We Are All Change Agents

I hosted a dinner for some friends recently. Each of us are from different industries. And verticals. Supported by vastly different cultures, both organizational and geographic.

Nearly three hours in and halfway through the cannoli (tell me you're Italian without telling me you're Italian)?the realization hit me our professions really aren't all that different:?

All of us are required to have a clear vision of where we need to go and how best to communicate a change's purpose and direction to others.?

All of us have to foster collaborative systems and safe, humane environments in which people feel guided, empowered, and supported - via clarity and psychological safety - through the entire change?process.

All of us have to think strategically and empathetically about what potential obstacles could pose?challenges to our goal (and our team members' ability to act with confidence).

All of us have to take calculated risks and remain flexible enough to adjust course to ensure change remains aligned with our desired outcome.?

It was at that?point it dawned on me every one of us at my table was in the same line of work:?

We are all change?agents.        

Unlike those of my exceptionally well-fed guests, my profession is the only one that explicitly embraces the term change agent. Perhaps that's because so much?of consulting's taxonomy is shaped by the demand for our services as articulated in our contracts:

Business process reengineering. Lean / Agile transformation. Strategic initiative.?

At the heart of each of these of course is healthy, sustainable change.

Now as a former academic, I read a lot. As a management consultant and?recovering road warrior I get twitchy when I'm away from my 4000+ volume library. But there are several books I'm sure never to be without while I'm away on an engagement:

Dave Gray , Sunni (Sun) Brown , and James Macanufo's?Gamestorming: A Playbook for Innovators, Rulebreakers, and Changemakers

Henri Lipmanowicz and Keith McCandless ' The Surprising Power of Liberating Structures

And Erin Meyer 's The Culture Map. Breaking Through the Invisible?Boundaries of Global Business

Much like my Complete Collection of Robert Johnson or Pink Floyd's Wish You Were Here (beloved so much I have each at the ready in 3-4 formats),?these titles I likewise have on standby in physical, audio, and e-reader format for when a client has a sticky problem, or an oblique angle is needed, or I just need some inspiration.

A few weeks back I added a 4th to my in-the-field favorites, one that could not be more relevant to each of my guests or indispensable to my own practice, as it seems every client - every engagement - and every vertical is amping up their change initiatives.?

Such that finding ways to engage others in co-creating meaningful change has become table stakes in the workplace, which my latest client-site companion informs beautifully.

That book is Change Questions: A Playbook for Effective and Lasting Organizational Change by D. Lynn Kelley, PhD (with Lean Enterprise Institute's incomparable John Shook ).

Over the coming months you'll be hearing me refer a lot to?Change Questions,?as Modus Institute is both humbled by and proud to feature the eponymous class to its catalog of offerings.?

But first I wanted to introduce you to its author. Unlike so many successful business practitioners, writers, and educators (of which she is all three) Lynn is a natural storyteller who effortlessly?couches her practical, customizable, immediately?applicable?Change Questions into relatable stories both personal and professional. With an accessible manner that defies her deep, expansive, and holy-heck impressive?pedigree, to boot.?

As is evidenced by this marvelous interview with the always insightful and engaging Mark Graban .?

If you follow Jim Benson 's and my work, you have to give this a listen.?

It offers?an introduction?to Lynn's practical, adaptable framework (giving you access?to it without even buying her book!).?

Give it a listen. Then go to her website and download your copy of the Change Questions.

And much like my copies of Robert Johnson and Pink Floyd, I've no doubt your copy of Change Questions will be in constant rotation while becoming a staple in the change management canon.

So if you want to be an agent for positive, sustainable change no matter your industry, vertical, (or appetite for cannoli), Change Questions - starting with this webinar - is a not to miss.

"No More Flavor of the Month! Learn How to Deliver Sustainable Change"

#change #changeagent #leantransformation #agiletransformation #BPR #kaizen #CI #changeinitiative #continuousimprovement #changequestions