Key Definitions

Panta rhei – everything flows – was the observation made by Heraclitus about 2500 years ago. People change, organizations change, conditions change; only change itself is permanent. It can vary, from slow and incremental to fast and transformational, but occurs everywhere.

Yet not only change is ceaseless, so is people’s inclination to resist change – to be reluctant to embrace the transition from A to B. When people value what they have, they show resistance to letting go; when they question what they are getting in return, they exhibit resistance to taking hold. Not everyone resists all the time, but it is a common human response to change.

Conceptual Model

The Resistance to Change Typology outlines the six generic categories of reasons why people experience reluctance to change from a current to a future state (also see Meyer’s Model #1, the Mind the Gap model, for the challenges of change). The typology distinguishes between three different drivers of resistance, namely interests (political resistance), views (cognitive resistance) and feelings (emotional resistance). It also makes a distinction between resistance that is due to the need to let go of the current state and to take hold of the future state.

Key Elements

The six reasons that people resist change are the following:

1. Political Resistance. When people anticipate that a potential change might not serve their interests, there can be a strong motivation to push back. This resistance is called political as it is driven by people’s perception of winning or losing part of their stake in the “game”.
   1. Loss-Aversion. All changes involve the inherent threat of losing something of value, such as money, access to resources, influence, autonomy and standing. It makes “game theoretical” sense to avoid such losses of power and to safeguard your interests.
   2. Risk-Aversion. Most changes also offer potential gains, as an individual, department and/or organization. But it is seldom guaranteed that the future state will bring the projected benefits, making people hesitant to engage in such a risky endeavor.
2. Cognitive Resistance. When a potential change is at odds with people’s understanding of what is necessary, they are also likely to be reluctant to come on board. This resistance is called cognitive, as it is driven by people’s mental beliefs, assumptions, and reasoning.
   1. Discomfort. If a change challenges people’s established worldview, pushing them out of their comfort zone and requiring them to let go of cherished certainties, this can cause mental anguish. People generally prefer to avoid such disorientation and distress.
   2. Confusion. At the same time, change usually presents a new reality that is difficult to comprehend and internalize. New insights and new rules just don’t seem to make sense, leaving people confused. Rejecting such foreign ideas helps to reestablish mental order.
3. Emotional Resistance. When a potential change negatively impacts people’s deeper feelings, they are also more likely to push it away. This resistance is called emotional, as it is driven by people’s, often subconscious, inner sentiments and disposition.
   1. Grief. If a change makes people feel they need to let go of something for which they have great affection and to which they have become psychologically attached, this can result in sorrow and the need to mourn. People prefer to evade the pain of grief.
   2. Fear. At the same time, change usually triggers angst for what might happen en route to the future state and when the destination is reached. There can be fear of loss, discomfort, confusion, grief, and even fear of fear – all emotions preferably averted.

Key Insights

• Resistance to change is about reluctance to let go and take hold. In a change, you know what you have, but not what you’re going to get. Both aspects cause resistance. If you know what you have, letting it go can be disadvantageous, disorienting and even painful, while grabbing onto the new can be risky, confusing, and even outright scary.
• Resistance to change can be political, cognitive, and emotional. There are three core drivers of change resistance. Political resistance happens when people fret about what change will mean for their interests; cognitive resistance when people struggle with ideas contrary to their views; and emotional resistance when change triggers negative feelings.
• There are six different types of resistance to change. Political resistance comes in two flavors – loss-aversion when current interests need to be let go, and risk-aversion when potential future interests are difficult to ensure. Cognitive resistance likewise – discomfort at letting go of existing certainties and confusion in trying to grasp new views. Ditto emotional resistance – grief for letting go of present attachments and fear for what the future might bring.
• The six types of resistance to change often reinforce each other. All six types of resistance can come into play at different moments, but they are often intertwined in practice, as political and cognitive resistance quickly spark emotional resistance.
• Resistance to change can trigger resistance to resistance. For change managers it is crucial to understand what type of resistance they are facing. At the same time, they need to realize they might become resistant to resistance for many of the same reasons.

Key Definitions

Innovation is the process of coming up with something new and introducing it into practice. In organizations innovation efforts can be directed at novel products, services, or value propositions, but also at new procedures, processes, or ways of working. More ambitiously, even the business model or the organizational design can be reworked.

Innovation is not a brief event, but a longer process, typically consisting of a number of stages. It is also seldom the work of just one person, but usually involves a variety of stakeholders. Given the multiple steps and people required, it is important to map out and effectively structure the innovation process.

Conceptual Model

The 5I Innovation Pipeline framework outlines the five generic stages that need to be organized to successfully innovate as organization. The framework suggests that numerous innovation ideas are generally needed at the start of the process to eventually finish with just one or a few launchable innovative ventures (be it a new product, process or even business). As such, the process can be pictured as a narrowing pipeline, through which the potential innovations need to flow, with various initiatives at various stages of development. Separating the sequential steps are stage gates at which the viability to move to the next step is measured and no-gos are filtered out. Lubricating the pipeline flow are supporting learning and political processes.

