WORK SYSTEMS AFFILIATES BLOG

Change efforts are typically initiated at the highest level of management and driven through the ranks in what’s usually a top-down approach. If you want the highest chance of a change taking hold, starting at the CEO level is the way to go. And it does have to cascade. But it doesn't have to be overly forceful or imposing.

The pivotal building block of successful change is an individual's belief system and related feeling of power. To that end, you can create an empowered individual through conversations derived from a few well formed questions:

1. Relative to the proposed change, how would you describe the/your future? What do you see happening?

• They may see no change for themselves in which case there is no incentive to put effort to the proposed organizational change
• They may see a change in their personal value or power, usually not favorable.
• Since you don't know these answers, you must ask the question!

2. What would you rather have in the/your future? How would you prefer it turn out?

• Giving them this opportunity to express their desired future is a small bit of empowerment – they will feel stronger just answering the question.
• You must not only be quiet while they tell you their answers, you need to reach into your experience to feel what they are feeling right now (a.k.a. empathizing)

3. What has to happen for your preferred future to occur?

• This is where they start to drive their own buy-in of the change. They will tell you what you were going to tell them about the steps they need to take to “get with the program”.

4. If you don’t act now, how will the situation/you end up?

• They will create their own urgency in their minds when answering this question.

Additional high quality questions may include:

• What is the first thing (action) that you can do now?
• What opportunities will be missed if you don’t act now?
• Who else needs to be involved?

What you will find is that many “hesitant” team members will begin to ask you questions about what they can do to get up to speed with the changes, and possibly even make suggestions to fellow colleagues that will accelerate the change adoption rate. Using questions to lead others to the answers instead of directing the answers to the audience is the difference between facilitating leadership and leading by directive.

The questions may not get the person to move right away, but it can help the person(s) put a spotlight or the underlying causes of their inertia and take ownership for their actions to overcome their own resistance.