Here’s A Wild Idea: Handpicked, or Volunteered?
“We’re looking for volunteers”
“We need someone to do xyz”
“We need our change agent community to provide us with …..”
This is the narrative I so often hear when it comes to change engagement.
It’s change-centred, and so you are immediately making it feel like a chore. But what if it wasn’t? What if you could have it feel like a compliment instead?
What if you flipped the narrative from “We” to “You”?
Instead of “we need volunteers”, try “you have been handpicked for…”
Instead of “we need your opinion”, try “you’re the go-to person for…”
Instead of “We need our change agent community to provide us with …..”, try “you are part of an elite group of staff, selected to help shape the future of…”. (**The caveat here is that if you tell them they are an elite group – you better well treat them as such. )
Stack the value equation in your favour. Make participation a reward instead of a pain.
To Ponder: The Organisational Black Hole
Is your ‘transformational change’ actually just an organisational black hole?
Over my career, I’ve seen countless failed transformation attempts – and they tend to have a few things in common. One of which is that they often operate as an organisational black hole.
An organisational black hole is one that:
- Started as a star (a good idea), but ultimately imploded into itself.
- Sucks in a lot of things (like people’s time and information), and yet
- No one really knows what’s happening inside them.
Thankfully, there is a trend I’m seeing more and more in 2022. It’s a shift from the large centralised transformation department – to one of ongoing, embedded change.
It’s distributed change, rather than centralised.
It’s strategy that is localised and translated into reality.
And ultimately, it’s avoiding the creation of black holes.
What would a distributed change model look like within your teams?
(PS. – This is something I’ve been helping a few clients with lately. If you’d like to explore what it would look like in your organisation, just hit reply.)