Key Elements

The five stages of the innovation pipeline are the following:

1. The first step is to generate a wide variety of ideas, which can be done in many ways, such as brainstorming, scouting for external leads, doing research, and envisioning the future. The general rule of thumb is that coming up with new ideas shouldn’t cost more than a few hours. Then the ideas need to be evaluated on their viability – are they attractive and realistic enough to justify the investment of additional days or weeks of work.
2. Invention. The second step is to convert the viable ideas into more tangible concepts. This process of using initial hunches to create potentially workable solutions is called invention and can involve deeper analysis, exploratory discussions, experimentation, and ongoing tinkering. Eventually each invented product, process or business model will also need to be evaluated on its viability – is it practically feasible. This is also called proof of concept.
3. Initiation. Passing to the third step means the organization is willing to invest weeks or months to turn the invention into a minimum viable product (MVP) – something just good enough to field test with potential users. This initiation phase might involve modelling or simulating the new product, process, or business model, and then ramping it up to a prototype, followed by something externally presentable, to pass the project viability test.
4. Incubation. Once the project (i.e., product, process, or business model) has proven to be technically viable, the next step is to incubate it further, to turn it into a commercially viable proposition that can be launched in practice. This stage usually involves doing market research, staging trials, gathering lead customer feedback, adapting the proposition and finetuning a business plan.
5. Introduction. If the proposition is commercially attractive enough it will pass to the fifth and final stage of the innovation pipeline. This introduction can be inside the organization, in the case of a process or way of working, or outside in the market, if it is a new product, service or business model. Either way, the focus is on selecting the right application area and gaining acceptance from the prospective users and/or buyers.

Note that the main innovation pipeline activities are flanked by two crucial facilitating activities:

1. Learning process. Innovating is a constant journey of questioning existing views and discovering new insights, which challenges the innovators, but other stakeholders as well.
2. Political process. Innovating also means change, which is risky and can upset existing power structures. So, innovators need to align interests and secure ongoing support.

Key Insights

• Innovation requires much more than invention. Invention is the process of coming up with something new, but it is only an innovation if the new product, process, or business model is introduced into practice. Invention is technical, innovation is also commercial.
• Innovation requires going through 5 stages. Innovation starts with many ideas being generated (ideation), which are then turned into potentially feasible solutions (invention). Some of these rough concepts are subsequently ramped up into minimum viable products (initiation) and then molded into commercially attractive propositions (incubation). The last step is to launch the new venture and ensure stakeholder acceptance (introduction).
• Innovation requires increasing investment & commitment. As potential innovations move through the pipeline stages, the required management commitment and investment in money, capacity and attention multiplies, so their number usually dwindles in step.
• Innovation requires ongoing learning & political support. Innovation challenges the status quo, by upsetting received wisdom, creating new risks, and undermining existing interests. Hence, innovators need to keep an eye on organizational learning and politics.
• Innovation requires a filled pipeline. As it takes quite long for innovations to pass through all five stages and only a few make it to the end, organization need to keep their pipelines filled. This framework can be used to visualize an organization’s innovation portfolio.

Key Definitions

People think all day, but they seldom think about how they think. In practice, people follow certain thinking routines to which they have become accustomed, often taking mental shortcuts (called cognitive heuristics) to make life easier. Yet, such habits of the mind limit and color what people see. This makes everyone susceptible to cognitive biases.

As alternative to such “quick and dirty” judgement, you can also use more “slow and thorough” thinking methods. These structured approaches to thinking discipline you to follow a certain line of inquiry, aiding you to explore issues and potential solutions more meticulously.

Conceptual Model

The Thinking Directions framework outlines five complementary thinking methods that are applicable to every challenging issue, in business or elsewhere. Each of the thinking methods points the exploration into a certain direction, to ensure that an issue and/or solution are looked at from all angles. No examination is complete until all five have been used.

Key Elements

The five thinking directions are the following:

1. Drill Down. The best question to kick off the deeper examination of an issue is “what?” – what is going on, what is the issue, what are the parts of the issue and what is the issue behind the issue? Drilling down starts with delineating the issue (what is the scope?), followed by mapping the variables involved and identifying their relationships (what is the structure?). The objective is to dig deep enough to understand the issue’s complexity.
2. Zoom Out. A valuable follow-up question is “why?” – why is this happening, why is this an issue and/or why is the proposed solution fitting? Zooming out is about taking a step back to be able to see the bigger picture – to see the forest, not only the trees. The objective is to gain enough overview to understand in what way the issue is influenced by the broader context and how it in turn can/will have an impact on other issues.
3. Zoom In. Thinking in the opposite direction leads to the questions “who”, “how”, “where”, and “when” – who is involved, how does it work, where is it felt and when are actions expected? Zooming in is about taking a step forward to be able to see the detailed picture – to see the leaves on each of the trees. The objective is to gain a fine-grained insight into the situation and to thoroughly understand how any solution might play out in practice.
4. Diverge. A fourth thinking direction is to ask the question “what else?” – what else might be going on, what else can explain the situation and what else might be a solution? Diverging is about looking further than the likely suspects, by considering alternative explanations or paths forward. The objective is to avoid jumping to conclusions by always searching for a number of different ways of understanding and/or acting.
5. Converge. After asking all of the other questions, it is essential to also ask “what then?” – what then is the issue, what then is the advice, what then is the decision? Converging is about evaluating the various options and arriving at a conclusion. The objective is to avoid ongoing paralysis-by-analysis by weighing the alternatives already on the table with the intention of coming to a definitive result.

