential Change Wisdom might be. A tool, a framework, a strategy, a discipline, a teacher, a podcast … whatever you think I should know about.
I’m most curious about your High Impact/Less Well Known wisdom/tools/strategy.
Here’s what I mean by that. Cue, classic consultant 2 x 2 matrix.
On the vertical axis, impact (low, high).
On the horizontal axis, well-known-ness (low, high).
I’m less interested in what falls into your two “low impact” boxes.
But very curious about what’s in your “high impact” ones.
You might find my solo podcast episode on auditing your tools a helpful listen.
I’m here to cut through the blather, the BS, and the noise to find the good stuff that works. This is newsletter #14. Thanks for helping me in that quest.
Pod Wisdom: A one-word shift to turn resistance into engagement
David Lancefield, from the Change Signal episode "What Are Your Top Three Decisions?":
"I tend to use words that focus on creation rather than change. It's amazing if you go into the boardroom, in the most senior corridors, and you talk about change or transformation — it's very passive and it creates fear. But if you talk about how do we create something? I think it just triggers a different part of the brain, emotions. It's a lean forward moment, and you actually want to start doing stuff.”
Listen to the full episode with David Lancefield now
David Lancefield is a senior strategist, coach, and catalyst who has worked in more than 30 countries as a senior partner at a major consultancy, written numerous Harvard Business Review articles, and now helps senior leaders make their strategies smarter and more doable.
ACMP: The Virtual Change Management Conference of the Year
Gather with thought leaders from the field of change management and related disciplines for three days of dynamic education and networking at the ACMP conference.
Association of Change Management Professionals (ACMP) is a Change Signal partner.
The Last Word
"I followed the road less traveled, and now I’m lost, send snacks."
~ Anonymous
Who’s the villain in this play?
The Change Question: Who’s the villain?
The Change Question: Who’s the villain?
You’ll never see a baddie in a movie opening up an Apple laptop to do dastardly things, nor texting their gang of thugs on an iPhone.
Apple, allegedly, has a “no villain” clause, which means you never see their tech in the hands of a Criminal Mastermind or anyone employed in their Web of Deceit.
Which is all very well for Apple.
But if you lead change, you benefit from having someone or something to go up against.
Medicine v Vitamins
It’s a truism in marketing that it’s easier to sell medicine than vitamins.
Medicine fixes something. Vitamins make something good, better. (I’m not a medical doctor, nor do I play one when writing newsletters, so I’m sure this isn’t the whole truth, but you get the point. 🩺🙂)
Medicine battles the villain of illness.
Find your villain.
And next, help people become heroes.
But that’s a topic for another Change Signal newsletter.
Pod Wisdom: The dragon’s treasure
Liane Davey, from the Change Signal episode "Your Change Team Needs More Conflict, Not Less"
"If the dragon is breathing fire, it's because they're protecting treasure. What we tend to do when the dragon breathes fire — someone is being emotional, or whatever — is protect ourselves. We start to put bricks of facts in a wall between us. “Well, this report says this and this stat says that…” This does nothing for the dragon. It just builds a wall. So instead, what you have to do is deploy another skill. You need to ask ‘open drawbridge’ questions. Learn to ask questions to get the dragon to open the drawbridge and then draw you the treasure map."
Listen to the full episode with Liane Davey now
Liane Davey is the author of The Good Fight, a Change Signal Top Shelf book.
Overcome the Toughest Workplace Challenges with Relational Curiosity
Tense conversations, feedback that doesn’t land, and frequent miscommunication—these challenges are exhausting and all too common.
The latest research paper from Box of Crayons, Navigating a Fractured Workplace, uncovers the root of these issues and reveals how Relational Curiosity can foster trust, strengthen collaboration, and help teams thrive.
Download the white paper today and take your first step toward a stronger, more connected workplace.
Box of Crayons is a Change Signal sponsor.
The Last Word
"I'm not bad. I'm just drawn that way."
~ Jessica Rabbit, Who Framed Roger Rabbit
What’s the most important number?
The Change Question: What’s the most important number?
The Change Question: What’s the most important number?
When it comes to measurement, I try to remember four things.
