"What's the first step for me leading this complex change?"

"What's the first thing I should do for this complex change?"

It's seductive to think there's a "perfect" starting point... but complex change isn't linear—it's a web of intertwined processes and people.

A more effective question is, "What are all the relevant aspects of the change that I should consider?" Here's some shortcuts:

🌏 Think Holistically: Address multiple elements simultaneously rather than sequentially.

📊 + ❤️ Balance Data and Stories: Metrics tell you what's happening; stories reveal why and how.

🤩 Integrate Process and People: Technical solutions need human engagement to succeed.

Complex change demands both the head and the heart. By embracing this duality, you prepare yourself to navigate challenges with agility and authenticity.

Success isn't about a single step; it's about understanding the whole journey to lead with confidence and impact.

Change, LeadershipMark Winter18 October 2024Change, change management, change leadership

How To Know When Your Change Is DOOMED To Fail...

A change effort is doomed to fail when the key leaders of the change are arguing from a fixed position of what the 'future state' will look like.

They’ve already decided what the organisation "will be", and now the "change management" is simply getting everyone else on board. In essence, they are trying to win an argument.

And when leaders are focused on winning arguments, they’re not focused on solving the real problems that change management is meant to address.

Great leaders don't take charge and argue...they co-create care and accountability. The fundamentals of how to do that, are in this article.

#changeleadership

#changemanagement

#leadershipdevelopment

Change, LeadershipMark Winter20 August 2024change management, LeadershipComment

Hearts and Minds: Measuring Change Progress Through Numbers and Stories

The comprehensive change leader is one who can engage both "hearts and minds".

Which one do you need to refine? Which one do you need to lift?

Done well, it surpasses mere progress reporting or 'sense making'; it's about profound understanding of the Change and how we need to lead it. Our Seventh Principle is "Measure progress with both numbers and stories" By intertwining data with personal journeys, we attain a panoramic perspective on change, laying the groundwork for more insightful, empathetic, and adept leadership.

Change, LeadershipMark Winter23 August 2023Change, LeadershipComment

Illuminate the Change: Making decisions visibly as a leader

"Seeing is believing". And within the organisations we work with, people want to believe; believe in the purpose, believe in their leaders, believe in their own personal convictions about this place that they've decided to commit the majority of their waking hours towards.

When we illuminate our decision-making process, we make our leadership of change believable. That's because we're not just shedding light on the outcomes; we're spotlighting the rationale, the inclusivity, the rigour, and the alignment with organisational values that underpin those outcomes. We’re demonstrating how decisions align with the change objectives and how they contribute to the broader vision of the organisation.

More importantly and on the flipside...in the absence of being told the story, people will make up their own!

Our Sixth Principle of Change is "Make decisions visibly", so this article spotlights some of our favourite decision-making tools and pragmatic tips on how to give a sense of visibility for even the most sensitive of changes.

Change, Leadership, Org DevelopmentMark Winter23 August 2023Change, Agile, LeadershipComment

A leadership fear: Changing the change

"Seeing is believing". And within the organisations we work with, people want to believe. Believe in the purpose, believe in their leaders, believe in their own personal convictions about this place that they've decided to commit the majority of their waking hours towards.

When we illuminate our decision-making process, we make our leadership of change believable. That's because we're not just shedding light on the outcomes; we're spotlighting the rationale, the inclusivity, the rigour, and the alignment with organisational values that underpin those outcomes. We’re demonstrating how decisions align with the change objectives and how they contribute to the broader vision of the organisation.

More importantly and on the flipside...in the absence of being told the story, people will make up their own!

Our Sixth Principle of Change is "Make decisions visibly", so this article spotlights some of our favourite decision making tools and gives pragmatic tips on how to give visibility, for even the most sensitive of changes.

Change, LeadershipMark Winter14 August 2023Change, Failure, StrategyComment

"That doesn't work here": just how creative should you be when experimenting with Change?

"Nice idea...but that doesn't work here"

Fair enough, it's your organisation and your culture...so I'll believe you. But I also take guidance from a Thomas Edison quote: "I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work." Neither of us has time or budget for 10,000 failed ways, so let's run some well thought out change experiments and get successful change happening sooner and smoother! In this article I introduce our Fourth Principle of Change, which is underpinned by creativity: "Learn Together through Experimentation." I lay out my top five Change experiments (aka: spoiler alerts for working with me...) and give ways to get started in even the most conservative environment.