Key Insights

• Thinking is colored by cognitive biases. Every person sees the world through their own lens. This mental map shapes what you observe and how you make sense of these observations. This biased view of reality can be reenforced if other group members share the same assumptions (called the dominant logic or in extreme cases groupthink).
• Thinking is steered by cognitive heuristics. People are not only biased but also tend to cut corners when thinking by using quick and dirty reasoning methods. Such cognitive heuristics include assuming that things are simple, that they can be understood in isolation and that old explanations and solutions can be used again.
• Thinking can be enriched by thinking methods. To circumvent cognitive biases and heuristics as best as possible, people can use more slow and thorough thinking methods that discipline the user to ask a number of questions and go through various thinking steps more consciously. Doing this with a diverse group of people is even better.
• There are five universal thinking methods. Under all circumstances people’s reasoning can be improved by thinking in five directions: Drilling down, to understand the issue structure; zooming out, to understand the bigger picture; zooming in, to understand the specific details; diverging, to understand the potential alternatives; and converging, to understand what the conclusions could be.
• Effective managers use all five thinking methods. The five thinking directions are complementary and should be used by managers for all non-routine issues to ensure they don’t “jump to solutions”. The five sets of questions can be seen as a type of checklist to help managers look at issues from all angles. However, while each thinking direction is conceptually easy to understand, having the discipline to consistently employ them is hard.

Key Definitions

Firms often organize themselves into business units when they serve different markets and need to be responsive to the differing customer requirements and competitive dynamics encountered in each market. Each business unit will develop its own specific business strategy, while the firm as a whole will formulate a corporate strategy.

The business units will typically report to a headquarters, called a corporate center, that in turn will steer the business units in a particular way, which is called corporate management. There are different approaches to steering that the corporate center can take, referred to as styles.

Conceptual Model

The Corporate Management Styles framework outlines five different approaches to steering the business units, along a continuum from a high level of corporate control to a high level of business unit empowerment. The styles higher up the continuum are used when the corporate center needs to take the lead and integrate the business strategies to ensure that the important synergies are realized. The styles lower down the continuum are used when the business units need to take the lead and differentiate their business strategy to ensure responsiveness to their specific challenges.

Key Elements

The five corporate management styles are the following:

1. Integrated Organization Style. In this style the corporate center runs the firm as if it was almost a single business unit. One integrated corporate strategy is set, that needs to be implemented at the business unit level, with only minimal wiggle room for specific adaptations. Many primary activities are centralized or highly coordinated, as are almost all of the support activities, in order to maximize cross-business synergies.
2. Strategic Direction Style. In this approach the business units have a more distinct identity as separate vessels, but the corporate center keeps the fleet closely together to ensure that the significant cross-business synergies are realized. These synergistic activities tend to be centralized and/or coordinated, as are support activities, while on other activities the units have more room to maneuver as long as they stick to the overall strategic direction.
3. Strategic Control Style. Using this style, the corporate center strives to balance between steering the business units towards specific synergies and empowering them to take the initiative and respond to the demands in their own market. Therefore, the strategy will be a co-production, with the corporate center setting a general direction, challenging BU ideas, and giving final approval. Centralization and coordination of activities will be more selective.
4. Strategic Guidance Style. In this approach the business units are clearly in the lead, giving them the autonomy to flexibly respond to developments in their own market. The corporate center will give them some strategic guidelines (e.g., grow or hold) and financial targets, while challenging and ultimately approving their plans. Cross-business synergies will be limited and often not mandatory for the business units.
5. Financial Control Style. Finally, in this style the corporate center behaves more like a holding company, running a portfolio of financial investments, with little more than financial synergy between the business units. There might be some strategic discussions between the corporate center and the BU teams, but the performance targets set and monitored will be financial. Meeting these targets will ensure that the business units remain empowered.

