ChangeOS

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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

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.”
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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

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.
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 (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.
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.
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 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.

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

If you are seeking to drive transformational change in your organization and want to set up a free consultation call, get in touch at greg@gregsatell.com.

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