Leader Led Team-Based Learning Tool

Managing Change Materials you will need:

- Managing Change Case Board
(poster or large size)
Overview: - Whiteboard Managing Change

This tool sets up a dialogue with your team around personal and team
An agile, entrepreneurial culture

Holding on or letting go of your thinking? Before Satya Nadella became the third CEO of

- Post-it notes
Microsoft in 2014, the company was seen as
There is, a legend of a famous Balinese monkey trap
inflexible, uncooperative, and ruthless with its
made of rope and a coconut with a small hole and a
competitors. Microsoft missed key opportunities like
shiny spoon inside. The hole is large enough to fit a
social networks and smartphone s.
monkey’s hand, but too small for its fist around the

responses to change how your team can more effectively manage change.
spoon. The trap works because the monkey, afte r Nadella wasted no time in transforming Microsoft.
reaching in to grab the spoon, refuses to release its He pushed for cloud and mobile early on and made
grip on what is finally in its grasp. Much of what holds growth mindset a key element of Microsoft’s culture.
back companies and individuals is their inability to give It was OK to experiment and make mistakes. The

(optional)
up the knowledge they have spent so much time windows Insider Programme allowed users, for the
acquiring in their worlds, or to consid er all of the ideas first time, to try new features for Windows and
that reside in other worlds. Microsoft Office before they were released , providing
valuable feedback that allowed the company to
constantly improve their products.

Microsoft also realised that it had lost market share

to Sony on the videogaming space. Nadella

- Markers / pens
appointed Phil Spencer as Head of Xbox who
The Asker and the Doer – a mindset gap on wasted no time in buying new studios and releasing
change

Logistics:
Xbox Game Pass, the most successful videogame
People who ask for and initiate a change are often subscription service on the market.
thinking about the destination, particularly the
Microsoft is today an example of agility and
opportunity and intended outcomes. Meanwhile,
entrepreneurship. Its market cap increased by 230%
those who are responsible for the doing part of since Nadella became CEO with many analysts
implementation are thinking about the realities of what
attributing it to the company’s cultural
it will take to get ther e. When the change is

- Timer
transformation .
presented, they naturally begin to ask questions
about risks and roadblocks — a natural consequence
of having a detail -oriented thinking style. But to the

Decide who will attend your session (try to have about 3 to 10 people):
change asker or initiator who is focused on the big Some change statistics that matter
picture, this seems like re sistance: “Don’t they see the
brilliance of the change?” So they get defensive and In a recent global study on personal reactions to organisational
begin working on overcoming the “resistance.” In turn, change:
this makes the doing implementation people feel
suspicious: “I was just trying to understand it better.  79% of people thought that they will lose personal
control due to the change initiative
Why are they being so defensive?”
 17% of employees believed that their job position

- If you have direct reports, try to invite them all to the session
was safe after change implementation.
 50% of employees who manifested readiness to
accept organizational change, believed that change
Learning as a Process
will create higher levels of autonomy at work
“The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who  73% of employees reported management support as
cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, a crucial factor to accept change.
unlearn, and relearn.”

- If you have less than 3 direct reports – who else can you invite that could add insight?)
“The IKEA effect”
IKEA found that people preferred things they helped make, to things
Assessing your team’s effort o n a recent change
that were preassembled, even if their creations were of lower quality.
Think about a recent change involving your team: What applies to furniture also applies to change. Often stakeholders are
kept out of the change planning process out of concern that they will

- If you do not have direct reports which peers or stakeholders, can you bring together for the
1) How well was it aligned to the business / function slow things down or resist. But this is a short -sighted view. By involving
/ department strategic goals? stakeholders earlier, you give them a sense of ownership that speeds
2) How clear were we on what the change would fix things up when it comes time for execution. Furthermore, the evidence
or improve (delivery, way of working process, suggests that di versity will actually improve the quality of the change
system, structure, policy, relationship etc.)? implementation. And it’s far more likely the change will stick to its plan,
3) Did we have the right experience, capability and because those responsible for its execution will have a stake in
resources for this change? defending it.
4) How well did we communicate and engage with

session that you impact or impact you?

key stakeholders to understand their perspective
and involve them in the implementation?
5) How well did we recognise achievement of the
Citations
change and link to team goals, recognition and “The Path of Least Resistance” - Fritz 1999
reward? “Organizational Change: Empl oyees Reaction Towards It” - European Journal
of Multidisciplinary Studies 2016
“Is Execution Where Good Strategies Go to Die?” - Bonchek HBR 2017

- If this needs to be virtual consider using a virtual whiteboard to help capture ideas
“Execution: The Discipline of Getting Things Done” - Bossidy-Charan

Step 1 – Set Context (5 mins)

Be prepared to set context for this tool, by talking about:
 What is the “why”? 
o Why does our ability as a team to manage change matter?
o Why is it important that you and your team get better at this?
 Share a personal story
o A recent example of change(s) occurring around the team or at SCG where you didn’t handle it well or could
have done things differently

Step 2: Managing Change Case Board Dialogue (25 mins)

The focus of this case board is creating dialogue with your team. The case board provides a summary of some of the content in
MDP and some other ideas around managing change. Get your team to gather around the case board to read each of the stories /
content.
 Ask: What on the case board interests or surprises you? Why?
 Here are optional questions you can use to help the discussion:
o Balinese Monkey Trap – Are there some ways of working or thinking that we hold on too tightly that impact
our ability to change?
o The Asker and the Doer – How can we better understand different perspectives and roles in change initiatives?
o An agile, entrepreneurial culture at Microsoft – How can we create a team environment where we can safely
learn from failure?
o “The IKEA effect” – Do we involve each other and other stakeholders enough in the change planning process?

Step 3: Action (15 mins)

This discussion should be able to yield one or two things that can be done to move your team forward. Get the team to
generate ideas, identify an owner, and follow up to make sure it gets done.
 Ask: What is one thing from today that you personally can commit to doing that will help our team better manage
change?
 Get them to write down this one thing (on a post-it note or in chat if virtual) and each person (including you!) shares
their personal commitment and puts it / writes it on a whiteboard
 Then ask: What new or improved team routines / habits can we incorporate to help us manage some of our future
change initiatives?
 List out the team’s ideas and then get the team to choose 1 or 2 team actions to try out.
 Ask the team: Is there a specific change in the next few weeks / months that we can use to test our agreed actions
on?
 Pick a time in the future where you can review both the team and personal actions and commitments to see if they
have helped or worked