Change expert Nick Tasler proposes an alternative to the “change by addition” strategy that bogs many organizations down. His “decisive” scientific method advocates codifying clear “sprint” priorities and creating a deprioritized “wait list.” His “ADAPT” framework allows you and your team to focus on new priorities. By signaling your unambiguous intent, and putting selected items on hold, you clear the way and streamline the workload. Through engaging stories and quirky analogies, Tasler promotes pragmatic leadership agility and openness to opportunity. getAbstract recommends his process to leaders navigating the shoals of modern organizational management.
“Change by Decision”
Constant new initiatives and priorities distract organizations from the lone radical change initiative that could decide their future direction and success. Leaders implementing necessary changes find that adding a new initiative just complicates matters. Piling on new steps incrementally is “change by addition.”
Instead, implement “change by decision.” Focus on your new initiative. Consider a road with “tight turns” and “broad curves.” Everyone in your firm knows the “direction of travel.” In routine change management, they follow you around the broad curves. But if you don’t indicate which new moves are most important and make sure your team follows you through the tight turns, or “intersections,” they’ll keep going in the old direction. To trigger crucial change – the kind that initiates a domino effect in your organization – make a decision and indicate it clearly.
A “Wake-Up Call”
In the 1970s, Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky studied loss aversion, the reasons people fear losing something – and, thus, fear change. To avoid pain, people stick to familiar patterns, strategies and investments, even if they no longer work. Recast...
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