Secret Change Agents
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The document discusses an alternative approach to change management called the Positive Deviant Model (PDM). The PDM focuses on identifying isolated successes, or "positive deviants", within a community and bringing their practices into the mainstream. It is a bottom-up approach rather than top-down. The model involves 6 steps: 1) making the community identify the problem and solutions, 2) reframing problems through facts, 3) making it safe to learn, 4) making problems concrete, 5) leveraging social proof, 6) circumventing resistance to change. The approach has been successfully used to address issues like malnutrition, female circumcision, and low corporate sales.
Secret Change Agents
- 1. Secret Change Agents David Williams PhD, MBA Management Consultant
- 2. Source The answer to your business problems could be sitting right next to you. Richard Tanner Pascale and Jerry Sternin © Harvard Business Review Edited and Presented by David Williams © David Williams PhD, MBA – Change Consultant
- 3. Against The Odds Sparkling exceptions prevailing against the odds. Change Management: Bridging the gap between what is happening and what is possible. Traditional: Drilling deep for route cause and deploying experts to resolve. Alternative: Bring isolated success of “Positive Deviants” into the mainstream. This works “Bottom Up” rather than “Top Down” and fosters enthusiasm for change. © David Williams PhD, MBA – Change Consultant
- 4. Extremes as Proof Malnutrition in Mali and Vietnam Catastrophic drop-out rates within rural schools in Argentina The trafficking of girls in East Java The spread of HIV/Aids in Burma The widespread practice of female circumcision in Egypt © David Williams PhD, MBA – Change Consultant
- 5. Business Proof Penetrating corporate consciousness at Goldman Sachs Tackling technical challenges at Hewlett-Packard At Genentech 2 “Positive Deviants” beating the median results of the company's national sales force by 20 to one Results are verifiable, replicable and scalable © David Williams PhD, MBA – Change Consultant
- 6. Six Step Positive Deviant Model (PDM) Step 1 - Make the group the guru Step 2 - Reframe through facts Step 3 - Make it safe to learn Step 4 - Make the problem concrete Step 5 - Leverage social proof Step 6 - Confound the immune defence response © David Williams PhD, MBA – Change Consultant
- 7. Step 1 – Make the group the guru Champions absolve the community from owning the problem PDM allows the community to identify the problem, take ownership and implement actions to resolve H-P and thermal transfer….a fact of life, so low level status PD change resulted in an unchallenged leadership in the thermal-transfer domain saving $millions to the bottom line © David Williams PhD, MBA – Change Consultant
- 8. Step 2 – Reframe through facts Get out of the box Define the real challenge Cast a problem in a different light Search for exceptions to the status quo Reframe the problem: Grasp the conventional presentation Find exceptions to the norm, people in similar circumstances coping especially well Reframe the problem to refocus on the exceptions © David Williams PhD, MBA – Change Consultant
- 9. Step 3 – Make it safe to learn People cling to the status quo to avoid risk Fear of being exposed, ridiculed, subjected to retaliation Authority figures may feel threatened Few hospitals want to tackle the predictive indicators of malpractice as doing so may be misconstrued as foreknowledge Only when people are safe enough to discuss a taboo can solutions truly appear © David Williams PhD, MBA – Change Consultant
- 10. Step 4 – Make the problem concrete Words are exchanged and heads are nodded, but unwritten social codes mean people aren’t forced to speak concretely....that is, clearly and with integrity This obscures insight PowerPoint can hide hard facts Engineers from Martin Marietta and Boeing hid the risk to the Shuttles ceramic tiles within the complicated nested 10-point-font bullet points of their presentation to NASA Deal directly with an uncomfortable truth Portray a pivotal ,issue in a compelling way © David Williams PhD, MBA – Change Consultant
- 11. Step 5 – Leverage social proof Seeing is believing has potency when it comes to change In the 1930’s two PD’s stumbled onto the notion of holding weekly get-togethers to help keep themselves sober As others joined, reflection and learning gave way to the 12-Step program....a protocol decades ahead of any professional psychiatry intervention © David Williams PhD, MBA – Change Consultant
- 12. Step 6 – Confound the immune defence response Newton was right: every action has an equal and opposite reaction In organisations that reaction is avoidance, resistance and exceptionalism Solutions embraced within a community, rather than dictated from experts, makes change feel natural Internally developed solutions circumvent rejection Introduce already existing ideas into the mainstream without excessive authority Don’t use a sledgehammer when a feather will do! © David Williams PhD, MBA – Change Consultant
- 13. Leaders role...and we are all leaders Experts become learners....teachers become students....leaders become followers Leaders: Management of attention Allocation of scarce resources Reinforcement to sustain the momentum of inquiry Application of score keeping mechanisms CEO (Chief Expert Officer) CFO (Chief Facilitation Officer) Behavioural Models: From....KAP, (knowledge changes attitude changes practice) To....PAK, (new practices change attitude through action) © David Williams PhD, MBA – Change Consultant
- 14. Why? ....Because people are much more likely to act their way into a new way of thinking than to think their way into a new way of acting 90% of all heart bypass patients still maintain the habits that are likely to kill them! © David Williams PhD, MBA – Change Consultant
- 15. What is your reaction to this? Do you support, reject or still don’t know enough about the idea? Why? If you support the idea how can you implement it? How can you learn more if you are still unsure? If you reject the idea, what will you do that is better? How can you improve on the idea? What is stopping you being a “Positive Deviant?” A Call To Action! © David Williams PhD, MBA – Change Consultant