Key Insights

• Corporate centers have a management style. In model 14 (7I Corporate Center Model) it was outlined that every corporate center can play 7 roles, but it wasn’t described how differently these roles can be played. The specific approach taken by a corporate center to playing these roles, and thereby steer the firm, is their corporate management style.
• Corporate centers balance control and empowerment. One the one hand, corporate centers want to exert control over their business units, actively influencing what they do, to increase corporate value creation (see model 35). On the other hand, they want to empower their units, to be responsive to market conditions and create business value.
• Corporate centers can select from 5 styles. There are 5 corporate management styles on a continuum from corporate control to business unit empowerment. In the first two (integrated organization style and strategic direction style) the corporate center is in the lead, with the business units following and adjusting. In the last two styles (strategic guidance style and financial control style) the business units are in the lead, with the corporate center placing guardrails. The middle style (strategic control) is balanced.
• Corporate centers can easily overdo control. Control needs to add value, by facilitating synergies and challenging BU management. But corporate centers easily descend into knowing everything better, crushing BU initiatives, pursuing useless synergies, and imposing one-size-fits-all solutions. Without reflection, corporate center domination lurks.
• Corporate centers can easily overdo empowerment. Empowerment also needs to add value, by allowing business units to be entrepreneurial and responsive. But corporate centers easily allow stubborn BUs to undermine synergy efforts and act like cowboys, as long as the targets are met. Without reflection, corporate centers can steer too little.

Key Definitions

A strategy is a course of action to achieve a particular purpose. An individual or organization has a strategy when they don’t behave in a random or ad hoc fashion, but there is a pattern in what they do and don’t do. Strategy is the logic in the actions as they move forward.

To realize a coherent pattern, strategic action needs to be guided by some deliberate choices made before getting underway. Such a plan of action can be very general and only sketch the ‘big picture’ (setting BOLD goals – broad, optimistic, long-term, and daring) or can be very detailed (setting SMART goals – specific, measurable, actionable, realistic, and time-bound).

Conceptual Model

The Strategic Action Modes framework outlines three different manners of moving forward in a strategic way, each requiring a different level of deliberate choices to be made upfront. The key message of this framework is that the archetypical approach called strategic planning – first formulate a blueprint and then move to execution – is not the only form of strategic action. Where detailed choices are hard to make in advance and then roll out, people can still move ahead by trying out and finding out. To be effective, strategists need to run a portfolio of actions (see model 10 – Strategic Agility Model), using all three complementary strategic action modes and formulating just enough beforehand to have sufficient direction for each action.

Key Elements

The five levels at which the intended strategy can be specified are the following:

1. Strategic Vision. When the intended direction is only set by offering an attractive big picture outline of what the future state could look like, we speak of a strategic vision.
2. Strategic Guidelines. Once a strategic vision has been specified, the general principles (main routes) that will guide the organization to get there are called strategic guidelines.
3. Strategic Framework. Along these main routes there will be major initiatives that will be the steppingstones to get to the vision. Together they should form a consistent framework.
4. Strategic Roadmap. Each of these initiatives can be worked out into a roadmap of key activities, general milestones, main responsibilities, and required budgets.
5. Strategic Blueprint. Finally, general roadmaps can be filled in to create comprehensive plans detailing all activities, timings, responsibilities, and resources.

The three modes of strategic action are:

1. Strategy Execution: Roll Out. To execute is to carry out as intended – to roll out a plan that has been determined beforehand. If you know where you’re going and can largely anticipate what will happen, it is efficient to first plan (making a roadmap or blueprint) and then implement. After this ‘planning and doing’, you can always do some adaption along the way (‘check and act’). Planning helps with clarifying priorities, allocating resources, aligning stakeholders, setting performance measures and tracking progress.
2. Strategy Experimentation: Try Out. To experiment is to field test an assumption – to try out a possibility that you have identified beforehand. If you are not certain enough about the best route forward but have a few hunches as part of your strategic framework, you can give them a trial run and see how things go before proceeding to execution. This lowers the risk of prematurely committing too much time and resources to an unpromising option, while increasing the flexibility to learn, adjust, and develop along the way.
3. Strategy Expedition: Finding Out. To go on an expedition is to investigate an area – to find out whether an attractive idea has further potential, not by thinking behind your desk, but by going on a voyage of exploration. Inspired by a vision, an expedition mobilizes internal and external stakeholders to see the future differently, scouting for promising options that could later make it to experimentation. An expedition not only looks around but sows ideas that might grow into future options, while also building political support.

Key Insights

• Strategy is a course of action. Your strategy is what you do (pattern of actions), not what you say you will do (plan of actions). Strategists need to get the organization moving in the best direction, not dwell on making the best PowerPoints. Effective strategists have a bias for action and creating facts on the ground, while making just enough choices ahead of time to help the action to be well-considered and coherent.
• A plan of actions can vary from BOLD to SMART. Before acting (‘implementation’), some strategic choices need to be made (‘formulation’). These don’t always need to be very specific (SMART), but can also be kept broad (BOLD), or at various levels in between.
• You can act without knowing the exact direction. If you know with a high level of certainty where you want to go, you can draw up a detailed strategic plan (a strategic blueprint). But waiting to act until you know the exact direction into the fog of the future can lead to procrastination (paralysis-by-analysis). You need to move despite the fog.
• You can act strategically in three ways. Execution is about acting on a detailed plan (rolling out). Experimentation is about acting on a substantiated hypothesis (trying out). Expedition is about acting on a compelling vision (finding out). All get things moving.
• You should act strategically in all three ways. Effective strategists initiate actions using all three approaches. This makes a strategy a portfolio of initiatives.

