What is Lean Change Management?

Summary

This script challenges the traditional linear approach to change management, highlighting the unpredictability of the 'messy middle'. It emphasizes the importance of understanding the system through observation and surveys, creating negotiable options, and conducting experiments. Lean Change Management is introduced as a feedback-driven, adaptable approach that merges ideas from Agile, HR, and organizational development, wrapped in Lean Startup thinking. It promotes visualizing change work with a Kanban board, creating a pull-based approach for just-in-time experiments, and involving those affected by change in the design process.

Takeaways

• 🔄 **Change is Non-Linear**: Change doesn't happen in a predictable, linear fashion; it involves a messy middle filled with uncertainty and chaos.
• 📊 **Change Success Rates**: Contrary to common belief, only 18% of changes fail, with 30% succeeding and 56% partially succeeding.
• 🧩 **Combining Perspectives**: Effective change management can come from merging insights from HR, change management, agile, and organizational development.
• 🔍 **Gaining System Insights**: Understanding the system you're changing is crucial, which can be achieved through observation, surveys, and interviews.
• 🛠️ **Creating Options**: Once you understand the system, you can create change options that are negotiable and consider costs and time frames.
• 🔬 **Experimentation**: Experimentation is key during uncertain times, with different experiments requiring varying levels of planning.
• ⚖️ **Hypothesis and Measurement**: Before implementing change, establish a hypothesis and define measurements to assess the change's impact.
• 🔄 **Iterative Feedback**: Post-experiment feedback loops are vital, guiding subsequent changes and adaptations.
• 📊 **Lean Change Management**: This approach merges agile, change management, HR, and organizational development ideas with Lean Startup thinking.
• 📋 **Kanban for Change**: Using a Kanban board visualizes change work, allows for flexible planning, and serves as a communication tool.
• 🤝 **Involving Stakeholders**: Lean change management emphasizes involving those affected by the change in its design for better buy-in and success.

Q & A

What is the common misconception about change according to the script?

The common misconception is that change happens in a linear way, with a clear starting point and ending point, and that we can have everything under control.

Why is the middle phase of change often difficult?

The middle phase of change is difficult because it is often messy and filled with uncertainty, chaos, and frustration.

What is the actual success rate of change initiatives based on the data mentioned in the script?

According to the script, about 30% of the time we accurately guess the outcome of the change, 56% of the time it kind of, sort of works, and it fails only 18% of the time.

What are the different communities' focuses when it comes to facilitating change?

HR focuses on Performance Management, change management on process, agile on mindset and values, and organizational development on a contextualized and adaptable approach.

What is the key idea behind combining insights from different communities for change management?

The key idea is to take the good ideas from HR, change management, agile, and organizational development, and combine them to create a contextualized and adaptable approach to change.

How does one gain insights about the system they are trying to change?

Insights about the system can be gained through observation, surveys, and interviews.

What is the purpose of creating options during the change process?

The purpose of creating options is to negotiate with those affected by the change, as each option has a different cost and time to complete.

Why are experiments important in times of uncertainty during change?

Experiments are important because they allow for learning and adaptation in times of uncertainty, and they can be adjusted based on the feedback received.

How does the feedback from experiments inform the next steps in change management?

The feedback from experiments becomes input into the next set of experiments, allowing for continuous improvement and adaptation.

What is Lean Change Management and how does it differ from traditional models?

Lean Change Management is a feedback-driven approach to change that merges good ideas from agile, change management, HR, and organizational development, wrapped in Lean Startup thinking. It differs from traditional linear and plan-driven models by being more adaptable to the pace of change.

How does a Kanban board help in Lean Change Management?

A Kanban board helps visualize change work, allows for a pull-based approach focusing on just-in-time creation of experiments, and serves as a communication plan by being visible throughout the office.

What is the focus of Lean Change Management when it comes to gaining buy-in from stakeholders?

