Hurricane change 3 methods for preparing for disruptive change in business

H U R R I C A N E C H A N G E

D I S R U P T I V E LY B E AU T I F U L

B Y : M A T T M . H A W K I N S

3 t h i n g s y o u c a n d o t o p r e p a r e f o r d i s r u p t i v e c h a n g e i n y o u r b u s i n e s s

Get ready. It's destructively stunning.

Change brings evolution.And evolution brings change.

It’s scary as hell.Leaving a path of destruction.

Leaders fear it’s disruption.

People admonish it for ruining tradition.

Can it be good? Yes.But you need to prepare for it.

I sit on the patio of my hotel room in Waikiki. I often have a great view

of the most beautiful beach in the world. This day, however, that beach

was barely recognizable. Bummer!

Tuesday, August 25, 2015




Hurricane Kilo is dumping sheets of rain on the islands and has been

doing so for days. It’s causing more than poor visibility and flooding –

it’s disrupting people, businesses, and communities.





Hurricane Kilo is dumping sheets of rain on the islands and has been

doing so for days. It’s causing more than poor visibility and flooding –

it’s disrupting people, businesses, and communities.

I can’t help but think of the parallels that this has to the many business

transformations that are inflicting catastrophic (and unforeseen) change

on the business world today. Is there a way to be prepared for this

hurricane of change? How can we make it less destructive? Or can you

only hope to live through it?


Let’s explore 3 methodsthat will help you prepare for

change in your business.

Make people the root1

Billions of dollars every year is invested to make organizational transformations. These transformations can

be driven by the market place or internal initiatives.


The problem is that much of the time, energy and money goes into new technology, infrastructure, and processes.

According to a 2012 McKinsey report, 70% of all business transformation initiatives fail.


There are a host of reasons why, and they all point to a single root cause – PEOPLE didn’t support or adopt (and

thus didn’t activate) the change.


I hope this isn’t news to you: people are the centerpiece of your change initiative. And making people the root takes more than simply saying they are the priority – it means

acting in such a way that structures your design and delivery around them.



What can we doto make them the root?


Include People in the Impact Analysis

Take the time to understand what the change truly means

for your people, are they ready to deal with it, and what is the plan for making the change. Group interviews and focus

groups work best – you’ll uncover more than you think!






Discover What Inspires

If you don’t already know, then build a strong

understanding of what moves your people to act. This will inform you on how well the change will “fit” with your

people. Individual surveys are a good way to capture this.






Discover What Inspires

If you don’t already know, then build a strong

understanding of what moves your people to act. This will inform you on how well the change will “fit” with your

people. Individual surveys are a good way to capture this.

Act with Transparency

People respond well to other people that are genuine and real. Being upfront with the true why and the purpose to

the change will establish trust and understanding, even if it’s

not what they want to hear.

Shift thinking and behavior2

Leading an organization through change means positively influencing the thinking and behaviors of your people,

helping them create new and positive habits. Individuals must rewire their brains to perform in accordance with the

new models, capabilities, and structure.


Utilizing the methods of Behavior Architecture will allow you to shed light on how to remove the barriers to positive behavior change, and ultimately make it easier to improve

performance.


This is where neuroscience and business intersect – very cool and powerful stuff!



Map changes to behaviors

Connect the transformation paradigm shifts (that is your

change objectives) to the thinking and behavior that is required for your people to operate in the new model.

This tells you what new habits need to be in place.






Assess Planned Behavior

Using a Behavior Control Survey, identify the gaps that exist for your people to make the shift. By understanding what drives intentions, you

can better predict occurrences and influence actions.

Ultimately, this will make it easier to improve thinking

and actions.






Assess Planned Behavior

Using a Behavior Control Survey, identify the gaps that exist for your people to make the shift. By understanding what drives intentions, you

can better predict occurrences and influence actions.

Ultimately, this will make it easier to improve thinking

and actions.

Take action

Use the results from your Behavior Control Survey to

build and execute the methods and models that

compel your people to make change stick. Examples include 1:1 coaching,

GroupThink workshops, motion stories, and other

creative techniques.

Build a fire of inspiration3

We lose 67% of what we learn within a day. At months end, we’ve lost almost 80%.


How much impact does this have in business? Hermann Ebbinghaus’ suggests lack of retention nets to billions of

dollars in losses every year across all industries – lost sales and productivity being the most significant.


Research also shows that messages told as stories that are visually appealing and fun increases recall by 4 times. This

making it easier for people to change.


Using visually appealing and fun communications we build a fire of inspiration, enabling the technique called

frequencing, which is how the human brain establishes habits.



Create the Story of Change

Build the compelling story of why change is needed and

what it means (the purpose) for the greater good of people

and the organization. This helps people feel engaged in the change process and they

can work collectively towards a common objective.


Create the Story of Change

Build the compelling story of why change is needed and

what it means (the purpose) for the greater good of people

and the organization. This helps people feel engaged in the change process and they

can work collectively towards a common objective.

Use Art

Constantly (and persistently) reinforce key messages and

concepts with images, drawings, motion stories, videos, etc. This will help

people make connections and visualize the positive habits

needed for the transformation to succeed.

I hope this helps youbetter prepare for the disruptively

beautiful Hurricane Change.

Please share your comments.

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A little about me: I wake up each morning inspired by life's opportunity. And opportunity is the very thing that has shaped my personality and career. For me, I am living a passion rather than working a job. I get to bring my thinking and ideas to clients every day, so that they can grow their people, business, and community with purpose. For over 14 years management consulting has allowed me to work with some of the most recognizable companies in the world – Coca Cola, Home Depot, AT&T, SunTrust, Blue Cross / Blue Shield, McKesson just to name a few. I walked away with something valuable at each stop, and was able to deliver something great in return. I consider myself a purpose-driven business strategist with a passion for getting shit done. It took a lifetime of experiences to master business analysis, process improvement, change delivery, project leadership and strategy design. I now think holistically and systemically. Most importantly, I know how to make connections with people, the most important element to any business. And at the end of the day, my family, friends, and colleagues have enabled me to have these opportunities. My personal goal is simple: bring purpose and passion to the world.

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Hurricane change 3 methods for preparing for disruptive change in business