 Key Definitions

People experience psychological safety when they do not fear negative social reactions, such as disapproval, rejection, blame or retribution. In a psychologically safe team or organization people feel they are not running the risk of being harshly judged by others and therefore will dare to be more outgoing and proactive, instead of withdrawn and careful.

Key to psychological safety is a sense of inclusion and fairness – inclusion means a person is fully admitted to a social group as a respected member, while fairness means that a person is treated in a reasonable and equitable manner. Generally, the more diversity in a team or organization, the more challenging it is to ensure inclusion and fairness.

Conceptual Model

The Psychological Safety Compass outlines the four main social fears that undermine people’s psychological safety, as well as the four linked types of safety that need to be created to allow people to function optimally as team members. The four types of psychological safety differ along two axes – vertically whether they focus on people’s sense of inclusion or fairness, and horizontally whether they focus on what the individual is/does or on how the individual relates to others. As a compass, the model encourages leaders to measure safety and take actions in all four directions, instead of seeing psychological safety as one monolithic phenomenon.

Key Elements

The four related types of psychological safety are the following:

1. Acceptance Safety: Avoiding the Fear of Disapproval. To dare to show yourself as you genuinely are, you need to feel that other team members will accept you without judgement. You need to sense an openness to take you as you are, instead of measuring you against some unwritten criteria of how you should be. If the fear that you don’t meet the norms subsides, you no longer have to wear a mask, or worry about losing face, but can be your authentic self, warts and all. You can be vulnerable, honestly admitting your weaknesses, and you can be different, without being branded as an oddball.
2. Connection Safety: Avoiding the Fear of Rejection. Being accepted, or maybe just tolerated, doesn’t necessarily mean that other people will happily be in your presence and enthusiastically talk with you. To dare to interact with other team members, you need to feel that they see you, value you and welcome you to connect. You need to sense an openness to get to know you, involve you in conversations and hear what you have to say. Once the fear of rejection and being locked out subsides, you can more easily approach teammates, speak up and even ask others to help you.
3. Activity Safety: Avoiding the Fear of Blame. Anytime you do something, there is a risk of it being wrong or going wrong. But at the same time there is a social risk of being blamed for what is perceived as wrong by other team members. This blame can lead to shame, loss of standing and even punishment. To dare to do things, particularly more risky things such as solving complex problems or engaging in innovative ventures, you need to feel a tolerance for mistakes and even an admiration for taking action. Only once the unfair threat of blame is off the table, will you readily act, as well as admit when things go wrong.
4. Challenge Safety: Avoiding the Fear of Retribution. ‘An elephant in the room’ is when there is an uncomfortable issue you shouldn’t bring up. If you do break the silence, retribution by teammates is often swift. In the same way, you risk being punished by contravening other group rules, or asking uncomfortable questions, surfacing awkward problems, and stating unorthodox opinions. So, to dare to speak up, you need to feel there is room to challenge the status quo without fear of retaliation, or that there is even respect for the person who opens up the dialogue and pushes people out of their comfort zone.

Key Insights

• Psychological safety is about avoiding four types of social fear. In any group, people run the risk of being harshly judged by others and suffering the consequences. There is a threat of disapproval (not being accepted for who you are), rejection (not being welcomed as a group member), blame (found at fault for something that happened) and retribution (being retaliated against for challenging the status quo). People experience psychological safety when these four fears are absent.
• Psychological safety requires inclusion. To feel psychologically safe, a person needs to feel they can show who they genuinely are (acceptance safety) and that they will be welcomed to participate in the group (connection safety). Together this creates inclusion.
• Psychological safety requires equity. To feel psychologically safe, a person needs to feel their actions will be judged fairly (activity safety) and their uncomfortable questions will be viewed as useful (challenge safety). Together this creates a sense of fairness.
• Leaders need to manage all four types of psychological safety. Psychological safety is a fuzzy topic for many leaders, making it attractive to simplify by only focusing on one type. Yet, the four types are different, and all require specific attention.
• Even with safety, courage remains important. Full psychological safety is impossible, as some social risk will always remain. Therefore, leaders need to also stimulate people to show social courage to be and act despite their fears. Leaders should help to create safety, but without becoming curling leaders, sweeping away all team members’ challenges.

 

Key Definitions

Power is the capacity to cause an effect – the potential to make things happen. Individuals can have power, but so can groups, organizations, and countries. Using power can lead to its depletion, but can also cause it to grow, depending on the circumstances.

The amount of power that people have depends on the resources to which they have access (power sources – the roots of power), but also on the way they make use of these resources (power approaches – the branches of power).

