Melissa, The work that I have done with leaders shows a distinct bias to action (How) and analysis paralysis (What). In the model I use, the Who and Why are just as important, yet are often overlooked, especially in times of stress. If you look at any initiative, project or task that failed, the chances are it was in one of those areas.

Too often leadership and organizations view cultural change as an academic exercise. It looks good on paper and stumble in implementation. The major reason is that the words on paper mean something different to each person. One of the ways I help leaders and groups to reconcile the differences is with the following question:

How do you know it when you see it?

A simple, yet powerful question that will highlight where the real work begins.

Melissa, This is a great list of things to review before or while you are in the midst of a change process. Sometimes we lose sight of how change works and think that it is a program rather than a new way of thinking or holding ourselves accountable for what we have to do to make it happen.

Melissa, you did it again. This material is amazing. It is easy to read and understand without all that corporate jargon.

As you know Melissa, I do quite a bit of work in the brain dominance area using the HBDI. It seems to me the use of templates in John’s situation is common. It is highly likely that the left-brain dominance is playing out (common in executive leadership teams) – relying on data and process to make decisions. The innovative, creative and people side is represented in the right brain and it has been my experience with executive teams that this is under-represented in many discussions and decisions.

While the organization thinks they are managing the people side of change, they really are managing the process, it just happens to centered on people- a big difference. The challenge is to educate the leadership on their blind spots and help them to see where to leverage capabilities to meet their challenge.