1. If that number going up or down doesn’t generate a response (stop something, start something, do more of something), why is it being measured?
2. No number is perfect. “The map is not the territory.” Trailing or lagging indicators are, by definition, about what’s already happened. Leading indicators often have a slightly flimsy link to the work that’s being done.
3. It’s helpful to know what “good enough” is, as well as “excellent.”
4. "When a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure." (Goodhart’s Law)
I suspect many change programs have an excess of metrics, most of which aren’t important enough; and people don’t fret enough about the key number(s) that matters most.
It feels like (really) hard work, but important, to decide the most important number you’re measuring.
What, in other words, is the priority? (My friend Liane Davey, who’s coming on the pod soon, has a rant about the etymology of “priority,” which means “first in importance.” So prioritiES plural is an oxymoron.)
But, honestly, this is one of my weaker areas in change management. So, teach me please!
What am I missing, and what am I getting wrong?
What’s an example of a single, essential metric?
And who should I have on the podcast to teach me about really smart measurement for change management programs?
Pod Wisdom: This is WAY better than the “burning platform”
John Zeratsky, from the Change Signal episode "Stop Planning, Start Prototyping Change":
"Declare a good emergency. Be really clear with everybody that you are doing something different because it's important. We know that emergencies are powerful, right? We know that they work. They seem to create time where there is none. They seem to be able to magically shift people's priorities, their sense of clarity. So why don't we harness that for good?"
Listen to the full episode with John Zeratsky now
John Zeratsky is the author of Sprint: Solve Big Problems and Test New Ideas in Just Five Days and Click: How to Make What People Want: both Change Signal Top Shelf books.
Overcome the Toughest Workplace Challenges with Relational Curiosity
Tense conversations, feedback that doesn’t land, and frequent miscommunication—these challenges are exhausting and all too common.
The latest research paper from Box of Crayons, Navigating a Fractured Workplace, uncovers the root of these issues and reveals how Relational Curiosity can foster trust, strengthen collaboration, and help teams thrive.
Download the white paper today and take your first step toward a stronger, more connected workplace.
Box of Crayons is a Change Signal sponsor.
The Last Word
"Progress is not going in a straight line. It goes up and down, but it’s progress all the same."
~ Thasunda Duckett, CEO of TIAA
What would “going all in” look like?
The Change Question: What would “going all in” look like?
The Change Question: What would “going all in” look like?
On my desk is a volume knob.
It’s there to remind me of this scene.
“You’re at 10 on your guitar, and where can you go from there? Nowhere.”
In Dan Heath’s pod episode last week he talked about “stacking resources” on the leverage points of change. (That’s a pretty bland sentence. He’s vastly more entertaining than I’ve made him sound.)
I thought I might get a little rock and roll, and reframe that as “going to 11.”
Or if Spinal Tap isn’t your thing, then perhaps “going all in.”
Hold nothing back
First, identify your leverage point, the place where effort will make a difference.
Then think about the resources you have. Here’s a list to start you off:
Time, people, money, attention, courage, relationships, favours owed, expertise within and without the team, leverage over, physical space, technology, reputation, credibility …
Then, imagine if you will …
Saying no to the other projects, and pulling resources away from them.
Putting all your people on this, rather than spreading them thin.
Leaving some fires to burn.
Not doing business as usual, as usual.
Spending all your budget.
Bringing in the very best expertise.
Cashing in reciprocity, and asking for favours owed.
Showing up with confidence and swagger.
It’s a little scary, isn’t it?
And probably madness to go all the way. Probably.
But perhaps a little less spreading your bets, CYA-ing, and timidness might be the play that will shake things up and make a difference.
But often, seeing and sharing what’s hard can bring its own measure of relief.
Pod Wisdom: What’s dwelling in the shadows?
Dr Jason Fox, from the Change Signal episode "Are You Blinded by the ‘Change Obvious'?":
"Many people fixate upon the shining obvious thing, the thing that everyone's talking. And when you fixate upon something that's shining bright, it means that it's harder to see what exists in the penumbra. Your eyes need to take more time to adjust to what is emerging elsewhere. Often the big shining thing means that we are blinded to, or at least miss, some of the adjacent opportunities. The wise and savvy amongst us have their acuity cast wide. We're paying attention to what is emerging. It's curiosity, it's empathy, it's attunement to weak signals, it's active sense making, it's comparing notes, it's epistemological humility … it's learning."