Lean Change Management focuses on involving people who have to live with the day-to-day consequences of the change into the design of the change to ensure they don't fight against the plan.

Outlines

00:00

🔄 Embracing Change: The Illusion of Linearity

The paragraph discusses the common misconception that change is linear and predictable. It highlights the human tendency to plan for change with a clear start and end, which provides a false sense of control. The reality is that change is often messy and chaotic, with uncertainty and frustration being the norm. Despite the perception that change initiatives often fail, data suggests that only 18% truly fail, while 30% are successful and 56% are somewhat successful. The paragraph emphasizes the need for a new approach to managing change that is adaptable and contextualized, drawing from various organizational disciplines like HR, change management, and agile methodologies.

🚀 Lean Change Management: A Modern Approach

This section introduces Lean Change Management, a feedback-driven approach to change that merges ideas from agile, HR, and organizational development within a Lean Startup framework. It advocates for a more flexible and iterative process that involves continuous experimentation and learning. The paragraph explains that this approach is better suited for the fast-paced nature of modern organizations. It also touches on how to engage with the change process, emphasizing the importance of involving those affected by the change in its design and the use of a Kanban board for visualizing and managing the change process.

Keywords

💡Change Management

Change management refers to the structured approach to transitioning individuals, teams, and organizations from a current state to a desired future state. In the video, change management is discussed as a way to navigate the messy middle of change, where uncertainty and chaos can occur. The script suggests that traditional linear models of change management are insufficient for today's fast-paced organizations, advocating for a more adaptable approach.

💡Linear Change

Linear change implies a straightforward, step-by-step process where change is expected to follow a predictable path from start to finish. The video challenges this notion, arguing that change is often not linear but messy and unpredictable, especially in the middle stages where the outcome is uncertain.

💡Agile

Agile is a mindset that emphasizes flexibility, collaboration, and iterative progress toward a goal. In the context of the video, agile is one of the communities that offer insights on facilitating change, focusing on mindset and values to adapt to the fast pace of change in organizations.

💡Lean Startup

Lean Startup is a methodology for developing businesses and products, which emphasizes validated learning, iterative development, and minimum viable products. The video suggests merging Lean Startup thinking with change management to create a feedback-driven approach to change, which is more suited to the current pace of change.

💡Experimentation

Experimentation in the video refers to the process of testing changes in a controlled manner to observe their effects. It is highlighted as a valuable method during times of uncertainty, allowing for the introduction of change in a measured and observable way, as opposed to risky high-impact interventions.

💡Hypothesis

A hypothesis is a proposed explanation or assumption made based on limited evidence as a starting point for further investigation. In the script, a hypothesis is the starting point for an experiment within change management, where measurements are created to test the proposed change before it is implemented.

💡Feedback

Feedback is the process of returning the results of a particular activity or process to the originating source to enable future improvement. The video promotes a feedback-driven approach to change, where the results of experiments are reviewed and used to inform the next steps in the change process.

💡Kanban

Kanban is a visual workflow management method that helps to visualize work, limit work in progress, and improve efficiency. The video suggests using a Kanban board to visualize change work, allowing for a pull-based approach to change that is flexible and responsive to the needs of the organization.

💡Communication

Communication in the context of the video refers to the dissemination of information about the change process to all relevant stakeholders. It is emphasized that the Kanban board serves as a communication tool, making the change process visible and transparent to everyone in the office, rather than being hidden in project files or online.

💡Buy-in

Buy-in refers to the process of gaining support and commitment from those affected by the change. The video stresses the importance of involving people who will be impacted by the change in the design process to ensure their buy-in, as those who are part of creating the plan are less likely to resist it.

💡Adaptability

Adaptability is the ability to adjust and respond effectively to changes in conditions or circumstances. The video advocates for an adaptable approach to change, suggesting that a contextualized and flexible method is necessary to keep up with the pace of change in modern organizations.

Highlights

Change is often perceived as linear, but the real challenge lies in the messy middle.

