Organizational Change – 13 Top Categories of Questions to Make Change Happen

June 16, 2010

Influencer The Power to Change Anything

Joseph Grenny coauthor of Influencer – How to change anything:

Anyone at the precipice of a change project needs to ask themselves the following questions:

1) What are the results you want to achieve?

For example: Achieve six-sigma quality levels by end of the year; or lose 20 pounds by summer.

2) What are the measures you’ll use to track your progress?

For example: weekly quality data; or daily weigh-in.

3) Who is involved in your efforts?

For example: myself, my family, my department, my company, my community.

4) What are the few Vital Behaviors that will have the greatest impact on your desired results?

5) How credible is each Vital Behavior that you listed?

  1. Have you found credible research done by others that validates the behavior you listed?
  2. Have you conducted a positive deviance study to determine what has worked for you or others in the past?
  3. Have you carefully examined your own successes or failures to find the behaviors that matter most?

6) Are you effectively changing people’s minds about the new behaviors?

  1. When trying to convince yourself or others to change minds, do you create ways to experience the need to change (For example: field trips, pilots, trial runs, or other hands-on experiences) rather than simply trying to talk yourself or others into changing through presentations, lectures, pep talks, or other verbal means?
  2. Do you use powerful and credible stories as a way of touching people’s hearts and minds with the need to change?

7) Diagnose the Current Behavior—Why Does Change Seem Impossible? When it comes to your current results, to what extent are the following factors a source of your current behaviors?

8.) Personal Motivation

  1. Do you or others take satisfaction from the right behavior or dislike the wrong behavior?
  2. When the going gets tough, do you or others think carefully about how the Vital Behavior would help with long-term goals and align with moral values?

9) Personal Ability

  1. Do you or others have all the skills or knowledge to perform what is required?
  2. Do you or others have the self and emotional control to engage in the Vital Behavior when it’s hardest to do so?

10) Social Motivation

  1. Are the people around you or others actively encouraging the right behavior or discouraging the wrong behavior?
  2. Are you or others modeling the right behaviors in an effective way?

11) Social Ability

  1. Do you or others provide the help, information, and resources required, particularly at critical times?
  2. Do you or others hold people accountable for behaving in the right way?

12) Structural Motivation

  1. Are there clear and meaningful rewards (such as with pay, bonuses, or gifts) when you or others behave the right way? Are you or others punished when behaving the wrong way? Is the right behavior discouraged because it’s costly?
  2. Are short-term rewards in alignment with the desired long-term results and behaviors you or others want?

13) Structural Ability

  1. Are there aspects in the environment that make the Vital Behavior convenient, easy, and safe?
  2. Are there enough cues and reminders to help you or others stay on course?

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