Bullet-proof Change Management

I stumbled across this wonderfully vivid explanation of the key elements to a successful change management initiative.

Changing an organization from doing business one way to doing business another way is like a theater company changing from one play to another.

Of course it’s never easy (even though we’d like it be) but it helps us remember that we need to change from top to bottom, the big picture and the detail, the words and the hearts & minds.


To change to a new play, the Director must:

  1. Select and hand out the new script

  2. Identify the roles in the play

  3. Design sets and costumes for the new play

  4. Get actors under contract … and rehearse them to perfection

  5. Have a “transition plan” that shows when contracts need to be signed, when costumes will be fitted, when rehearsals will start, etc. 

It’s easy to see what would happen if one of those steps was left out - right?


To change an organization to a new way of doing business, we need to:

  1. Communicate the Vision (script) for the desired new way of doing business

  2. Alter the work processes (roles) to enable the vision

  3. Alter the equipment (sets, costumes) to fit the altered processes

  4. Enlist the workforce and get them under agreement (contract) and trained (rehearsed) to use the altered processes and equipment for the new way of doing business

  5. Have a master schedule (transition plan) that shows “what to do when.”


Leave out any one of the five steps above and now what would happen?  It’s easy to see in the example - it’s no different in the office.


From the book by Dutch Holland & Deborah Salvo:

Change Management: The New Way: Easy to Understand and Powerful to Use