Listen to the full episode with Jason Fox now
Dr Jason Fox is author of How to Lead a Quest, one of my Change Signal Top Shelf books.
Overcome the Toughest Workplace Challenges with Relational Curiosity
Tense conversations, feedback that doesn’t land, and frequent miscommunication—these challenges are exhausting and all too common.
The latest research paper from Box of Crayons, Navigating a Fractured Workplace, uncovers the root of these issues and reveals how Relational Curiosity can foster trust, strengthen collaboration, and help teams thrive.
Download the white paper today and take your first step toward a stronger, more connected workplace.
Box of Crayons is a Change Signal sponsor.
The Last Word
“The greatest danger in times of turbulence is not the turbulence — it is to act with yesterday’s logic.”
~ Peter Drucker
How’s your team holding up?
The Change Question: How’s your team holding up?
The Change Question: How’s your team holding up?
Your team might be a little more eloquent than I was as a teenager.
(“How was school?” “Good.” “How are you?” “Good.” “Everything OK?” “Mmmmm.”)
But maybe not much.
We’ve ritualized the check-in until, often enough, it’s become an empty exchange.
“How are you doing?”
“Well, you know.” “It’s nuts, right?” “Oh, sigh, fine I guess.” “Busy.” “WTF, but what can you do?”
And that’s (too often) the way you answer the question yourself.
And, what can you do?
Sometimes, not much. It’s worth saying that up front.
But bringing the questions — “How are they doing? And how am I doing?” to your attention, getting a little closer to the truth, and being more present to what’s there, is more helpful than you might suppose.
There are clues in their/your vibe. Compared to normal, do you experience …
Slow breath vs held breath
Calm vs frenetic
Supple vs brittle
Wide perspective vs narrowed focus
Still vs twitchy
Light vs heavy
If you were to ask some questions to learn more, to diagnose more specifically what might be going on, then perhaps …
What do you feel responsible for?
How would you want to shift your load?
What do you (still) have capacity for?
What would make things easier?
What’s hard right now?
You don’t have to fix it
The fear of tapping into those vibes and asking those questions is sometimes the anxiety, the dread, that you’ve got to make everything alright for everyone. That’s an impossible task, a crushing burden.
If you can do something, great.
As with all change, sometimes small moves can make a big difference.
But often, seeing and sharing what’s hard can bring its own measure of relief.
Pod Wisdom: The two change muscles every leader must develop
Dan Heath from the Change Signal episode "You’re Over-Flexing This Change Muscle":
"We have what I consider to be twin muscles. One bicep is the problem-solving bicep. That's the dumpster fire chasing bicep. And we work that thing all the time... And then we've got another bicep that's the success spotting and reproducing bicep that is just sad and weak and flaccid because of lack of use. But their power, their potential power is exactly the same."
Listen to the full episode with Dan Heath now
Dan Heath’s most recent book is Reset: How to Change What’s Not Working, one of my Change Signal Top Shelf books.
Overcome the Toughest Workplace Challenges with Relational Curiosity
Tense conversations, feedback that doesn’t land, and frequent miscommunication—these challenges are exhausting and all too common.
The latest research paper from Box of Crayons, Navigating a Fractured Workplace, uncovers the root of these issues and reveals how Relational Curiosity can foster trust, strengthen collaboration, and help teams thrive.
Download the white paper today and take your first step toward a stronger, more connected workplace.
Box of Crayons is a Change Signal sponsor.
The Last Word
“Change is hard because people wear themselves out. And that’s the second surprise about change: What looks like laziness is often exhaustion.”
~ Chip Heath and Dan Heath, Switch: How to Change Things When Change is Hard
The Drama Triangle, live!
The Drama Triangle, live!
The Karpman Drama Triangle
I hosted a Linkedin Live on Thursday.
I talked about the Karpman Drama Triangle, one of the most powerful models I know to better understand your and others’ dysfunctional behaviour during times of stress.
