Bringing a combination of change leadership disciplines together, we’re building a starter kit of essentials to leading progress with respect for others.
Method, industry, size and outcome-agnostic, the essentials help co-design the right approach for this team to achieve the right goals for this time.
Seasoned change professionals or first-time project leads can scale the essentials to fit breadth, depth and range of change and readiness. Intended use is to engage, listen, confirm, and commit.
The Essentials v1.0:
1 - Universal map of organizational change - Every change in trajectory begins with a trigger, occurring within an environment occupied by communities of concern. Their voices on observed problems or opportunities define potential and feasibility, success and failure, and appetites for risk and innovation. Use the map to navigate the current conversation, clarify scope and reach, and chart the right times for the right leadership tools and techniques.
2 - Two sided coin of risk and quality - stakeholders in our communities of concern inform our shared understanding of success, achieving goals within quality tolerances, and our understanding of failure, permitting unacceptable conditions to occur while in pursuit of those goals. Make the most of those conversations to set targets, validate and verify quality, and respond to risk conditions with full community sponsorship.
3 - Dignity with 3 As - It is an honor to design work for others, so making it dignified work worth doing. Use Autonomy, Advocacy, and Accountability as guiding principles to architect dignity into each role and into each process. Dignified efforts ensure that each participant can trigger their own actions, form and support their own opinions, and govern the success of their own delivery, motivated by team norms toward shared goals and purpose.
4 - 4 Rs of tailored project support - Respectful leaders of change tailor the fabric of project support to be no more and no less than this effort needs, in context. For each key area we consider, we use Rationale, Roles, Rules, and Results to meet the need by only filling the gaps, not creating redundant bureaucracies or default administrative tasks. Starting with why, then who, what, for what outcomes, use the 4 R flow to confirm value for each indirect activity that leads to direct successes.
5 - 5 facets of Inner Development Goals - When someone else does it well, go to the source, and this one is global-ready. The Inner Development Goals framework defines five facets of 23 skills and capabilities that represent our readiness to deliver change together. Being, Thinking, Relating, Collaborating, and Acting are the broad categories of an accessible structure to discuss and define readiness for collaboration and change.
6 - 6 Cs of change design - No matter what it is or how it needs to be done, the 6 Cs create an accessible landscape to co-design transformation. Together, stakeholders can iterate through the work, how critical, complex and defined by compliance it is, speaking in the language of environmental culture, community, and compassion for this moment in time. Designing from scratch or recalibrating, the 6Cs quickly surface what’s important to get right.
7 - 7 Ss of org effectiveness - 50 years later, this one still runs! A consulting must-use, the McKinsey 7-S Framework clusters factors that indicate how well change will stick. When change receptiveness and change resilience are critical to success, bring a trusted framework to a new conversation to agree on where we are and where we’re going as an organization. We can use it in 2023 to avoid nostalgia biases and take an objective look.
8 - 8 Ms of delivery approach - universal conversation to agree on today’s unique conditions and the path ahead. From Mission to Method and the other six in between, use the 8 Ms to design, confirm, and healthcheck your approach, even within existing strategic delivery frameworks. A quality check dashboard or a structure for long-term value delivery, the 8 Ms seem to cover an infinite range of efforts!
Getting started:
Change begins within, so we started this fall with the Inner Development goals and their 5 facets. This open source content is available to all, learn more here.
From there, stay tuned as more content and learning opportunities roll out this month!