Some thoughts on change management

A caring and thoughtful Scouter in BC sent me a gift recently. It's a book that I'd urge you all to read. "SWITCH: How to change things when things are hard," by Chip Heath and Dan Heath. Thanks to Ken Pepin for his kindness.

The book suggests a three-part framework for successfully executing change....

1. Direct the Rider -- provide crystal clear direction.... Challenge each group to add one youth for every 10 and one adult for every 20.... Repeat for ten years. Very clear.

2. Motivate the Elephant -- we need to ignite people's passion for Scouting's mission.

3. Shape the Path -- what looks like a people problem is often a situation problem. If we believe, for instance, that we need more young leaders, let's welcome them and give them access to training and development opportunities.

So.... A few thoughts that I thought I'd share, for what they're worth, based on what I've read so far. (I have more reading to do!)

- We need to truly focus on making things easier for our volunteers. We also need to make it easy for people to declare their commitment to growth and change. Let's publicly honour our groups and our areas and our councils that grow. We need mentors, and simple training, and easy to use tools.

- Along the same lines, we need to find the bright spots. We won't solve our servicing challenges overnight, because there's no quick fix. That said, while we work on solving the problem, let's find practical examples of success -- groups and areas that are growing. Let's go find out why and how. Then let's emulate their efforts. We could sit back and reflect on why our servicing model isn't achieving great results, or we could go and find out why one area in northern BC grew by over 140 percent so far this year. (And I think we'll find that the common thread is strong and inspiring leadership.... leadership that is supporting volunteers in running amazing programs..)

- And all that said, knowledge won't change behaviour. We've got to practice it. We each have to live it. We don't all have to be experts in program or training or youth development.... We don't have to have every answer. But we have to have faith in the power of great leaders and great programs (the bright spots!).

- Too much analysis can impede progress. In many ways, we just need to get on with it. Let's inspire people to join in our growth adventure, and help them understand what they need to do and exactly how to do it, and WHY growth matters -- it helps us better achieve our mission and realize B-P's vision, and the program works better if the numbers are strong, and more kids deserve to benefit from the efforts of our amazing volunteers, etc... (To this day, in my view, our basic training programs don't speak to our vision for the movement and growing it -- they don't inspire our new volunteers to better fulfill our mission by reaching out to more youth.)

- There are exceptions to every problem. There are lots of sections who are running good programs and have good retention rates. Let's figure out what they're doing and help others do the same. Again, let's find the bright spots and find ways to emulate them.

- Big problems are rarely solved with big solutions.... Instead, they are often solved by a series of small solutions. In some ways, that's what our Action Plan is all about. What would happen to our leader retention rate if every Area Commissioner in the country sent a personal thank you card to every leader before the end of this Scouting year? Maybe it wouldn't make any difference. But I bet something that simple would make some difference. Small solutions.

- We need to script the critical moves. Big picture/hands off leadership isn't likely to work well in a change situation, because the most difficult part of change is in the details. So any successful change requires tranlsation of big goals (i.e., doubling our membership) into concrete behaviours. So what are our critical moves? What exactly do we need our leaders to DO? Clarity dissolves resistance. People want to run great programs for youth. We need to make it much easier.

- We need to point to the destination. If it's compelling, people won't get lost in analysis. If we're not growing, we are dying. John Chow's been right about that for five years. And it resonates. We have to grow.

I'll leave it there for now. I'd encourage you to order a copy of the book if you're interested!


Steve