Conceptual Model

The Tree of Power model uses the metaphor of a tree to explain how different types of power (fruits) grow out of different approaches to power (branches or shoots) and are fed by different sources of power (roots). The key message is that acquiring resources is necessary, but not sufficient to become powerful. Power results from how the resources are used to influence people. The three different approaches to exerting influence – compliance, conformance, and commitment – lead to very different (and complementary) types of power. Having a portfolio of all six types of power makes people more powerful and gives them the flexibility to use the most effective form in each situation to achieve the effect they wish to realize.

Key Elements

The tree of power consists of roots, shoots, and fruits. The five roots are the following:

1. Tangible Resources. Power can stem from access to physical items, such as food, shelter, land, money, and machines. Data as tradeable resource also belongs here.
2. Capability Resources. Power can also be rooted in access to valuable abilities, such as skill, expertise, insight, creativity, proactivity, and manual labor.
3. Relational Resources. Power can also be derived from interpersonal relations, such as friendships, alliances, confidence, reputation, and team spirit.
4. Positional Resources. Power can also spring from someone’s formal or social position, such as decision-making authority, rule-setting mandates, other privileges, and status.
5. Moral Resources. Finally, power can arise from having what is ethically good on your side, such as virtue, honor, respect, justice, rights, and someone else’s guilt.

These roots are drawn underground, to symbolize how they feed the tree. Above ground, the six types of power (fruits) grow from three different approaches to power (shoots):

1. Power can be exerted by using carrots (benefits) and sticks (punishment) to make people calculate it is in their interest to go along with the other’s wishes. This approach is about obedience – making sure people feel they “must” comply. The two types:
   1. Coercive Power. Using the negative threat of punishment to force compliance.
   2. Reward Power. Using the positive lure of benefits to buy people’s compliance.
2. Power can also be exerted by appealing to people’s sense of responsibility to behave properly, in accordance with duties and rules. This approach is about following the norms – getting people to feel they “should” conform. The two types:
3. Legitimacy Power. Pointing to formal rules to get people to play along.
4. Obligation Power. Pointing to social expectations to get people to play along.
5. Power can also be exerted by winning hearts and minds, getting people to buy in to what is being requested of them. This approach is about attraction – getting people to “want” to commit because they like what the other is asking. The two types:
6. Charisma Power. Using attraction to you as a person to influence.
7. Engagement Power. Using attraction to a cause or organization to influence.

Key Insights

• Power is not a dirty word. No one can function without power. Power is the capacity to cause an effect and therefore crucial for getting anything done. To be a leader, you need to have sufficient power to sway others, so considering how to build up and use power is important. That some people misuse their power shouldn’t give power a bad name, but just be a warning that power is a tool that can be used in positive and negative ways.
• Power is widely misunderstood. French & Raven’s ‘model’ from 1959 is probably the most commonly used framework about power, but it is no more than a checklist mixing up power sources and power types. It is time to retire this framework.
• Power is rooted in access to resources. All types of power require access to a variety of resources. These can be clustered into five categories: tangible, capability, relational, positional, and moral resources. Yet, resources are not power, only the sources of power.
• Power can be exerted in three ways. The five types of resources can be applied in three fundamentally different ways – the approaches to power. Resources can be used to trigger compliance (getting people to calculate they must), to encourage conformance (getting them to believe they should) or to win commitment (getting them to desire they want to).
• Having a portfolio of power types is useful. Each approach to power bears fruit to two power types, resulting in a repertoire of six different forms of power. Being able to flexibly use all six, depending on the situation, greatly enhances a person’s effectiveness.

Key Definitions

A value proposition is the full package of benefits that a firm promises to potential customers if they purchase its products and/or services. It is the set of valuable attributes that a firm vows to deliver to buyers, in the hope that this will sway them to select the firm’s offering.

What is valuable is determined by the potential customer. On a hot day, cold ice cream is valued, but so is its availability at the beach, its trusted brand, and the possibility to pay by credit card. It is the set of attributes together that make a value proposition compelling.

Conceptual Model

The Value Proposition Dial gives insight into the seven categories of attributes that can be combined to create an attractive value proposition. Its key message is that a value proposition is more than the characteristics of the core product/service. Surrounding these core attributes are the envelope attributes – six sets of possible characteristics providing valuable ‘wrapping’ around the ‘gift’ inside. In each of the seven categories a few examples have been given, but there is no limit to the possible attributes per category. This “dial” is one of the three dials that together form the business system (see model 32, Strategic Alignment Model).