It’s no more than 30 minutes and I think you’ll find it useful.
You can watch the replay here. (And do feel free to share it with colleagues who might also be interested.)
What flavour of resistance are you facing right now?
The Change Question: What flavour of resistance are you facing right now?
The Change Question: What flavour of resistance are you facing right now?
Here’s a distinction I find ridiculously helpful: the cynic v the skeptic.
Cynics
They’ve already made up their mind about you and your plans, and it’s not good.
The etymology of the word is “dog-like,” and I always imagine the cynic lifting their leg on my fire hydrant of hope.
Bobby Kennedy said, “One-fifth of the people are against everything all the time.”
Bingo.
You can’t win over the cynics.
Skeptics
They’ve had their heart broken a thousand times.
They’re doing all they can to protect it from being broken again.
But, against all odds, there’s still a tiny flame of hope still burning.
Perhaps, this time, communication will be clear, promises will be kept, humanity will be remembered.
Love your skeptics.
They can be your greatest forces for change.
How much is enough
You don’t need to win over everyone to make progress.
Accounts differ, with some evidence for it being as little as 10% of a population, but as a useful rule of thumb, winning over “just” 25% of the population is enough to create a tipping point.
That’s no small task.
A bold challenge
Ignore 75% of the population.
Bring your full attention and resources to your selected 25%.
And don’t include the cynics.
Pod Wisdom: Ugh! What a question
Cassandra Worthy, from the Change Signal episode "Ignore the Cynics, Win the Skeptics":
"In the other plus-minus box, you have the frameworks that have high impact, but are underused. So why are you underusing them? I mean, who knows? You don't quite understand them yet. You haven't got to grips with them. They scare you a bit. Maybe they ask a bit too much of you. They're too challenging. But these might be worth taking a good look at because it's in that box you might find a breakthrough approach that can really boost the success of the transformation that you're leading right now."
Listen to the full episode with Cassandra Worthy now
Cassandra Worthy is the founder of Change Enthusiasm.
Overcome the Toughest Workplace Challenges with Relational Curiosity
Tense conversations, feedback that doesn’t land, and frequent miscommunication—these challenges are exhausting and all too common.
The latest research paper from Box of Crayons, Navigating a Fractured Workplace, uncovers the root of these issues and reveals how Relational Curiosity can foster trust, strengthen collaboration, and help teams thrive.
Download the white paper today and take your first step toward a stronger, more connected workplace.
Box of Crayons is a Change Signal sponsor.
The Last Word
"Progress is a nice word. But change is its motivator. And change has its enemies. Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly."
~ Robert F. Kennedy
You, under stress. What’s your move? (4 options.)
The Change Question: How do you respond to the stress of the moment?
The Change Question: How do you respond to the stress of the moment?
You are an animal.
Not like this. (🙂)
Mary Oliver gets us closer: You only have to let the soft animal of your body love what it loves.
But I’m thinking in the most basic of ways: flesh and blood, beating heart, and lizard brain.
Under stress our clever prefrontal cortex throws up its hands and throws in the towel.
Our amygdala, that lizard brain, takes control and has four ways to respond.
Two you know already, fight or flight.
Flight: Run away and retreat. Go quiet, go silent, disappear.
Fight: Bluster up, attack is the best form of defence, so take no prisoners.
But there are two others: fawn or faint.
Fawn is to play nicey-nice. No conflict, no difficulties, make sure you cover up the rifts and pour oil on any troubled waters. You’re masterful at that martyr-like leap forward and take the blame and take the responsibility.
Faint? Well, you probably recognize this move. It’s a stationary version of flight, where you play dead for as long as you can, and hope no one notices that the wheel is spinning but the hamster is dead.
Fight or flight, fawn or faint.
What’s your go-to?
You’re probably half-decent at all four, but most likely you’ll have a default response.
Mine? Faint. I’m still here, just pretending that I’m not. I’ve been called “the VP of Bottlenecking” more than once in my professional career.
How about you?
