Imagine it's night, and you are sitting in the cockpit of a commercial aircraft, about to land the plane at a large airport in a large city.As you look down over the city below, the light from a million streetlamps, cars, buildings and houses floods your brain with sensory information. Amid this abundance of noise, your eyes search for a visual signal.You look for the flashing green airport beacon, the bright runway approach lights, and the straight lines of the [...]

Progress We write about progressive performance, but what do we mean by progress? Progress can mean different things at different times, but here are five situations in which it may apply. Quality - progress could mean improving the company's service or product quality. Growth - progress could mean business growth. The company or organisation may wish to expand into new territories, develop new markets, or diversify its services or products. Client satisfaction - progress could mean improving customer satisfaction [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]