If someone were to ask you: “What’s the biggest issue in managing change?” chances are good you’d answer “Overcoming resistance”. Right? If you were to then ask me “So how to overcome resistance?” my answer would be “Involve everyone affected.”
When a change is your idea, you can’t be against it and are likely to enthusiastically sell it to everyone you see. Sounds easy BUT most changes originate as somebody else’s idea. For example, the CFO says “We’ve got to cut costs by 15%!”. “What to do then?” While the idea for a change usually can’t be jointly owned, everyone can own the task of “how to make it happen?.
That’s where Metaphor Mapping shines. When the boss says you’ve got to cut 15%, go ahead and think about how’d you’d do it, but, don’t do it. Bring together the people affected. If that’s a lot of people, start with your peers. Get their creative juices going by Mapping today’s problem and at least one solution. Bring in more people at lower levels. Show them what their bosses came up with and ask them to either:
- Come up with a totally new approach or
- Show how they can make it happen in their area without hurting overall performance. If your organization is hierarchical, you’ll likely focus them only on this option
When you visually map a problem, it’s not so scary any more. When you cook up unusual solutions with sticker symbols, you’re automatically forgiven for being too far out of the box. But, when you Map it together you’re all in it together. You’ll come up with a solution that you all own and make happen! Try it. It works every time!