Pod Wisdom: If you have a hammer, everything looks like a nail
It’s me, from the Change Signal episode "An MBS change tool: Audit what works (and what doesn’t.)":
"In the other plus-minus box, you have the frameworks that have high impact, but are underused. So why are you underusing them? I mean, who knows? You don't quite understand them yet. You haven't got to grips with them. They scare you a bit. Maybe they ask a bit too much of you. They're too challenging. But these might be worth taking a good look at because it's in that box you might find a breakthrough approach that can really boost the success of the transformation that you're leading right now."
Overcome the Toughest Workplace Challenges with Relational Curiosity
Tense conversations, feedback that doesn’t land, and frequent miscommunication—these challenges are exhausting and all too common.
The latest research paper from Box of Crayons, Navigating a Fractured Workplace, uncovers the root of these issues and reveals how Relational Curiosity can foster trust, strengthen collaboration, and help teams thrive.
Download the white paper today and take your first step toward a stronger, more connected workplace.
Box of Crayons is a Change Signal sponsor.
The Last Word
“I was peeling a red apple from the garden when I suddenly understood that life would only ever give me a series of wonderfully insoluble problems. With that thought an ocean of profound peace entered my heart.”
~ Christian Bobin
What’s out of balance?
The Change Question: What’s out of balance?
The Change Question: What’s out of balance?
Answer: probably everything. Or at least, some things.
That’s probably not a problem.
When you’re making change happen, you’re placing bets on all the things that can influence a successful outcome.
The compelling-ness of the reason to change.
The quality of the training program.
Just how influential your sponsor is.
Just how nuts your executive team might be.
What other initiatives you’re competing against.
How resourced your team is.
And the list goes on.
The bold question might be, what are you going to bet big on? Where will you over-index? What will it mean to fully commit? What’s the big play?
And, as a necessary companion question, and taking a leaf from the pod conversation with Leidy Klotz, what are you going to ignore entirely? What will you cut? Who will you disappoint? What will you let burn?
March 20th, today’s date, is the equinox, that moment of the year when the day and the night are of equal lengths.
But it’s only like that for a moment.
Already, things are slipping and changing. Winter’s coming for my Australian friends. The long days of summer are whispering to us here in Toronto.
Don’t seek balance.
But do be intentional on where you’re being bold, both about your Yes’s and your No’s.
I’m glad you’re here and doing this work.
Pod Wisdom: You probably don’t realize what’s really going on
Caroline Webb, from the Change Signal episode "Do this ONE thing before you do ANYTHING else.":
"You have to do quite a bit of data gathering and be a little open-minded right from the beginning.
You need to say, well, there's probably stuff we've forgotten that we're committed to and we have to really get a grip on what is going on."
Listen to my full conversation with Caroline now
Caroline Webb is the author of How to Have a Good Day: Harness the Power of Behavioral Science to Transform Your Working Life.
Overcome the Toughest Workplace Challenges with Relational Curiosity
Tense conversations, feedback that doesn’t land, and frequent miscommunication—these challenges are exhausting and all too common.
The latest research paper from Box of Crayons, Navigating a Fractured Workplace, uncovers the root of these issues and reveals how Relational Curiosity can foster trust, strengthen collaboration, and help teams thrive.
Download the white paper today and take your first step toward a stronger, more connected workplace.
Box of Crayons is a Change Signal sponsor.
The Last Word
“If a decision is reversible, the biggest risk is moving too slow. If a decision is irreversible, the biggest risk is moving too fast."
~James Clear
What needs to keep burning?
The Change Question: What needs to keep burning?
The Change Question: What needs to keep burning?
Years ago on a podcast I heard someone say, “You just have to let some things keep burning.”
Immediately, I felt the anxiety of that … and, at the same time, suddenly imagined the freedom of it.
The pod guest was speaking about rapid scaling of a start up. I’ve never done that Silicon Valley thing, but I’ve no doubt it’s an increasingly desperate dance between creating a product people want, finding an audience that’s big and juicy enough, not running out of money, and shouting “Pivot!” a lot.
It’s not quite as frantic and existential for practitioners of change … although, perhaps, only just. I don’t know many of us who are, let’s say, chill.
For any transformation, something’s on fire now or something’s going to be on fire shortly.
It’s broken, or it’s about to be.
