There are many change management approaches out there. Most focus on weaknesses you need to change; several others out there focus more on things to keep the same and build upon. Most change agents then further target using one approach or another, perhaps based on context, or perhaps as a ‘goto’ tool (you know what they say about goto statements – don’t use them!).

My preference is to balance between these approaches, two I have found really useful are Appreciative Inquiry and the Power of Habit.

I have always tried to help people and organizations find their strengths and build on those. This is the basis of Appreciative Inquiry, something I learned by reading the Thin Book of Appreciative Inquiry.  I’m looking forward to reading more on this to be honest as I think it is undervalued as an approach (I almost said under-appreciated…). Being able to identify, really help others identify, the core strengths they have and harness those for the changes they want to see is really powerful.

Here’s an example of how you might use Appreciative Inquiry; have the leadership of an organization (preferably with a sprinkling of lower down in the totem pole) create a KrisMap of where they want to be, personifying what the future organization will become. Then have the people identify the strengths they can leverage towards the resulting characteristics and build action plans to achieve these.  Very powerful, and quite motivating since you are using core strengths.

Yet only applying strengths does not help you eliminate weaknesses.  When talking about change such as what may occur in an Agile Transformation, another approach to look at is the Power of Habit. When habits work against where the organization’s people want to be, then one needs to look at changing the habit to a new one, while keeping the reward the same.

The Habit Loop can be defined as what cues a decision that needs to be made and once similar decisions are made repeatedly following the same formula that provide some form of benefit or pain avoidance (reward), then this will be the preferred decision routine; a craving gets established.  This is regardless of whether we’re talking individual, organizational, or societal. Keeping the reward the same, while changing the habit allows new habits to become more positively reinforced.  This can take some work and I always recommend breaking down the habit into a causal loop showing all the steps being taken.  This helps in identifying leverage points that you can use (strengths in Appreciative Inquiry speak) and possible side loops that could railroad the change; essentially risks to mitigate.

Lastly, remember introducing change, regardless of approach, can be overwhelming. Limit the number of changes you are introducing at any particular point in time.  This gives you a chance to better sense the effect the changes are making and respond accordingly.

For more information, see the latest version of my Taking Flight presentation.