ChangeOS

An End-to-End Operating System for Change

In an era of disruption, the only viable strategy is to adapt. That’s why the most important challenge for leaders today is to drive and sustain change. Yet research from McKinsey suggests that nearly three quarters of organizational transformations fail.

Think about that for a second. All of those big kickoff meetings. All the resources spent. And only roughly one in four will succeed. The others? They were just wasted time and money.

But it’s even worse than that.

Consider that in a survey of more than 2,200 executives, managers, and employees located across the globe, PwC found that:

65%

of respondents cited change fatigue

44%

of employees say they don’t understand the change they’re being asked to make

38%

say they don’t agree with it

That was in 2014, when the world was a much simpler place. Since then, we’ve had a global pandemic, historic geopolitical and social tensions and now increasing economic uncertainty. Employees are being asked to do more with less. Burnout is rampant.

Clearly we need to get smarter about change. Change isn’t about persuasion. Snappy slogans and internal communication campaigns will achieve nothing. The simple fact is that whenever you set out to make a significant impact, there will be people who won’t like it and they will work to undermine what you’re trying to achieve.

What you need is a strategy to overcome that resistance, a plan to activate stakeholders who want the change to succeed and a framework for continuous management.

That is what ChangeOS is designed to do.

ChangeOS Pillars

Change Strategy

Overcome resistance to change

Define a Vision of Tomorrow
Design a Keystone Change
Map key stakeholders
Build a plan to survive victory

Vision of Tomorrow

Every change effort begins with a grievance—there’s something that’s not going right. Real change starts when leaders are able to articulate a clear and affirmative “Vision for Tomorrow.”

Keystone Change

An ambitious ”Vision of Tomorrow” can rarely be achieved all at once. That’s why successful change efforts define a Keystone Change, which identifies a tangible goal, involves multiple stakeholders, and paves the way for future change.

Genome of Values

Before you can change fundamental behaviors, you first must change fundamental beliefs. That process starts with identifying a Genome of Values that can form the basis of your movement for change.

Pillars of Support

The Pillars of Support, identifies stakeholder groups that wield the institutional power bring change about. In a typical corporation, these may be business unit leaders, customer groups, associations, regulators, etc.

Resistance Inventory

Any time you seek to make a significant impact, you will face resistance. It’s important to anticipate ahead of time who will resist, why they will resist and build some basic strategies for how you plan to mitigate those efforts.

Spectrum of Allies

The Spectrum of Allies is designed to help you “map the terrain” and identify active or passive supporters of the change that you want to bring about, which are neutral and which actively/passively oppose it.

Surviving Victory

Every revolution inspires a counter revolution. That’s why so many change efforts that show initial success ultimately fail. We’ll help you prepare to “survive victory” so that change continues long after the initial objectives are achieved.

Change Scaling

Forge a common purpose

Build an activation narrative
Enlist stakeholder buy in
Design actions
Manage the ecosystem

Aligning Narrative

The aligning narrative creates a clear, shared understanding of a company’s vision and strategy. Working backward helps to align teams and stakeholders toward the Vision of Tomorrow by telling a story that outlines the steps required to achieve success.

Action Design

To be effective, each tactic must mobilize a specific constituencies in the Spectrum of Allies to influence specific stakeholder groups in the Pillars of Support.

Setting OKRs

Setting OKRs (Objectives and Key Results) is a goal-setting process that helps focus efforts on what’s important. It defines specific, measurable objectives and outlines the key results needed to achieve them.

Activation Narrative

Everybody needs to know their role. What impact they can have, how an initiative fits in with their goals, what they need to do and how they can make a difference. The Activation Narrative lays it all out.

Buy-In Canvas

The Buy-in Canvas helps to capture input from each individual stakeholder or group that you need to enlist in an initiative in order to incorporate their ideas as you co-create.

Backward Planning

Backward Planning is a time management tool that is designed to help you break down an activity into small, discrete tasks and then work backwards from the end date to the initiation so that everything stays on track.