Key Elements

The seven categories of possible attributes are the following:

1. Core Product/Service Attributes. The core product or service is at the heart of the offering to customers. Most product-driven companies will focus on technical attributes such as quality, size, color, features, and functionality, but from a customer perspective attributes such as design, style, smell, convenience, and assortment can add huge value to the mix.
2. Supplemental Products Attributes. A laptop might be made more attractive if it comes with pre-loaded software; dentistry services more appealing if the waiting room is pleasant; and chocolates more desirable if beautifully packaged. These are all examples of tangible products added on to the core product/service, each with its own specific attributes.
3. Supplemental Service Attributes. In the same vain, complex machinery is more valuable if installation is included, car rental more attractive if insurance can be tacked on, and electronics more alluring if repair is available at no extra cost. These are all examples of services added on to the core product/service, each with its own appreciated attributes.
4. Distribution Attributes. The way that a product/service is made accessible to customers can also bring additional value. Being able to order online, make reservations, get home delivery, and/or have a product immediately available are all distribution attributes that can be highly appreciated and represent reasons to select a particular offering.
5. Informational Attributes. Sometimes information is the core product, but often information is added an extra benefit. An instruction manual or video can be offered, along with technical documentation, a database of fonts and icons can be included and access to a library of frequently asked questions can be provided, all sweetening the offering.
6. Reputational Attributes. The way a product/service is perceived, judged, and trusted by the potential buyer, and its more general renown among other stakeholders, can also be of great value. Been known as a luxury brand, having great reviews and an image of trustworthiness, and being certified as meeting quality standards, all increase desirability.
7. Payment Attributes. Likewise, what, and how, to pay for a product/service can make it more alluring. A low price, a volume discount, paying in instalments, only paying for premium features, receiving bonus points, and buying through an auction are just a few examples of how getting people to part from their money can be made a selling point.

Almost all value propositions will have attributes in all seven categories. The challenge is to find distinctive and appreciated attributes in each and to align them into a desirable whole.

Key Insights

• Value is in the eye of the beholder. Product-driven companies believe that great products are valuable and will almost sell themselves. Customer-driven companies realize that what is valuable is determined by the potential buyer, who will look for a package of attributes, often extending beyond the technical characteristics of the core product/service.
• Value propositions are more than products. A value proposition is the package of attributes promised by a firm to a potential buyer that is intended to be seen as more valuable than offerings by rival firms. The package is broader than the product at its center.
• Value propositions have core and envelope attributes. Every value proposition consists of a core product/service, with a range of attributes making it attractive to buyers. Around this core is an envelope of six types of additional attributes – supplemental products, supplemental services, distribution, informational, reputational, and payment attributes.
• Value propositions need to be compelling. To get potential customers to select their value proposition, the package needs to consist of a set of desirable attributes, usually drawn from all seven categories. These attributes should be mutually reinforcing and fit closely with the wants of the customer to create a high level of value.
• Value propositions need to be distinctive. The package also needs to be more highly valued than what competitors are offering. Broadening the value proposition to encompass various attributes from all seven categories often creates various layers of distinctiveness.

Key Definitions

Something is sustainable if you can keep it up in the long run. In recent years, it has become commonplace to question the sustainability of our economic value-adding activities, as natural resources are being rapidly run down, while the ecological and social environment are being negatively impacted more quickly than they can recover.

But you can also run yourself down, choosing to achieve quick wins in the short run at the expense of your capacity to function and thrive over the long run. Where someone undermines their ability to keep up their level of performance over an extended period of time, we say they damage their personal sustainability.

Conceptual Model

The Sustainable You Model gives an overview of the four key areas in your personal environment in which you need to invest to remain in the game in the long run. With a wink to Muhammad Ali, these four “wings” of sustainability will allow you “to float like a butterfly, but sting like a bee”. Just as the UN has set 17 Sustainable Development Goals for the broader world community, this model presents 20 personal sustainable development goals for you as an individual.

Key Elements

The four key areas of personal sustainability are the following:

1. Energy: Vitality Sustainability. To keep functioning in the long run, you first need to maintain your physical and mental energy. You need to safeguard your vigor and avoid running down your battery by paying attention to the five levers of sustained vitality:
   1. Fitness. Exercising regularly to strengthen your body and mind.
   2. Recreation. Taking time to rest, unwind, refresh, and recover.
   3. Sleep. Getting enough high-quality sleep at the right moments in the day.
   4. Nutrition. Eating a healthy, moderate, and balanced diet.
   5. Mindfulness. Being mentally present, calm, and open to new stimuli.
2. Embeddedness: Relational Sustainability. Your healthy functioning also depends on maintaining the web of relationships in which you are embedded. As a social animal, you can’t thrive in isolation, but need to have warm interactions with five groups:
   1. Partner(s). One or more close companions, to have an intimate relationship.
   2. Family. Children, parents and relatives, to share time, love, and a sense of belonging.
   3. Friends. Best pals and good acquaintances, to talk, laugh and occasionally cry together.
   4. Direct and indirect co-workers, to team up with to achieve results.
   5. Neighbors and other community members, to live together enjoyably.
3. Employability: Competence Sustainability. To keep functioning in an everchanging work environment, while ensuring that future career opportunities remain, you need to continuously upgrade your competencies. There are five levers of sustained employability:
   1. Keeping your information, understanding and insights up to date.
   2. Adding new capabilities to your repertoire of potential behaviors.
   3. Adapting your attitude and broadening your ways of thinking.
   4. Becoming clearer which principles you stand for and live by.
   5. Building a track record and a reputation in specific areas.
4. Engagement: Motivation Sustainability. To keep functioning in the long run, you also need to remain inspired. Some activities will give a quick thrill in the short run, but to stay engaged you need to focus attention on all five levers of sustained motivation:
   1. Engage in activities that fit your natural strengths and avoid your weaknesses.
   2. Seek activities that you love to do and never feel like a chore.
   3. Find activities that are important to others and will help them out.
   4. Select activities that are valued by others and will be welcomed.
   5. Chose activities that are rewarded, both in terms of fame and fortune.

