Managing Change in an Organization: An Incomplete Resource List

Some models I like for change management in organizations. Startup entrepreneurs frequently have to navigate the challenges managing change as a part of the sales process. Intrapreneurs should find this list useful as well. I welcome any suggestions for additions, refinements, or improvements.

Managing Change in an Organization: An Incomplete Resource List

Model: Appreciative Inquiry by David Cooperrider

• Asking Questions From a Caring Perspective 
• Tools vs. Methods Vs. Policies
• Appreciative Inquiry Mind Set Essential to Customer Discovery
• Early Sales Efforts Foster Value Co-Creation
• Technology Changes Fast, People Not So Much
• Interview Prospects to Find Unmet Needs, Persistent Problems, and Goals at Risk

Model Amplify Positive Deviance by Jerry Sternin

• Positive Deviant (Wired Profile of Jerry Sternin)
• Basic Field Guide to Positive Deviance from Positive Deviance Initiative
• Early Customer Conversations Use Appreciative Inquiry and Amplify Positive Deviance

Model: Diffusion of Innovations by Ev Rogers

• “Crossing the Chasm: Look for a Niche in a Lot of Pain“
• This model works for organizations, social groups, and markets. Geoffrey Moore renamed it for “Crossing the Chasm.”

Model: Goals – Roles – Process – Relationships by James Shonk

• Debugging Teams/Meetings: Start With Goals & Roles
• As you move between silos there may be goals in conflict and low agreement or understanding of process.

Model: Trust vs. Agreement from Peter Block’s Empowered Manager

• Agreement and Trust by Scott Mcleod

Model: Zone of proximal development: focus on one step at a time / incremental changes

• “salmon run” people can only change so much in a given period of time see Chalk Talk on Technology Adoption
• “nature does not make leaps”
  • Startups Should Focus on Impact and Innovation Before Growth
  • “7 Things Every Environmental Entrepreneur Should Know” by Andrew Hargadon
• This is related to Karl Weick’s “Small Wins” model
  • “Small Wins Enable Larger Wins“
  • “How to Tell When Your Team Has a Workable Plan of Action“

Model: OODA (Observe-Orient-Decide-Act) Loop by John Boyd

• Planning and Reflection
• Cultivating Mindfulness suggests mindfulness can play a key role in the Orient step (between observation and action).
• Boyd’s OODA Loop SKMurphy Book Club for Business Impact Webinar
• OODA Loop from Wikipedia
• John Boyd Archive  at DPINOGO.ORG
• OODA Loop Archive at Slightly East of New
• Note: Due to a blatant misrepresentation of OODA by a Roger Sessions of Microsoft that “Speed of iteration beats quality of iteration” which was amplified by Jeff Atwood as “Boyd’s Law of Iteration” Lean Startup bloggers have stressed speed of quality. But Boyd’s OODA loop teaches that it’s not the fastest reaction, it’s the decision that leads to the first effective response.

Model: Effectuation by Saras Sarasvathy

• Saras Sarasvathy’s Effectual Reasoning Model for Expert Entrepreneurs

Model: Force Field Analysis by Kurt Lewin

• I reference this in “Oblique Strategies for Startups Part 1”
  A line has two sides:  I think of Kurt Lewin and his force field analysis where the team collaborates on constructing a diagram to represent the forces holding the system at it’s current equilibrium point (keeping the situation stuck and preventing it from advancing in the direction you would like it to go). You draw a vertical line down the middle of a piece of paper (or a flip chart or a white board depending upon how many folks are involved). you then draw arrows representing the forces working in your favor and against the change you want to take. Each force (arrow) is assigned a “strength” either by it’s length or putting an explicit number next to it. Initially most teams focus on strengthening the forces working in your direction, but it’s often as fruitful to consider how to diminish or neutralize the forces working against you. Sometimes you can reframe the problem so that some of the forces that were working against you are now working with your (“Don’t fight forces, use them” advised Buckminster Fuller).

Model Action Research by Kurt Lewin

• Kurt Lewin on Insight
• Action Research from Wikipedia

Model: Cynefin Framework by David Snowden

• Cynefin Model from Wikipedia

Model: Virginia Satir’s Change Model

• Satir Change Model from Satir Workshops
• “Managing Yourself Through Change” by Dale Hemery

Tactic: Premortem by Gary Klein

•  “Performing a Project Premortem“ by Gary Klein
• Assume Project Has Failed
• Identify Possible Sources of Failure
• Add Risk Mitigation Efforts to Address

Tactic Decision Record by Russell Ackoff

• From Chapter 21 of “Ackoff’s Best“  (See “A Major Mistake Managers Make“)
• Each Participant Writes Down Separately
• Reasons for Decision, Likely Outcome(s).
• Review As Impacts Become Clear

Tactic: Postmortem / After Action / Retrospective by many

• 7 Steps to Learning From Our Mistakes by David Marquet
• Record to Remember, Pause to Reflect
• Project Assessment / After Action Models

Tactic: Stone Soup Play

• Stone Soup Play: the positive approach to this is to act as a condensation point to collect stories and better practices so that you create a smorgasbord of options and allow each group to select from the “zone of proximal development” to reach the adjacent possible.
• History of the Stone Soup Story at Stone Soup

Pattern Languages: Linked Networks of Tactics for Change

• Fearless Change Patterns for Introducing Ideas by Linda Rising
• More Fearless Change Patterns For Introducing Ideas by Linda Rising
• Soul of the Computer by Barabara Waugh, who shares experiences as a change agent at HP, related articles
  • https://www.hpmemoryproject.org/timeline/barbara_waugh/barbara_waugh_memoir.htm
  • https://www.fastcompany.com/36451/change-barbara-waugh (long but paywall)
• Everyone is a Change Agent by April K, Mills, who worked at a Navy repair yard and worked to make it less bureaucratic, more innovative and humane. She blogs at https://engine-for-change.com/
• Change Tactics: 50 Ways Change Agents Boldly Escape the Status Quo by April K Mills. This book builds on her first book, elaborating her change model in more detail and suggests tactics to employ based on situation and challenges.
• Esther Derby: 6 rules for change
• Secrets of Consulting by Jerry Weinberg (See also Jerry Weinberg interview for list of books)

Planning / Influence Models

• Getting Things Done: How to Lead When You Are Not In Charge by Roger Fisher
• Art of Action by Stephen Bungay
• Soft Systems Methodology in Action by Peter Checkland
• Idealized Design by Russell Ackoff (Ackoff has many books, all good)
• Becoming a Technical Leader by Jerry Weinberg
• 10 Lessons for Leadership by David Marquet

Related Blog Posts

• “Mental Models I find repeatedly useful” by Gabriel Weinberg
• Articles, Ideas, and Books That Have Changed My Life As an Entrepreneur
• An Entrepreneur is a Change Agent
• The Limits of  “I’ll Know It When I See It”

Help Complete This List

Please suggest other books, articles, or techniques that you have found useful in the comments or contact me directly if you are interested in walking around a sales or organizational change challenge.