Scaling the Network

Nobody creates change alone. You need design platforms and co-optable resources that can weave a network of like-minded groups and institutions to collaborate and scale transformation.

Continuous Change Optimization

Accountability + Alignment

OKR tracking
Gap analysis
Interval planning
Review and align

Alignment Reviews

Alignment reviews, conducted quarterly, ensure teams are focused on achieving goals. Regular assessment helps to evaluate misalignment make adjustments to stay on track.

TrackingOKRs

Tracking OKRs is crucial for achieving success. It helps your organization monitor its progress toward objectives, identify areas for improvement, stay on course and achieve final key results.

Gap Analysis

The role of Gap Analysis is to evaluate mismatches in performance, resources, and skills, in order to develop strategies to overcome deficiencies and meet expectations.

Interval Planning

Interval planning breaks work into smaller, more manageable tasks, which are completed in short intervals, or “sprints,” to achieve specific objectives within a set time frame, enabling more agile execution and response.

What People Say About ChangeOS

"Greg Satell was the keynote speaker at IACMI-The Composites Institute's bi-annual members meeting, which attracts more than 300 participants in the innovative advanced composites manufacturing ecosystem. Our attendees enthusiastically connected with Greg and openly engaged in the discussion he led on integrating innovation into their workspaces and products. His participation and best practice input on realizing the potential of innovation were highlights of our event."

"Mendix had the opportunity to host Greg as our keynote speaker at an event about enabling innovation. I have regular discussions with business and IT leaders who are challenged to use technology to stay competitive in their industry and generate revenue. The insights that Greg shared from interviews he's had with impactful business innovators sparked thoughtful discussion. It was an inspiring and thought-provoking discussion that I'd highly recommend."

"Greg is a superb blend of integrity, creativity and professionalism."

"We've been searching for that "magic formula" for bringing members back to our associations. Of course, there isn't one, but Mr. Satell gave us a valuable perspective and a framework for employing it as bar associations adapt to important changes in the legal profession. We would not otherwise have gotten this perspective on transformational change from within our industry. Just as he's done in writing for HBR, Forbes, and other publications, he brought fresh eyes and a clear voice as a great plenary speaker for the National Association of Bar Executives (NABE)."

"Greg Satell transitioned our strategic plan from a document to a movement. He helped us clarify our vision and empowered and engaged our college in owning and implementing it."

"He helped us start a movement to change an entire industry for the better. We will bury mediocrity."

"We decided to start our own movement and has some great early success but how would we get it to sustain? Greg showed us, in practical steps, how to do just that!"

"The Women Director’s Association in Panama invited Greg Satell to speak for an audience of over 350 business leaders from the most prestigious companies in our country. Greg delivered an extraordinarily compelling exploration of how to succeed in driving change. Through storytelling and data, his key messages were clear, memorable and applicable. The question and answer period was enriched with abundant audience participation. We are so thankful to Greg for visiting our country and sharing his passion for positive change with us!"

"Many speak about systemic change, but few have studied and lived it like Greg Satell. Greg shared his perspectives on "The Physics of Change" just before our conclusion at TWIN Impact 2022. With leaders from 30 countries joining in-person and virtually from around the world, Satell delivered, big time. Inspirational, rigorous, actionable, motivating."

"Tasked with navigating a way through a year-long stalled innovation initiative – made complex by a blend of merged and acquired teams – Greg Satell taught me to find the shared intentions within the organization and progress from there."

"Greg's Innovation framework was instrumental in the success of our Leadership Conference. We needed a clear, simple methodology for Innovation to help with an interactive and experiential learning exercise. Greg's expertise and framework delivered even beyond the expectations of a successful conference as some of the outputs on innovation are being turned into reality as we speak."

"His concepts are powerful, pragmatic and quickly adaptable to any effort that's looking to build power, change hearts and minds, and get stuff done.

