Engage! Chapter 4 – The Change Canvas
The Engage! Philosophy builds on the foundations of Lewin and Kotter, adding insights acquired
during actual implementation processes and the principles of change as a learning adventure. These
principles are similar to the dialogical change model, shifting the balance from top-down persuasion
to co-creation and joint discovery.
The book stresses that top-down and bottom-up management are both required for successful
change to occur. The philosophy’s five main steps for change are as follows:
1. Building a vision for change
Formulate ambitions, define your change challenge.
Find a story for the organization and explore the main switches needed.
2. Understanding the vision and getting people on board
Engage in dialogue to ensure everyone understands and buys into the vision.
Spreading the vision and story like a wildfire, to gain support for the change.
3. Doing and learning
Start small and regularly discuss your progress with the team.
4. Embedding and anchoring
Change fatigue is real, so start a parallel track focused on the ‘hard’ changes.
Embed and anchor by changing formal procedures and methods.
Pick the changes that support your necessary switches (chapter 6).
5. Retaining and improving
If you want to build momentum, you have to pause and reflect.
The Change Canvas serves as a shared starting point of the change adventure. It is a practical model
that guides your thinking. Filling it in together enables you to get key figures involved who share their
ideas, and you show appreciation towards their attention and support. It also enables the ‘’crew’’ (=
change coalition) to ask the most essential questions and add the fundamental ingredients for
change.
The canvas is made up of three panels. The (1) ‘’story-board’’ describes the why behind the change.
The (2) ‘’switch-board’’ specifies the crucial switches that are needed to make the change happen.
These switches are about the mission and core values, about behavior and cultural elements. The
intentions formulated on the switchboard are translated to direct specific consequences in the (3)
‘’action-board’’ (the what).
,Engage! Chapter 5 – The storyboard
A “story” entails a shared passion and a common understanding of who we are, what we stand for,
and what we can achieve together. Research has shown that such a clear, targeted vision is an
essential ingredient for change success.
By remembering these stories and passing them on, we can add a personal touch to them
and make them our own, this is how we invest ourself and align our behavior with the
collective.
The storyboard shows the five most important stories that the change crew will have to develop:
1) The inspirational story about the “why”
What do you get out of bed for everyday? What do you stand for?
What kind of organization do we want to be in five- or ten-years’ time?
2) The story of crying need
Incite urgency for change, substantiated by facts (figures and stories).
Strike a balance between urgency and hope.
3) The strength stories
Describe the positive core of the organization that will not change.
This core gives inspiration, courage, and hope for the future.
4) Hidden rules and obstacle stories
Expose hidden rules, taboos, and assumptions that play a key role in what preventing
you of taking action. This creates the right atmosphere of openness and analysis.
5) Springboard stories (from capacity to possibility)
A positive story from outside the organization that shows change success.
This incites creativity and reflection of our own possibilities.
Change will be accelerated when visionary ideas and the crying need reinforce each other.
Sometimes, one of the two is not yet available, which will delay the switch.
Engage! Chapter 6 – The switchboard
We are now translating the story to real-life situations. The ‘’how’’. The central panel of the change
canvas comes into play by phasing in certain things, and phasing out others. It is here where a
crystal-clear and genuinely shared picture of the intended changes are laid out in four key switches:
1) The mission and core values switch
Which values have been pivotal in the old way of working? Picture what we should
find important in realizing our new mission. This is the core of the culture change.
2) The business model and value proposition switch
What needs to change in the value proposition towards the customers?
Be careful not to destroy unique competencies. Think of your strength stories.
3) The specific behavior switches
If you do what you did, you get what you got. Be specific in your change.
4) The symbol switches (symbol cloud)
A culture change is reflected in the new symbols of the organization. Finding an
engaging new visualization of what we want to achieve potentially has an extremely
powerful catalyst effect for the change. Using terms such as sustainable can unify
contradicting parties, or change adventurers, rather than project planners. *wink*
Hard successes are new contracts, an improved process, a new meeting culture.
Soft successes are changes in behavior, such as additional compliments and feedback.
,Engage! Chapter 7 – The actionboard
Knowing where we are and the switches needed to change, we have landed at the ‘’what’’ stage.
Developing a mindset in which we help others to learn, and we learn by trial and error, is perhaps the
most important success factor and should be the #1 priority.
When it comes to making switches happen, there are four focus areas:
1. Reinforcing connections between people
Reinforcing communication between employees and management, through two-way
communication such as interactive meetings, wandering around or an open door
policy.
Reinforcing communications between employees, by increasing dialogue on
procedural developments. Feedback, compliments, etcetera.
2. Building enabling structures
Creating a transit network that enables fast and efficient sharing and reviewing of
lessons learned and stories from the change process. Think regular (formal) feedback
sessions, public (online) suggestions boxes and debate forums. A lesson learned by
one, should be a lesson learned by all. Same goes for questions and concerns.
Lead by example, reflect on your role and actions as a leader. Be critical of yourself.
Ask yourself which existing rules and procedures support/block the intended change.
3. Taking stock of and mobilizing sufficient organizational resources
Three kinds of resources need to be sufficiently available: Time, money and quality.
4. Exploring required rearrangements in the formal organization
Engage! Chapter 8 – The crew
Change is not something you do by yourself. A group or team of employees needs to take the lead
(“the crew”). This is a close-knit change coalition with shared beliefs. The group will generally start
small and grow through active and inspiring recruitment. At best, the crew needs to be a careful
blend of enthusiasts and change agents with both hierarchical power and non-hierarchical power.
The hierarchical power members are represented by top-level management and so called “fulfillers”.
The non-hierarchical power members come from hotspot leaders and informal leaders.
Top-level management is required to visibly be committed and in support of the change, if it
is ever to succeed. Any change project where the top is not involved will ultimately fail.
Change leaders will have to get actively involved in informal conversations to introduce
accurate information, quickly and clearly diffuse misunderstandings, and provide support.
Fulfillers are people, generally department heads, who play a crucial role in the success of
change initiatives. It is up to them to actually do things differently. They are often critical, but
this is not a problem. Lap dog behavior only produces tunnel vision.
Hotspot leaders are those who have a slightly greater sense of urgency behind the change
than others, but lack formal hierarchical power to make this succeed. Their work
environment is the ideal crystallization point for change energy, a hotspot. A starting point.
Informal leaders are employees who are held in high regard without holding a formal,
hierarchical leadership position. Their influence is based on proven expertise or many years
of experience, a charismatic and open personality, or their pivotal historic role. They have
the unique ability to informally influence many employer’s opinions and behaviors.
, The Change Canvas Objectives
The storyboard
Objective: Building inspiration and vision
1) Elicit the change theme
2) Build collective passion and understanding, hearts and minds!
3) Mobilize via revealing push and pull factors
4) Connect via co-creating and owning stories
Switchboard
Objective: Make crystal clear what switch we are talking about
1) How does our mission change, based on our new vision and why? (Change Theme)
2) What are the required behavioral shifts? Act differently!
3) Which values, convictions, assumptions, support our status quo behavior?
And what would they need to become?
4) Imagine the change in metaphors, symbols, emotions, heroes, buzzwords, look
and feel, catchphrases etc.
Action board
Objective: create conditions of possibility where the new behavior can be learnt
1) Build a learning infrastructure
2) Specify the desired leadership behavior
3) Prioritize required organizational and structural changes
4) Invest time, money and quality needs
5) Build structures of connection to facilitate feedback
