Change Lessons from Granny Wang

Hello, Change Champions!

This week I've been reflecting on?change lessons from Granny Wang.?

Granny Wang is a Chinese glass factory worker.?

She had a sideshow at a Kung Fu theme park.?

The act was a blind date format, getting young women on stage and coaxing shy young men to compete for their attention.?

Unfortunately, she was too good at it.

The livestream of her act went viral, attracting millions of followers and prompting thousands of people to pour into the province of Henan to take part.

The theme park had to issue an appeal for restraint!

Her Doyin account (the Chinese sister of TikTok) originally had 218,000 followers.?

After the livestream, she had seven and a half million followers in a week!

Do we think that Granny Wang tapped into the Desire word in ADKAR* (pun intended!). (PROSCI ADKAR* - Awareness, Desire, Knowledge, Ability, Reinforcement.)

Indeed, she did.

Urbanisation and modernisation in China have led to the increasing isolation of young singles.

Granny Wang's act revised the age-old Chinese tradition of the matchmaker 'Auntie'.

And it struck a massive chord with young Chinese singles.

In our work, we must strive to strike a chord ourselves.

What is the compelling note that spurs change adoption?

Everyone craves connection; it's just a matter of working out per any change?what people want to connect to.

That's why I focused so much on understanding the difference between features and benefits in my first course, 'Sell Change with Confidence'.

Singing the praises of features doesn't create the desire to adopt; selling benefits does.

If you can find the connection, it's like releasing a dam.

Organisations have so many untapped needs and wants.

It is part of the change manager brief to uncover and harness them for excellent change outcomes that fulfil real needs.

Like a marriage broker, we must exercise the art of constructive compromise.

Next, and as promised, here's a lovely, actionable piece from friend and change coach Sergey Helmar -

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"The Ways of a Coach-Like Change Practitioner?

"The greatest good you can do for another is not just to share your riches but to reveal to him his own".?Benjamin Disraeli

Coaching empowers growth, change, and overcoming obstacles. It deepens the learning and forwards the action. While not all change practitioners are coaches, anyone can adopt a 'coach-like' approach. Here's three powerful ways to cultivate this mindset.

Uplift People

People in change face challenges daily. Acknowledge them as individuals and how they cope. It makes a profound difference. If a manager vents about their struggling team, support them:

'Thank you for your honesty. I know you care about your team's well-being. And I appreciate you're doing your absolute best with limited resources. This speaks highly of you.'

Such affirmations allow people to feel truly seen and heard.

Facilitate Reflection

Rather than rushing advice, help your stakeholders gain clarity about themselves, their context, or their intent. This invites slowing down before speeding up.

For instance, ask them to expand on the words used:

'When you say you want to be a 'good leader', what is a 'good leader' to you?'?

Or explore the significance of intentions:

'It sounds like you want to find the right balance between supporting this change and doing your day job. What makes finding that balance important to you?'

Another effective way to facilitate reflection is to ask at the end of your meeting:

'What has been useful for you in this conversation?',?OR?'What are your main takeaways today?'.

This activates additional neurons of your client and makes the conversation more memorable and meaningful to them.

Help People Design Their Own Actions

When we come up with our own actions, we feel more motivated and committed.?

Guide your stakeholders by asking, for example:

'Now that we have talked about this change, what can you realistically put in place to support your team through it?',?OR?

'What needs your attention to feel more prepared?'

Give these coach-like practices a go and see the impact.

If you want to chat more about it,?feel free to reach out." Sergey

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Course Launch Update

Thank you to all those who bought my new course, 'Effective Change Impact Assessment,' which launched last week.

Your support means a lot to me.

There was a glitch with the checkout process at the end of the week, inconveniencing some people, so I extended the discount for another week.

It ends on Monday 22 April.

The course is priced at?US$299.

But there's a?ten per cent discount?right now, making it?US$269!

Enter the code?GET10OFF?at checkout to claim it.

Click here to get all the deets.

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New Book Release

Finally, my new book, "Living Well with Chronic Pain," is now on Amazon.

It's an evidenced-based curation of all the techniques that work to manage pain, woven around my personal story as someone who's lived with chronic pain for thirty-plus years.

You can?purchase the eBook here for only US99 cents (NZ$1.72) if interested.

The price for the eBook will be US$9.99 after launch, so it's a decent discount!

If you do buy it, please consider leaving a review, as it helps get new indie authors moving on Amazon no end.

The algorithm is a demanding mistress!

The same goes for my first book,?"Change Management that Sticks."

If you read it and found it valuable, please do me a solid and?click here to post a review.

Now keep on changing for the better!

Here's to your change success.

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Get my free 52-page PDF workbook for change agents here??Bonus Workbook

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Get my bestselling, gold award-winning book here??"Change Management that Sticks."

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