Change Management Game: Are you ready to change the world?

“Be the change you want to see in the world.”

This sentence can explain the “Change management game” from the Management 3.0 toolbox. Change starts with individuals, teams, companies, and organizations.

When we consider this tool a simple exercise that could start to change something in our organization, everything makes sense.

Change Management 3.0 Supermodel

Jurgen Appelo encapsulates a holistic approach to managing organizational change, integrating well-established models and frameworks.

This model is structured around four key components, and this is my first graphical representation of these models. Believe me, it sounds way better than it looks like:

Dance with the System: Using the PDCA Model

The PDCA (Plan-Do-Check-Act) model, developed by W. Edwards Deming, is a cyclical framework for continuous improvement and iterative learning. It emphasizes the need for a systematic approach to problem-solving and process enhancement.

By “dancing with the system,” Change Management 3.0 encourages flexibility and responsiveness, allowing organizations to adapt quickly to new information and changing conditions.

Mind the People: Using the ADKAR® Model

The ADKAR® model, developed by Prosci, focuses on the human side of change. It outlines five key elements that individuals need to move through for successful change adoption:

Awareness: Creating awareness of the need for change.
Desire: Building the willingness to participate in and support the change.
Knowledge: Providing knowledge about how to change.
Ability: Developing the ability to implement new skills and behaviors.
Reinforcement®: Reinforcing and sustaining the change.

“Mind the people” emphasizes the importance of addressing human factors and ensuring that individuals are supported throughout the change process. This human-centric approach ensures that the people involved implement, embrace, and sustain changes.

Stimulate the Network: Using the Adoption Curve Model

The Adoption Curve model, initially proposed by Everett Rogers, describes how innovations spread through populations over time. It segments adopters into five categories:

Innovators: The first to adopt new ideas, willing to take risks.
Early Adopters: Opinion leaders who embrace change early and influence others.
Early Majority: Individuals who adopt new ideas before the average person but need some convincing.
Late Majority: Skeptical individuals who adopt new ideas after the majority of the population.
Laggards: The last to adopt change, often resistant to new ideas.

By “stimulating the network,” Change Management 3.0 leverages social dynamics to facilitate the spread of change. Understanding the Adoption Curve helps change leaders target different groups appropriately, using influencers and early adopters to drive broader acceptance.

Change the Environment: Using the Five I’s Model

The Five I’s model, another critical component of the supermodel, provides a structured approach to creating an environment conducive to change. The Five I’s are:

Information: Ensuring transparency and accessibility of information to all stakeholders.
Identity: Creating a shared sense of purpose and identity that aligns with the change.
Incentives: Aligning rewards and incentives with desired behaviors and outcomes.
Infrastructure: Developing the infrastructure required to support the change.
Institutions: Establishing formal and informal institutions that reinforce the change.

“Change the environment” highlights the importance of shaping the organizational context to support change. By addressing these five areas, organizations can create conditions that foster and sustain change, making it easier for individuals and teams to adapt.

It may sound unclear, but these areas have 34 questions divided into four groups and are color-coded. This game doesn’t provide you with answers, but it does ignite some powerful thinking about our organization and our place in the system.

So, how did I use this powerful yet simple tool?

Let me share one example of my workshop:

I worked with a group of 16 young leaders in my leadership workshop. In the second part of the day, we started to discuss change. Young leaders are the best people to develop a desire for change. To understand that, I shared the “Change Management” game. I used cards specially designed for this game, explained how those questions and color coding work, and split them into three smaller groups.

Group number one wanted to discuss the idea of a four-working-week schedule in the company. What a fantastic idea!

The second and third groups chose the same topic from the company’s improvement backlog. This key topic was to find the best way to improve the company hiring process, which was a high priority in our improvement backlog.
Each group got 10-12 mixed cards from the card deck of all colors.
In the next 30 minutes, the task was to put 5-6 cards with the questions on the flipchart and try to answer them through team discussion.

I used additional questions to navigate the discussion:

• Are they familiar with this question in their working environment (current or from previous experience)?

• How did they address this question?

• What are their most significant insights, and how would they share them with other group members?

The idea was to discuss at least one question per color and get deeper into understanding from the collective and organizational perspective.

Group number one had a fruitful discussion (maybe because of the topic :)). They clustered cards using the same colors and started to answer the questions. They agreed that someone with an idea should put their sticky notes on the flipchart. Question by question, smile by smile, they filled the whole flipchart with tremendous and not-so-great ideas. They were laughing and joking and radiating a positive vibe through the room.

Some of the conclusions and benefits:

Improved work-life balance
Experimental period
Younger team members will be early adopters
Less car usage
Freedom

What about groups two and three? The logic was the same, and of course, like in every brainstorming process, the flipchart was full of ideas. Group number two was quiet, so I asked additional questions, such as “Anything else?” or “What makes this idea feasible?” to ignite and keep the discussion live.

An additional task for groups two and three was to switch the flipchart after 20 minutes and discuss the other group’s flipchart for 10 minutes. They even “still” some sticky notes and put them in their flipchart.
But that was the point: to spread knowledge and ideas throughout the company. Working with young leaders was a perfect setup for something like this.

Some of the ideas and conclusions:

Start now with the smaller steps
Take it or leave it – strategy for skeptic 🙂
Teach by example
Genuine interest in people to make it desirable

Then, groups two and three shared their ideas with group one. They were also eager to learn what insights group one got from the discussion. Are four days a week visible, and is there any hope for us to enjoy these benefits?

In the end, the whole group got a clear picture of some action steps they needed to take to start the change, how to handle change, who we needed to involve, and how to make this change stick.

In the Change Management card deck, there are a lot of questions that resonate with me because those questions provide some really great action steps.

Some of the questions I particularly like:

• Can you incentivize good behavior?

• How can they practice?

• Are you committed?

• How do you accelerate results?

What did I learn?

Change starts with us, our team, and our organizations. Many change agents leading the change in the same direction are more than just the sum of all their efforts.

Of course, I had some pitfalls and learnings, and I am keen to share some tips and tricks for using this tool more effectively.

Always have a clear agenda before the session. Explain the tool in detail and what the benefits of using it could be.
Experiment with Change Management cards. In this particular workshop, I used two approaches: one group fully focused on the topic, and the second, two groups working separately and sharing ideas and insight in the end.
I used one set of cards and randomly shared them among the groups.
The other approach could be giving every group a full set of cards. This pays off, as we want to answer all outstanding questions

The “consequences” could be serious, even if this is a game. These 34 questions can raise some questions that should be answered. I wasn’t aware of this when a young leader started challenging some procedures and rules in the company. Fortunately, it was just a discussion, but I decided to pay more attention next time. I wasn’t prepared for another workshop.
Please be sure to pay attention when choosing questions from all colors. People always choose the easiest path and answer more straightforward questions.
Be bold, explore, and ignite the change. The workshop about change should bring some change.
From my experience, using a real card is easier than working online. One answer from the participant I particularly like is: “When I hold this card in my hands, I can feel that I am holding the key to change!”. So, get your set of cards here.