Roasting the Change Plan

Ever felt like your carefully crafted change plan got knocked for six? Join the club.

Last week, a mentee rang me in tears. Her executive team had torn her change plan to shreds, questioning everything from her stakeholder analysis to her timeline projections. "Barb," she said, "I'm ready to throw in the towel."

Let's get real: criticism is as much a part of change management as coffee and ADKAR. Whether it's coming from sceptical stakeholders, demanding executives, or that one person who's appointed themselves Chief Devil's Advocate, feedback can feel like death by a thousand paper cuts.

But here's the thing: how do you harness criticism for good?

If you prefer to listen to this week's newsletter as a podcast, find it here.

Three Ways to Mine Criticism for Gold

1. Treat it like data, Not drama. Treat criticism as a data point. Treat the input as data, and it's not an attack; it's yet to be discovered requirements.
2. Play the "Yes, And" Game. When someone criticises your change plan, try this: Start your response with "Yes, and..." It's a technique borrowed from improv comedy, but it also works wonders in change management. Example:
3. Create a Criticism Compass Sort feedback into four categories:

• North: Strategic direction
• South: Ground-level practicalities
• East: Future implications
• West: Historical lessons

When my client started doing this with her healthcare transformation project, she turned what felt like random attacks into a structured improvement framework.

The Golden Rule of Feedback

Remember: if everyone loves your change plan immediately, you've missed something important. If it's crickets and tumbleweeds, when you deliver a key artefact, you're not doing something right. Change managers are catalysts and frequently provocateurs (whether they want that title or not!).

Your Action Plan

This week, try these steps:

1. Keep a "criticism journal" for one week. (I did this, and it sucked, but I saw patterns, and I learned things.) I can be hyper-reactive to criticism and know I'm not alone. Many CMs have strong Type A perfectionist drivers.
2. Rate each piece of feedback from 1-5 for emotional impact.
3. Wait 24 hours, then rate it again for actual value. Betcha bottom dollar, it'll come down a peg or two.
4. Document what you learned from the pieces that scored highest.

I guarantee you'll be surprised by how many gems you find in what initially felt like rubble.

And Finally...

A while back, I did a short interview with behavioural economist Vishal George. Many of you told me you loved that and that I should do more interviews. It's taken me a while to organise another, but not everyone you reach out to wants to collaborate.

I'm pleased to announce that I'm about to record an interview on the neuroscience of change with someone I know you'll love!

I'm also just getting organised to run the next live coaching-call for my training cohort. If you take either of my courses 'Sell Change with Confidence' and 'Effective Change Impact Assessment' you get to attend these ongoing as part of the package. Check it out here.

Keep changing for the better!

Your change fairy godmother, Barb 🧚♀️✨

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