"Greg was one of the Keynote speakers at our annual SEMPL conference in Slovenia. He is a true expert on innovation and trends. Not only did he deliver a strong keynote, he went the extra mile to do a special "VIP" and breakout session."

"Greg superbly delivered an engaging speech that engaged (and challenged) us all to think deeper, harder and smarter about what it takes to be a great innovator in the 21st century. We look forward to collaborating with Greg again!"

"It was great having Greg speak at our Innovation Challenge event in September 2018. Through the stories and perspective you shared you helped the attendees realize how innovation can be applied to the work they do in healthcare and taking care of patients. He also spent the time to sign books one-by-one with each of our guests. It was valuable and very appreciated!"

"We were delighted to have Greg present at the inaugural US Innovation Leadership Circle. His talk was an excellent blend of thorough research and engaging presentation. His points of view were expressed authoritatively and then backed up with pragmatic, practical steps that leaders can take to increase their chances of innovation success. Everyone took away an idea, action or insight."

"Greg provided interesting insights to frame ways of thinking about innovation. He was eager to learn about the significant role community colleges play in society and incorporate this learning into his ongoing work and research."

"I would like to thank you for the Strategic Alignment Workshop you led for the Havas Media North America leadership team. They found your experience and perspectives very valuable and especially liked your message about small groups, loosely connected and united by shared content. This is a great way to emphasize the power of networking and social media."

"Greg was a guest speaker for our customer meeting. His session set the tone for the participants to understand what Innovation is really about. His focus on framing the right grand challenge makes for a compelling proposition for any company to succeed with their innovation program"

"It was a privilege for us was to host Greg as keynote speaker for our Xnovate event. Greg gave us incredibly beautiful insights and examples about how great innovators do things differently. Even better, Greg also took the time to interact with our executives and attendees off the stage and sit down for media interviews. Greg was the highlight of our event!"

"We had the pleasure of hosting Greg for the Falak Unreasonable Thinking Summit here in Bahrain. This is a two-day summit on innovation, disruption and "unreasonable thinking". Not only was Greg's talk very educational and informative, but he delivered it in a captivating and entertaining style that kept the audience completely engaged. I highly recommend Greg and would gladly work with him again."

"Greg's keynote at the Kuwait Agile Transformation Conference was remarkable. His insightful perspectives and engaging delivery captivated our audience, sparking meaningful discussions and a deeper understanding of transformations. His expertise illuminated the subject of change, particularly energizing and empowering individuals to assume a change agent role. Greg's speaking and facilitation was a critical factor in the event's success, leaving a lasting impact on all attendees. I would be fortunate to have him as a speaker at any event."

"Greg ran a workshop for executives in the MS Technology Management Program at Columbia University, for the course I am teaching on Strategic Advocacy. Students loved the session, where Greg quickly and clearly demonstrated, including the class' hands-on participation, how the same theories enabling transformational social and political movements to take hold are relevant to leaders seeking to transform any enterprise. He brings a fresh, out of the box perspective on a topic sorely in need of rethinking — how to create positive change at scale."

"Our aim was to establish an outside-in focus and transformational mindset for our leadership team planning summit. Greg delivered that with compelling stories, practical examples and useful models that the team was able to apply throughout the entire session. He spent prep time tailoring his content to the objectives of our summit, which resulted in his session folding seamlessly into the remaining sessions of the summit."

"I really enjoyed Greg's energy and perspective on innovation and its intersection with Generative Artificial Intelligence at the Texas Tech AI Summit. He lights up a room."

"Based on his research, experience, and interactions with many organizations, Greg Satell shared his thoughts and practical recommendations for overcoming the resistance, “de-risking” the innovation, leading to broader adoption of the Innovation mindset across the Enterprise. Practical examples and techniques shared by Greg in this engaging presentation were well received by a large and diverse Maximus audience. We are grateful to Greg Satell for sharing his valuable experience and strategies for de-risking innovation with our team. Thank you, Greg Satell!"