For Steve Barlow, the pathway to change readiness began in prison. Now, don't jump to any hasty conclusions!Steve worked in prisoner rehabilitation in a maximum security prison in Sydney - he delivered anger management and conflict resolution programs to inmates. It was during this time that he became interested in change readiness.Why? Because attempts to change people don't work very well if those people aren't ready for change. You can spend a lot of money and not see much for [...]

How we look at things determines what we see.Some industries appear monolithic. When we consider the health industry, the image of multi-storey hospitals comes to mind. We think of designated wards, operating theatres, and expensive machines. These huge buildings are the institutional face of healthcare – a blend of humanitarian approachability and scientific distance. Large hospitals have human lifespans – even longer in many cases – and they may seem unchanging to outside observers.But appearances are deceiving. The people who [...]

This post is about making decisions - what to consider and what you should be aware of.Every now and then, we come to a fork in the road. We need to decide – which road will I take? These are decisions with significant consequences but there are also smaller, more transactional choices we make every day.Our problem is that we can’t see the future. We might be able to predict a few moves ahead, but after that the road twists [...]

To be optimistic doesn’t mean you’re in denial about life’s unpleasant realities. Optimistic people aren’t immune from struggles, obstacles, and disappointments.Along the road to success, we all find obstacles that block our pathway. Sometimes they are inside us – like the fear of failure, insecurity, anxiety, or lack of motivation to get started. And sometimes they are on the pathway itself – like difficult people, running out of money, or wicked problems.Such obstacles should not surprise us. The world was [...]

Most large organizations are complex systems with diverse employees in various markets. To stay competitive, they need to be adaptable, which requires change readiness at the systems level. This means leaders, managers, and employees need to be ready to adapt and respond to change quickly. Change programs should be engaging, and policies and structures should be adaptable to new ways of working. The organizational culture should be open to new realities. When an organization is ready for change, adaptation [...]

How many times have you encountered a change that doesn’t make a difference? I have seen many such changes. There’s lots of noise and activity, but, in the end, no difference. In physics, such changes are associated with high levels of symmetry. Take a sphere for example. You can spin it around and turn it upside down and it always looks the same. Lots of activity but no difference. You get the same in some organisations. There is lots of talk about [...]

Most organisational changes cost more than expected and incur unnecessary financial losses. According to a recent McKinsey study, 78% of the financial losses occur in the implementation phase. And the reason for these losses comes mainly down to people.  Leaders and managers charged with implementing this highly complex task experience the frustrations of dealing with people who are often change-fatigued, stressed, and disengaged. This is a huge problem and, according to the 2022 International Workforce and Wellbeing Mindset Report, one-third of [...]

We often think of change – especially organisational change – as something to be implemented and managed. Change is what happens in the organisational machinery, and in the context within which the organisation operates.Viewed this way, the people that shape or are affected by changes are called stakeholders. Stakeholders are important because they have power to render the change project successful, or a failure. They can either buy in to the changes and engage in the program, or they resist [...]

Failure. It’s not a four-letter word but it’s still a dirty word in many places.From this starting point, we could explore attitudes towards failure and the importance of psychological safety as a key cultural element.But we won’t.Instead, let’s explore why failure happens.In the September 18, 2018 edition of Forbes, Harvard professor Amy C. Edmonson provided an outline of why people fail. Let me interpret her ideas, ranked from negative to positive. People fail because of:Deviance – they intentionally choose to [...]

What is the critical factor indicating the organisation is ready for the change?This is a great question but before we delve into an answer, let’s stop for a moment and think about ‘the change’. The change (whatever it is) must be a response to a problem (either something is wrong, or there is an opportunity to grasp).  The change could be anything – new IT solutions, new markets, new business processes, etc.Whatever ‘the change’ is, it will probably succeed or [...]