Our approach

Most people are aware that change involves a journey through various stages. You yourself have probably been told many times about the 'fear' that has to be overcome when dealing with change. Or that creating the right levels of anxiety (usually called a 'burning platform') can create the necessary motivation for change.

We don't like the 'burning platform' approach because it's never felt great to 'frighten' people into change. It just doesn't sit comfortably with our view of how people should be led in organisations. It can have disastrous consequences. Doom-laden messages for someone who is not yet able to adopt the change or is unaware of how to use the new system will not create a positive effect. Also, the leadership can be blamed for allowing the situation to get that bad in the first place.

While it's true that change involves a journey and people and become anxious we feel this is often misapplied. Successful change can only occur when we have a true understanding of stakeholder groups and design our responses accordingly.

Most people are aware that change involves a journey. You’ve probably been told many times about overcoming the 'fear of change’. Or that creating the right levels of anxiety (usually by creating a 'burning platform') will motivate people to change.

We don't like the 'burning platform'. It's never felt great to 'frighten' people into change. It doesn't sit comfortably with our views of how people should be led. It can also have disastrous consequences. Doom-laden messages for someone who is not yet able to adopt the change or is unaware of how to use the new system will not create a positive effect.

Successful change can only occur when we have a true understanding of stakeholder groups and design our responses accordingly. Some people will be ready to adopt change. Motivating them to act is straightforward but they certainly won't want to be bombarded with information. Others need help to transition through the different stages and many want to be actively involved.

Our approach has three phases.

Phase one:

Develop an in-depth understanding of the change, how it will impact on the different stakeholders and their likely response. Establish the desired behavioural outcomes for these groups. Identify the drivers and derailers of the desired behaviour.

Phase two:

Create a case for change based in the dynamics of your market. A compelling story explaining the forces shaping the business. Work with you to define and introduce interventions that address the specific behavioural drivers so that implementation is as successful as possible. Shape interventions that enable each person to engage with the change, personalise it and create their own meaning.

Phase three:

Measure the impact on thoughts, feelings and behaviours in your organisation Compare with the desired behavioural outcomes Create metrics for your business that report the change

You can read more about how we measure our success and our change interventions by following these links.

In this section

• Our approach
• Measuring success
• Change interventions