4 Qs - Responses to Change: The Spark 🔥

Quintessential Thought

Our environment drives constant change, but success hinges on understanding the human response. Our previous series about change explored leading through change; this series moves beyond simplistic "support vs. resist" views, offering several types of responses and ways to navigate them. Mastering these dynamics builds resilience and high-performance.

The first type of response we’ll explore is…

The Spark: Excitement

Sometimes, people are excited by the change and enthusiastically adopt it. Those who respond this way will often be vocal about their support and also provide proactive suggestions and improvements.

The Upside: This response provides a spark of excitement at the beginning of a change that fuels rapid innovation - they’re getting the flywheel turning by being early adopters. This can accelerate the change and invite others to join in the change effort.

The Challenge: While you’d think this kind of response would be all sunshine and rainbows, there are some challenges, too. People who are excited by the change can overlook potential risks and rush to implement the change prematurely. Some can unintentionally exclude dissenting voices. Others may take the initiative to mold the change into something different that matches their desires.

Leading through It: The excited early adopters are already vocal advocates for the change, so it’s important that they’re aligned with your perspective. Work with them to clarify the vision, purpose, and boundaries of the change. Collaborate with them to create experiments so they have buy-in and clarity of action. Stay connected with them so they continue to be inspired, see the positive effects of the change, and continue to support it.

Quotes

"The future belongs to those who see possibilities before they become obvious." - John Sculley

"The secret of change is to focus all of your energy, not on fighting the old, but on building the new." - Dan Millman

"Enthusiasm is one of the most powerful engines of success. When you do a thing, do it with all your might." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

Quick Step

Identify three people who you can see are excited by a change you’re introducing and ask them what they’re excited by.

Question

When have you been excited by a change?

Fire icon created by Smashicons - Flaticon

Professional Scrum Product Owner, Apr 14-17

Want to chat? Reach out to [email protected] so we can help you get Unstuck!

Also, subscribe to our YouTube channel or connect with us on LinkedIn, where we’re posting even more content than we have in this newsletter!