{"id":29288,"date":"2019-04-29T11:59:10","date_gmt":"2019-04-29T18:59:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.chiefofstaff.expert\/chess-not-checkers-brad-smith-copy\/"},"modified":"2021-02-06T16:20:41","modified_gmt":"2021-02-07T00:20:41","slug":"phases-of-matter-leading-change","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.chiefofstaff.expert\/staging\/phases-of-matter-leading-change\/","title":{"rendered":"What Do Phases of Matter Have To Do With The Chief of Staff’s Role in Leading Change?"},"content":{"rendered":"

April 29, 2019<\/p>\n

If you follow science news, you might have noticed a recent article from National Geographic<\/a> about how a new phase of matter has been confirmed as solid and liquid at the same time. What I found interesting was that new phases like this are not only being discovered but are posited to be most likely in extreme environments, like potassium in the earth\u2019s mantle where there\u2019s extreme heat and pressure. This got me thinking about large-scale, organizational change, where there is often extreme external or internal pressure driving the change but also people doing their jobs in a current state.<\/p>\n

When I was chief of staff implementing a cross-departmental process change, or orchestrating a restructuring of the organization, I and the teams I worked with were really good at articulating the as-is state of the org and the desired state of the org, but we were not always as good at articulating what would happen in what we called the \u201cmessy middle,\u201d or that state where people weren\u2019t sure if they\u2019re working in the old world or the new one. Even if we took a phased approach to rolling something out, with clear deliverables and milestones, there would inevitably arise an unforeseen issue, unintended consequence, or ambiguity that needed to be worked through. That \u201cmessy middle\u201d seems like the organizational equivalent of being in two matter phases at the same time.<\/p>\n

The March 2019 HBR features not just one<\/a> but two<\/a> articles highlighting some failures of leaders who neglected to take into account the defensive reactions of people who were being asked to change the way they do things. And there\u2019s a lot of change management literature on winning hearts and minds during change, but I particularly liked The Collaboration Blind Spot<\/em> because instead of broad generalities like, \u201cFind what\u2019s in it for them\u201d or \u201cPut the right incentives in place,\u201d this article focused very specifically on the types of defensiveness that people exhibit most frequently and concrete strategies for dealing with each one.<\/p>\n

In order to partner with each member of the leadership team, you have to know where you stand with each one and, if you\u2019re seen as a threat, understand which kind of threat and address that. If you\u2019re not familiar with Peter Block\u2019s framework for negotiating with Allies and Adversaries<\/em>, it\u2019s another good one to use to see where you stand relative to each stakeholder you interact with. There are many similar approaches, and they have their relative advantages and disadvantages, but the main thing is that you force intentionality into the relationships you pursue and how you pursue them.<\/p>\n

By doing so, you learn to push through \u201cthe messy middle\u201d to your desired destination.<\/p>\n

If you’re running up against obstacles leading change in your organization, a limited time coaching engagement can help. Email<\/a> or\u00a0call<\/a> me today to learn how or get started.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

External or internal pressure drives change, but people do their jobs in a current state. How can you map the transition and most effectively lead change?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":31322,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[120,110,113,112,111],"class_list":["post-29288","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-home-news","tag-ceo","tag-chiefofstaff","tag-pmp","tag-program-management","tag-project-management"],"yoast_head":"\nWhat Do Phases of Matter Have To Do With The Chief of Staff's Role in Leading Change? - Chief Of Staff Expert<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"External or internal pressure drives change, but people do their jobs in a current state. 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