That means pain, grief, confusion, doubt, ambiguity … for you, and for the people going through the transformation with you.
You have permission to look around you at what’s broken and burning, and admit, as much as a part of you would like to make it all better …
You need to focus on what matters most.
Stillness will often be better than reaction.
To put out all the fires means things not changing.
You are still compassionate, generous, empathetic.
Some things need to keep burning.
I’m glad you’re here and doing this work.
Pod Wisdom: The change strategy EVERYONE tends to miss
Leidy Klotz, from the Change Signal episode "Your Brain's Dangerous Change Blind Spot":
"Why, when we're trying to change something from how it is to how we want it to be, don't we think of subtraction as an option?"
Listen to my full conversation with Leidy now
Leidy Klotz is the author of Subtract: The Untapped Science of Lesson.
Overcome the Toughest Workplace Challenges with Relational Curiosity
Tense conversations, feedback that doesn’t land, and frequent miscommunication—these challenges are exhausting and all too common.
The latest research paper from Box of Crayons, Navigating a Fractured Workplace, uncovers the root of these issues and reveals how Relational Curiosity can foster trust, strengthen collaboration, and help teams thrive.
Download the white paper today and take your first step toward a stronger, more connected workplace.
Box of Crayons is a Change Signal sponsor.
The Last Word
"Beyond the mountains, more mountains.”
~ Haitian proverb
What’s the *real* reason for change?
The Change Question: What’s the real reason for change?
The Change Question: What’s the real reason for change?
One of the seven questions from The Coaching Habit, the book I’m best known for, is “the focus question”:
What’s the real change here for you?
Of all the questions, it’s the one I’m most insistent on getting the language *just so*. It’s the most tightly scripted, and in two ways.
To begin at the end, adding “for you” suddenly makes the question personal and compelling.
It moves it from what might be an abstract, jazz-handsy sort of conversation to something very real. It puts that person in the system.
It’s not (and you can imagine this being said in a snooty British accent), “What, do you theorize, might be the factors of resistance in this process?” … but rather, “How is this hard for you, and how are you currently right in the thick of it?”
The second very deliberate word is “real.”
There’s a world, a universe, a multiverse of difference between “What’s the challenge?” and “What’s the real challenge?” You can feel it, even as you read it.
My pod interview with the delightfully blunt Margaret Heffernan brought that home for me. If you’ve listened to it, you might remember her saying, “If you're doing a cost-cutting program. Call it that. You know, let's not pussyfoot around. You fool nobody, and you just make people incredibly cynical.”
But put aside the marketing and the spin for a moment that you might be using to influence others.
Do you know the real reason for change?
Do you know what really matters to your CEO, your change sponsor, the power brokers in the SLT, your boss, and the other figures of influence and power?
It’s one thing to figure out how to pitch a transformation project to an audience.
It’s another one to fall for your own PR and not know what’s really going on, or why.
Pod Wisdom: A change “truism” that drives Katy Milkman NUTS
Katy Milkman, from the Change Signal episode "The High School Secret to Org Change":
“My biggest bugbear is visualized success.
Like, just close your eyes and imagine a good result and what does that look like? What does it feel like?
There's zero evidence that that helps and if anything, what we know is it's really critical to do these kinds of pre-mortems where we're pessimists, where we think about what could go wrong so that we can solve those obstacles before they're upon us.”
Listen to my full conversation with Katy now
Katy Milkman is a professor at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, a pre-eminent researcher on individual behaviour change, author of How to Change: The Science of Getting from Where You Are to Where You Want to Be, and host of the podcast Choiceology where she explores making smarter choices through behavioural science.
Overcome the Toughest Workplace Challenges with Relational Curiosity
Tense conversations, feedback that doesn’t land, and frequent miscommunication—these challenges are exhausting and all too common.
The latest research paper from Box of Crayons, Navigating a Fractured Workplace, uncovers the root of these issues and reveals how Relational Curiosity can foster trust, strengthen collaboration, and help teams thrive.
Download the white paper today and take your first step toward a stronger, more connected workplace.
Box of Crayons is a Change Signal sponsor.
