Change Artistry

  1. Are you ready to change?

Are you aware of your own emotional state?

Does the other person want to change?

Does the other person want for coaching from you?

Are you clear on the goal?

Are you open to other approaches?

Are you ready to encourage rather than evaluate?

  1. Questions for entering

Self

Other

How do you feel about your current coaching assignment?

How do you feel about the change you are helping people make?

How do you feel about the people you will be coaching?

What are five good and valid reasons the people you are working with might have for not changing?

What exists in the organization that might keep people from successfully making the change?

Which of these factors are in their control?

Which are within their sphere of influence?

Which of these factors are in your control? Your sphere of influence?

  1. Entering groups

Get to know the other group members and become known by them

Learn something of the group's history and context

Orient themselves to the goal, tasks, and priorities of the group

Look for ways to contribute that line up with those goals and priorities

  1. Four tips for getting your ideas accepted

It's not about you

It's about who you know

Action creates attraction

Timing is everything

  1. Choosing a coaching role

Responsibility for client results
VS Responsibility for client growth
(check matrix)

Sources of power
(check matrix)

Coercive

Reward

Position

Information

Network

Expert

Referent

Organizational effect

Compliance

Buy-in

Engagement

Fight, flight, take

Results L1

Growth L1: Reflective observer

Growth L2: Facilitator

Growth L3: Counsellor

Results L2

Growth L2: Teacher

Growth L3: Coach

Growth L1: Technical advisor

Results L3

Growth L2: Modeller

Growth L3: Partner

Growth L1: Hands-on expert

Less trust

More trust

  1. Shifting the pattern

Does the group you are working
with want help from you?

What are your sources of
power regarding this group?

If yes, what is the basis for this?

If no, how could you change this?

Positional authority

Expertise and respect for your knowledge

Relationships and friendliness

Reciprocity

If you want people to change their behavior,
change the system that drives the behavior

Structures that drive
patterns of behavior

Containers

Differences

Exchanges
(flow of value within and between containers)

Physical (e.g.: a tem room)

Organizational (e.g.: a department)

Psychological or conceptual
(e.g.: a goal a set of professional concerns)

Interventions
(examples)

Strengthen the shared picture and vision of the product

Strengthen focus on common goal

Move the teams to a team room

Have all the team members reporting to one manager who has the responsibility for the project

Remove roles, make everyone a team member

Make the project container stronger

Interventions
(examples)

Algin management objectives

Cross-train to create generalizing specialists VS specialists

Interventions
(examples)

Provide a facilitator

Change the rhythm and content of meetings
(meetings can also be thought of as a container)

Have team members reporting their status to each other

Hold a retrospective

Have a social exchange

Show and explain how the project and each person contributes to the company

Change the bonus structure

  1. Seven lessons from a top-down change
  1. A change usually represents someone's best idea on how to solve a problem or respond to an external event
  1. One person's carefully considered idea is another person's incomprehensible surprise
    (it's very important for people to understand the thinking behind a change. They need information and time to digest it)
  1. The people seeking a change may value different things than the people expected to change
    (people who asks others to change may not understand what value they are asking people to give up. And in fact, they may not appreciate or even notice what's valuable to the people they expect to change)
  1. Change always involves loss
    (think about who is benefiting and who is losing as a result of the change, and then be prepared to empathize with people's sense of loss)
  1. Choice or coercion depends on where you sit
    (engage the affected people in designing the change. Engagement increases support)
  1. How people respond to a change
    is a rich source of information
    (learn the reason behind "resistance")
  1. People change to retain something they value
    (take time to find out what people value and how the change relates to what they value)

They don't know how to do what they're being asked to do

They don't feel they have time to learn the new way and still meet existing goals and targets

They believe the existing is better

They don't think the new way will work

They believe the new way will cause harm - to customers, the company, the employees,...

They don't like or don't respect the person requesting the change

The new suggestion is counter-intuitive given people's existing models of how the world works

The new way runs counter to existing reward structures or other organizational systems

Lack of enthusiasm for a change proposal may not mean it's a bad idea. But it's a good indicator that there's work left to be done in introducing the idea, understanding what people value, and incorporating their ideas

  1. Questions for turning

Describe the goal of the change you are looking for.. The "why" behind the change. If you were on the other side of this change (being asked to change) would that convince you?

What is the expected outcome of the change?

What are three other ways to achieve the desired outcome?

What would you observe if the change were successful?

Frame the expected outcome in terms that are positive for the people you will be work with