Change management involves planning, executing, and closing out a project.

The current state and future state thinking reassures our brains but doesn't account for uncertainty.

Change projects often struggle with uncertainty, chaos, and frustration.

Despite common beliefs, only 18% of change initiatives fail.

About 30% of the time, we accurately predict the outcome of change.

56% of change initiatives are somewhat successful.

Different communities have different answers to facilitating change.

HR focuses on performance management, change management on process, and agile on mindset and values.

Combining good ideas from different communities can create a contextualized approach to change.

Insights about the system to be changed come through observation, surveys, and interviews.

Options for change are negotiable and come with different costs and durations.

Experimentation is key in times of uncertainty.

Different experiments require different levels of planning.

Lean change management is a feedback-driven approach designed by merging ideas from various change management fields.

Traditional linear models are not keeping up with the pace of change.

Lean change management uses a kanban board to visualize change work.

Kanban creates a pull-based approach for change, focusing on just-in-time experiment creation.

The kanban board serves as a communication plan, making the change process visible.

Lean change management involves those affected by change in the design process.

For more inspiration and tools, visit leanchange.org.

Transcripts

[Music]

we like to think that change happens in

a linear way the idea of planning

executing and closing out a change

project gives us a feeling of certainty

while it sounds logical to think about

the current state and imagine the future

state that type of thinking does little

more than reassure our brains that we

have everything under

control we think that change has a

starting point and an ending point but

where we get stuck is in the messy

Middle where uncertainty chaos and

frustration can reign supreme sure we

might have finished all the change tasks

in our project but it can be difficult

to know if we've reached the utopian

future state that we dreamed

of to make matters more difficult is how

we are constantly bombarded with data

that tells us we're going to fail 70% of

the time however when you actually look

at the data it shows that about 30% of

the time we accurately guess the outcome

of the change 56% of the time it kind of

sort of works and it WR fails only 18%

of the

time whether you're rolling out an IT

system or undertaking a digital

transformation you still want to know a

better way to facilitate change in

today's fast-paced

organizations different communities have

different answers for this question HR

focuses on Performance Management change

management on process agile on mindset

and values and remind me what

organizational development people do

again

what would happen if we took the good

ideas from these communities threw out

the old outdated ideas and combined them

to cook up a contextualized and

adaptable approach to

change whatever change you're working on

you need insights about the system

you're trying to change those insights

might come through observation surveys

and

interviews once you have an

understanding about the system you can

start to create options options are up

for negotiation with those affected by

the change because each option has a

different cost and some will take longer

than others to

complete now we're ready to experiment

experiments work great in times of

uncertainty but there are times when

tasks or high-risk interventions might

make more

sense different experiments need

different levels of planning you start

with a hypothesis and create some

measurements before you introduce the

change into the

organization and be careful to not

introduce too many changes too quickly

after the experiment has run its course

you review what happened and that

feedback becomes input into your next

set of

[Music]

experiments when you put these ideas

together you end up with lean change

management a feedback driven approach to

change that has been designed by merging

good ideas from agile change management

HR and organizational development that

are wrapped in Lean Startup thinking

yesterday's linear and plan- driven

models simply aren't able to keep up

with today's pace of change

but wait a minute where's the plan how

does communication happen how do we get

byy

in using lean change management out of

the box allows you to visualize your

change work in a simple can band board

the depth of planning is entirely up to

you and the level of risk and

uncertainty your change initiative has

using the ideas from can ban you create

a pull-based approach for change that

focuses on just in time creation of

experiments that allow the flexibility

to change your plan when you need

to your can band board becomes your

Communications plan because it's made

visible throughout the office and it's

not hidden on an Internet site or in a

project file

somewhere as for buyin lean change

management is focused on involving the

people who have to live with the

day-to-day consequences of the change

into the design of the change after all

the people who write the plan don't

fight the

plan find more inspiration tools stories

and more about how to modernize your

approaches for change at lean change.org

okay

[Music]