If you've got a poor change culture or the 'bad vibes' are still lingering in the hallways from the last organisational change, then I'd argue you can't afford to ignore creative approaches to change; reasons stands that if you do the same things, you'll get the same results. #changeleadership #leanchange #leadership

Change, LeadershipMark Winter1 August 2023Creativity, Change, Agile, Lean Change

Leadership and Change: How to empower contribution in harmony

Everyone is considered...but not everyone gets a say

Imagine this: You've got an incredibly passionate team member...raring to go, championing the change and supporting the team. Their energy is infectious...but let's be real, it's not always helpful.

Sometimes that person just isn't close enough to impacted business processes or they lack the technical expertise, to really contribute in a meaningful way. Or maybe, as blunt as it can be, they just aren't respected amongst their peers and colleagues; to the point where their 'brand' affects the change messaging.

Artful leadership will find a way to still harness that enthusiasm and hence our third Principe of Change is "Empower everyone to contribute appropriately"

In this article I walk you through your role as a conductor of the orchestra in change leadership; you cannot play all the instruments yourself (aka: build all the inputs to change), so your role is about helping people keep in synchronisation and to "do their best solo work" when it's their time.

#changeleadership #organisationaldevelopment #leadership

Leadership, ChangeMark Winter25 July 2023Leadership, Change, ConflictComment

Change at the core: connecting to meaning and purpose

"People don't buy WHAT you do; they buy WHY you do it."

There is a striking poignancy to these words, 14 years on from when Simon Sinek enshrined them in TED Talk immortality.

Every client, I will ever work with...I will start with the Why. It's a pragmatic approach: people aren't resistant to change; they're resistant to change that doesn't make sense.

(Luckily, we at Apricot enjoy that 'sense making' work, irrespective of the layers of complexity and emotionally charged narratives of "yesterday".)

"Align change with what matters" is our First Principle of Change, which unsurprisingly mirrors our hallmark Apricot Health Index.

But how does that come to life in an organisational setting? I give my explainer in this article, plus give some tips on how to make even the most mundane of organisational change have some sense of meaning and importance.

#change #meaning #purpose

Org Development, LeadershipMark Winter13 July 2023Purpose, Meaning, ChangeComment

The biggest mistake I see leaders make: the planning fallacy

In crafting up the final touches on Apricot's First Principles of Change (coming soon 👀) I revisited the most consistent guidance I give to leaders and their teams: know what the Planning Fallacy is and actively outsmart it.

The Planning Fallacy is a cognitive bias where individuals underestimate the cost, time, and risks involved in a project while simultaneously overestimating their own previous experience and capabilities.

It's important to grasp the duality of this; we underestimate tangibles and "knowns" (cost, time and risks)...yet we overestimate the intangibles of 'experience' and capability. Take a quick moment to reflect, on how much of organisational life is skewed towards a trust in experience - sometimes for very good reason, but not without consequence.

And the real shocker: if you give highly experienced leaders, new information which challenges their original planning estimates...they tend to be reluctant to change it! 😧

Reasons why this happens and some high-level guidance on mitigating the Planning Fallacy in the full article, but working through the unique cultural nuances and particular 'friction points' within organisations is the kind of work we love ❤️

#change #projectmanagement #organisationaldevelopment

Start small to go big...or go overbudget trying; less IS more when you analyse large and complex projects

If you want to make global impact, then you have to think big. Prof. Bent Flyvbjerg is someone who has spent more time than most, thinking big - mega even. I find his work a fascinating touchstone for my own work with leaders and organisations, especially the ones who need to compete where it's big and complex. Thanks to a recent Sydney Business Insights event, I got brought up to speed on his most recent work "How big things get done", looking at the common failure points and success factors behind over 16,000 major global projects.

LeadershipMark Winter6 April 2023planning fallacy, complexity, prototypingComment

Lessons learned from service design, digital transformation and change

After dialling up the emotion on my goodbye post, thought I'd close off my escient journey by reflecting on my top three invaluable lessons learned from being 'front and centre' to service design, digital transformation and change.

LeadershipMark Winter24 March 2023service design, digital transformation, change managementComment