Book Wisdom
The great ‘Western process of rationalization’ that unfolds over the centuries and the core of which consists in making life and the world calculable, manageable, and predictable–scientifically, technologically, economically, legally, politically, and finally, also in everyday life.
This means nothing less than making the world controllable, and Weber identifies this as … a process of progressive alienation, of the world’s falling mute, which he describes as a ‘disenchantment.’
The Uncontrollability of the World, Hartmut Rosa.
This is a short, dense book … philosophical, provocative, and probably not on many “change management” curriculum reading lists. 🙂 I have a core belief that part of the tension of change is the dance between our deep desire to control it all, and the impossibility of that. I think Rosa’s words–alienation, disenchantment–are powerful.
The Last Word: Tom Feltenstien and Mac Anderson
"Change is good. You go first."
~ Tom Feltenstien and Mac Anderson
What’s the first domino?
The Change Question: What’s the first domino?
The Change Question: What’s the first domino?
It is often exhausting to lead a change program.
People talk about being efficient.
But I like to be more blunt. I encourage laziness.
Not lie-around-and-do-nothing laziness–which I’m confident isn’t your style, anyway.
But strategic, don’t-just-be-busy, laziness.
The first domino, a metaphor I heard from Tim Ferriss who was quoting Greg McEwen, is about identifying the thing that, if done, removes or solves or reduces many other downstream efforts.
If I get Person A on board, I don’t have to work to get Persons B through L on board, because they go where Person A goes.
If I have people learn Skill X, they won’t need further training on Topic Y and Z, and I can halve the amount of time spent training Skill C.
If we let this crisis burn out on its own accord, we’ll save resources for other priorities and it will remove one of the barriers to change.
If we transform this business unit, we’ll be able to prototype an approach to change, and we’ll recruit champions for the change, so it will be easier to persuade other business units to opt in.
Do you have a good “first domino”? Hit reply and let me know, and I’ll share some in future newsletters.
And if you’re into actual dominos, you’ll love this.
Pod Wisdom: Stop Lying to Your Employees About Change (It's Making Things Worse)
Margaret Heffernan, from the Change Signal episode "Why Leaders Keep Making Change Harder":
“If you treat people like grownups, they are very, very much more likely to respond as grownups.
And if you treat them like children who can't understand the truth, then they're going to start responding like children.
So you're better off to just call it as it is and move on from there.
If cost reduction is part of it, fess up, say so. Be honest about what the upsides are for whom.”
Listen to my full conversation with Margaret now
Margaret Heffernan is the author of many books, including Unchartered: How to Navigate the Future. She has led organizations through change, and now coaches senior executives on the same.
Overcome the Toughest Workplace Challenges with Relational Curiosity
Tense conversations, feedback that doesn’t land, and frequent miscommunication—these challenges are exhausting and all too common.
The latest research paper from Box of Crayons, Navigating a Fractured Workplace, uncovers the root of these issues and reveals how Relational Curiosity can foster trust, strengthen collaboration, and help teams thrive.
Download the white paper today and take your first step toward a stronger, more connected workplace.
Box of Crayons is a Change Signal sponsor.
The Last Word: George Bernard Shaw
"The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable man persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man."
~ George Bernard Shaw (talking about humans and not just men)
Which change do you like most?
The Change Question: What’s your preferred type of change?
The Change Question: What’s your preferred type of change?
Successful transformation needs a lot of things to go well.
You’re typically trying to implement your organizational and structural changes on the one hand, and asking people to behave differently on the other.
They’re both called “change” but the truth is they’re quite different disciplines.
It’s not dissimilar to the relationship between Newtonian and quantum physics. Yes, they’re both called “physics.” Yes, between them, they describe the universe. But … they don’t actually seem to be that compatible.
You’ll have a preference between them, a bias towards the relative importance of one over the other.
That’s fine, if you’re aware of it.
But if not, you may find yourself “playing to your strengths” and overcommitting to the catalyst of change you know best and find most comfortable.
If you know your preferred type of change, you can check that you’re not over-indexing on what’s most familiar.
Pod Wisdom: Pim de Morree on designing change experiments
Pim de Morree, from the Change Signal episode "You Don’t Need 99% of Change Management Models":
“When it comes to what makes a good experiment to run in an organizational transformation, I'd say a couple of things.
