Helen Bevan - Building Contagious Commitment for Change: A dynamic, inter…

@helenbevan #Quality2013 #Qradicals#Quality2013 #Qradicals
Calling all change agents
Helen Bevan
@HelenBevan
#QS13

@helenbevan #Quality2013 #Qradicals

@helenbevan #Quality2013 #Qradicals#QS13

What happens to
heretics/radicals/rebels/mavericks
in organisations?

Are you a boat rocker?
• One who challenges the status
quo when they see that there
could be a better way
• Energise their organisation by
working from their true self
• Capable of working with others
to create success NOT a
destructive troublemaker
• Walk the fine line between
difference and fit, inside and
outside, rock the boat but
manage to stay in it

“Bad” Rebels/Radicals “Good” Rebels/Radicals
Break rules Change rules
Complain Create
Assertions Questions
Me-focused Mission-focused
Anger Passion
Pessimist Optimist
Energy-sapping Energy-generating
Alienate Attract
Problems Possibilities
Vocalize problems Socialize opportunities
Worry that......... Wonder if...........
Point fingers Pinpoint causes
Doubt Believe
Social loner Social
Source :
Lois Kelly
www.foghound.com

First they ignore you, then they laugh at you,
then they fight you, then you win
Gandhi

Valuing radicals
• “New truths begin as heresies” (Huxley, defending
Darwin’s theory of natural selection)
• big things only happen in organisations because of
heretics and radicals

The contrarians and rebels, the people on the
fringes of organizations who question and
deviate from the status quo, which so often
leads to inertia and inflexibility, are huge
assets for any organization
Tim Leberecht

Greatest value that radicals provide to organisations
Source: Foghorn survey http://www.slideshare.net/Foghound/corporate-rebel-ebook#btnNext

The 90/30 conundrum
90% senior leaders
say to improve a
corporate culture
involve radicals/
rebels in finding ways
to improve
90% senior leaders
say to create more
innovation, activate
the radicals/rebels
37% senior leaders
very satisfied that
radicals/rebels can
provide this value in
their organisations
http://www.slideshare.net/Foghound/corporate-rebel-ebook#btnNext

@helenbevan #Quality2013 #Qradicals#QS13 Source: Foghound

Four tactics for organisational radicals
1. Start with myself
2. Work out what might help others to change
3. Build alliances
4. Don't be a martyr

“There is nothing more
difficult to carry out, nor
more doubtful of success,
nor more dangerous to
handle, than to initiate a
new order of things. For the
reformer has enemies in all
those who profit by the old
order, and only lukewarm
defenders in all those who
profit by the new”
Niccolo Machiavelli 15th century

"There’s only one corner of the
universe you can be certain of
improving, and that’s your own self."
Aldous Huxley

What are the risks for a boat rocker?
1. Our experiences of “being different” can be
fundamentally disempowering. This can lead us to
conform because we see no other choice

 we surrender a part of ourselves, and silence
our commitment, in order to survive

2. leave the organisation

 we cannot find a way to be true to our values
and commitments and still survive

3. stridently challenge the status quo in a manner
which is increasingly radical and self-defeating

3. stridently challenge the status quo in a manner
which is increasingly radical and self-defeating
 this just confirms what we already know – that
we don’t belong

1. convictions and values – driven
2. strong sense of “self-efficacy”
 belief that I am personally able to create change
 belief in others
3. action orientated
 ignite collective action
 mobilising others, inspiring change
4. able to join forces with others
 work as a collective body for commonly valued changes
5. able to achieve small wins which create a sense of hope, self-
efficacy and confidence
6. optimistic in the face of challenge
 see opportunities
 take account of obstacles
What do we know about successful boat rockers?

The most effective boat rockers….
‘ …..bear no banners: they sound no trumpets.
Their ends are sweeping, but their means are mundane.
They are firm in their commitments, yet flexible in the ways they
fulfil them.
Their actions may be small but can spread like a virus.
They yearn for rapid change but trust in patience.
They often work individually yet pull people together.
Instead of stridently pressing their agendas, they start
conversation
... to do all this, [they] understand revolutionary change for what it
is – a phenomenon that can occur suddenly but more often than
not requires time, commitment and the patience to endure.’
Debra Meyerson, Tempered Radicals

Tactics for change agents
2. Work out what might help others to
change
3. Build alliances

“Stages of change”
Transtheoretical model of behaviour change
Prochaska, DiClemente & Norcross (1992)

Smoking
I am not aware my
smoking is a
problem – I have no
intention to quit

Smoking
I am not aware my
smoking is a
intention to quit
I know my smoking
is a problem – I
want to stop but no
plans yet

Smoking
I am not aware my
smoking is a
intention to quit
I know my smoking
is a problem – I
want to stop but no
plans yet
I am making plans
& changing things
I do in
preparation.