One, keep it kind of small and simple. In many cases, when you ask people, “What would you like to change?” it's always the big things that are way beyond their control.
So if you're working in one specific department, you don't want to start completely reducing the hierarchy in the entire organization or getting rid of a policy that's dictated by another department.
Start smaller because most influence can be had in what's happening in your team or your department and experiment with that. Show some progress and then start, to bring other people on board with this transformation.
And then make sure it's also not too lengthy.
It depends on the focus, of course, but make sure it's a short timeline such as one to three months.
That way you have enough energy to complete the whole thing, and then properly evaluate it. Then you can then run your second experiment. If it takes too long, people just get lost in either complexity or they just get bored with it and don't have the energy anymore.”
Listen to my full conversation with Pim now
Pim de Morree is co-founder of Corporate Rebels. Corporate Rebels has been recognized by Thinkers50 as a leading practitioner on change, in particular about self-managing organizations.
Overcome the Toughest Workplace Challenges with Relational Curiosity
Tense conversations, feedback that doesn’t land, and frequent miscommunication—these challenges are exhausting and all too common.
The latest research paper from Box of Crayons, Navigating a Fractured Workplace, uncovers the root of these issues and reveals how Relational Curiosity can foster trust, strengthen collaboration, and help teams thrive.
Download the white paper today and take your first step toward a stronger, more connected workplace.
Box of Crayons is a Change Signal sponsor.
The Last Word: Richard Rorty
“A talent for speaking differently, rather than for arguing well, is the chief instrument of cultural change.”
~ Richard Rorty
What’s your move?
The Change Question: What's your signature move?
The Change Question: What's your signature move?
There are two sides to your hard-won experience.
No doubt, you’ve collected some scars from transformation projects of the past. As they say, “Wisdom enters through the wound.”
Inevitably, those “lessons learned” have firmed up your understanding of what does and doesn’t work. If you’re up on your cognitive biases, you’ll know it’s “survivor bias” with a dash of “illusion of explanatory depth” … and maybe (for others at least 🙂) a little of the Dunning-Kruger effect.
The danger lies not in what you know, but in having that inform and become your default response.
So what’s the change challenge for you right now?
This absolutely might be the time to deploy that signature move.
Show us your best stuff.
It might also be the time to come up with something new, and stop relying on your old tricks.
Pod Wisdom: Katy Milkman on Imaging the Future
Katy Milkman, from the Change Signal episode "The High School Secret to Org Change":
“One of the first things I'd suggest doing is what's called a premortem.
We all know about postmortems: something goes badly or dies, and you try to evaluate what went wrong after the fact. A premortem is really the same thing, except it's before death.
Before launch, sit down and imagine we're a year out from this launch, and we realize it's been a massive failure. What are the most likely reasons that it was a massive failure? Can we imagine what would have caused that?
By anticipating those possible weaknesses in our strategy, we're starting to understand those are the obstacles that are in our way, and we can dodge them because of the premortem we've done with strategic thinking. Do that premortem in order to be able to tailor your strategy and better understand what are the risks that you face and how you can overcome them.”
Listen to my full conversation with Katy now
Professor Katy Milkman is the author of How to Change and host of the delightful Choiceology podcast.
Overcome the Toughest Workplace Challenges with Relational Curiosity
Tense conversations, feedback that doesn’t land, and frequent miscommunication—these challenges are exhausting and all too common.
The latest research paper from Box of Crayons, Navigating a Fractured Workplace, uncovers the root of these issues and reveals how Relational Curiosity can foster trust, strengthen collaboration, and help teams thrive.
Download the white paper today and take your first step toward a stronger, more connected workplace.
Box of Crayons is a Change Signal sponsor.
The Last Word: Rainer Maria Rilke
“Where something becomes extremely difficult and unbearable, there we also stand already quite near its transformation.
~ Rainer Maria Rilke
CUT THROUGH THE NOISE WITH THE CHANGE SIGNAL NEWSLETTER
No cost. No spam. Some humour. Unsubscribe anytime if you don’t find it useful.