Smoking
I am not aware my
smoking is a
intention to quit
I know my smoking
is a problem – I
want to stop but no
plans yet
I am making plans
& changing things
I do in
preparation.
I have
stopped
smoking!

Smoking
I am not aware my
smoking is a
intention to quit
I know my smoking
is a problem – I
want to stop but no
plans yet
I am making plans
& changing things
I do in
preparation.
I have
stopped
smoking!
I am continuing to
not smoke.
I sometimes miss it
– but I am still not
smoking

90% of the tools available for healthcare change
agents are designed for the “action” stage
The reality of our change situation
• Our tools are often not effective at the stage of change
that most people we work with are at
• It’s hard to engage people in change
• It’s hard to get people to make the changes we want
them to make
• People get irritated, defensive, irrational
• We feel powerless in our ability to lead or facilitate the
change
• We take resources away from the stage when support
most needed - maintenance

Healthcare Example - Surgical Checklist
• Designed for Stage 4 –
ACTION!
• Mandated it through
targets
• Despite compelling case
for change – people
resisted it – no values
connection
• People did the task and
missed the point

So what do we TEND to do?
• Lower our ambitions for improvement
• Focus our energies on those who are already in the
“action” stage
• Put negative labels on those who are not yet at the
action stage such as “blocker” or “resister” or “laggard”
• Blame the leadership for not enforcing change
• Withdraw support from the critical “maintenance”
phase when we need it most
• Overestimate the motivation of those who say they’re
ready to change and underestimate the motivation of
those who indicate no interest in change (Lundberg)

So what SHOULD we do
• Listen and understand
• appreciate the starting point
• elaborate interests
• Build meaning and conviction in the change
• Roll with resistance (Singh)
• Don’t argue against it
• Encourage elaboration of resistance
• What makes it so hard?
• What would help?
• Build shared purpose

Case study:
Call to action for shared decision
making for people with end stage
kidney disease

The Case For Change
50, 000 people living with end stage renal failure
in England
61% of people on dialysis regretted their
decision

Our shared purpose – our overall aim
‘Everyone approaching established kidney failure will receive timely,
personalised decision support and unbiased information from their
clinical team to ensure that they can choose the treatment and care
that best meets their individual needs’

So what did we do?
• We clarified our ambition for improvement
• We focused our energies on a few people that
where already in the “action” stage
• We labeled people involved in the programme
who are where not yet at the action stage
• We blamed others for not taking up leadership
roles and building commitment for change
• We made huge assumptions in respect of
commitment and motivation – and read signals in
the way that we wanted to read them.

What did we learn?
• The need to listen and understand from all our
stakeholders – not misunderstand signs in the first
stages of change
• The need to build strong foundations of commitment –
and work out whether commitment was compliance
• Take time to really build the shared purpose with the
whole community
• Use resistance as an opportunity to understand and
build commitment
• The opportunity that using a blended approach to
change brought – and how this can build commitment
and energy

Talk to the person next to you
• Have a conversation with the person next to
you:
– Do you recognise the ‘stages of change’ in your
improvement work?
– What approaches have you found helpful in the
‘stages of change’?
– How might you use the stages of change to
improve your improvement work

Three assumptions for organisational
radicals
1. Assume that everyone has a noble intention
2. Motivation and behaviour in a change
process are due to interpersonal interaction
(not just innate character trait)
3. My role as a change agent is about
alignment, not judgement

Tactics for change agents
2. Work out what might help others to change
3. Build alliances

The easiest way to thrive as an outlier
...is to avoid being one
Seth Goodin

“if you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to
go far, go together”
African proverb quoted by Al Gore

Framing
Is the process by which leaders construct, articulate
and put across their message in a powerful and
compelling way in order to win people to their cause
and call them to action
Snow D A and Benford R D (1992)

If we want people to take action, we have to
connect with their emotions through values
action
values
emotion
Source: Marshall Ganz

What do we need to do?
1. Tell a story

1. Tell a story
2. Make it personal

1. Tell a story
2. Make it personal
3. Be authentic

1. Tell a story
2. Make it personal
3. Be authentic
4. Create a sense of “us” (and be clear who the “us”
is)

1. Tell a story
2. Make it personal
3. Be authentic
4. Create a sense of “us” (and be clear who the “us”
is)
5. Build in a call for urgent action

Talk to the person next to you
• Tell your story about why your change
initiative is so important to you
• Relate it to a personal experience
• In terms of the people you want to get on
board, what will create a sense of “us” rather
than “us and them”?
• How could telling your story help create the
“us”?

Are you ready to do what hasn’t been
done before?
Corporate Rebels United
http://www.corporaterebelsunited.com

Corporate Rebels United
We are architects and scouts into the future, and we want to
guide our organisations in navigating a safe path from now to
then:
Relentlessly
Challenging the status quo
Changing the rules
Saying the unsaid
Spreading the innovation virus
Seeding tribal energy
With no fear
With a cause to do good
Leading by being from our true selves
Going after the un-named quality
Relentlessly

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