Key Insights

• Sustainability is about not running something down. Something is sustainable if it you can keep it up over a longer period of time. When most people speak of “sustainability”, they mean ecological and social sustainability. This can be called ‘macro-sustainability’.
• Personal sustainability is about not running yourself down. Sustainability is also relevant at the personal, or micro, level. Here the question is whether you can keep up your ability to function over a longer period of time, or whether you are overexploiting yourself.
• Personal sustainability is required in four areas. Each individual needs to avoid overexploiting themselves by maintain four areas: their energy (vitality sustainability), their embeddedness (relational sustainability), their employability (competence sustainability) and their engagement (motivational sustainability). All four areas are equally relevant.
• Personal sustainability is hard in practice. The need to maintain all four areas is easy to understand, yet hard to achieve. Short-term gain, leading to long-term pain, remains tempting. Investing in personal sustainability only pays back in the long run.
• Personal sustainability requires personal SDGs. To strengthen your resolve to invest, it can be useful to copy the UN approach and set personal sustainable development goals that can be monitored and followed up. The Sustainable You Model can be the basis.

 

Key Definitions

Organizational changes can range from small-scale incremental adjustments all the way to large-scale radical transformations. Whatever the magnitude, managers inside the organization, sometimes supported by consultants from outside, need to stimulate and guide change. In this sense, every manager is also regularly a change manager.

To realize change, managers need insight into change processes (see no. 25, Everest Model of Change), but also require tangible change management tools. These are ways of influencing what people do (intervention methods) in order to steer changes in the right direction.

Conceptual Model

The Change Manager’s Toolbox framework suggests that there are four change manager roles, each with four categories of tools. These roles differ along two dimensions. The first dimension is whether the role is focused on changing things (content-oriented) or changing behaviors (people-oriented). The second dimension is whether the role is focused on changing in a planned way (control-oriented) or in a more evolving way (responsive-oriented). All change manager roles need to be played by someone, but not necessarily by the same person. Which categories of tools are used will depend on the situation and the change manager involved.

Key Elements

The four change manager roles and their associated tools are the following:

1. Project Manager. Every change can be seen as implementation project of getting from A to B, whereby the change manager needs to go through the classic plan-do-check-act cycle to ensure the effective and efficient execution of change. To run this cycle, the project manager will typically use tools from each of the following in four categories:
   1. Activity planning. Tools for determining which tasks need to be carried out and when.
   2. People planning. Tools for finding the right people and assigning tasks to them.
   3. Resource planning. Tools for providing these people with all the necessary means.
   4. Performance management. Tools for checking and incentivizing realization.
2. Team Coach. Every change can also be seen as a team challenge of getting from A to B, whereby the change manager needs to coach the squad to work together in unison to be successful. To achieve this concerted effort, the team coach will typically tap into all four categories of potential tools:
   1. Direction setting. Tools to ensure all team members are striving towards the same goals.
   2. Expectation alignment. Tools to help mutual understanding and agree on shared rules.
   3. Team building. Tools to foster team spirit and commitment to each other.
   4. Conflict resolution. Tools to clear up interpersonal irritations and clashes.
3. Learning Facilitator. Every change can also be seen as a learning journey of starting at A and finding out whether B is the right destination, whereby the change manager needs to facilitate the unfolding insight and to trigger the required adaptation. To achieve this ongoing learning, the learning facilitator can draw on tools from four categories:
   1. Learning from practice. Tools for gaining understanding from implementation feedback.
   2. Learning from experiment. Tools for discovering from controlled testing of assumptions.
   3. Learning from mistakes. Tools for drawing conclusions based on errors made.
   4. Learning from others. Tools for capturing and transferring best practices from elsewhere.
4. Engagement Officer. Every change can also be seen as an uncomfortable move of going from A, inside people’s comfort zone, to B, somewhere outside. The change manager needs to win people’s hearts and minds to embrace this discomfort and then keep them engaged when the going gets tough. Four categories of tools are typically employed:
   1. Process participation. Tools to facilitate involvement and influencing of the change.
   2. Personal connection. Tools to help relationship-building and mutual bonding.
   3. Confidence building. Tools to stimulate people’s conviction that success is attainable.
   4. Inspiring leadership. Tools to encourage people to follow the change leader.

Key Insights

• Change has four different faces. Change can be seen as an implementation project, as a team challenge, as a learning journey and as uncomfortable move. All four sides of change pose different questions and require their own response.
• Change managers can play four roles. To tackle each of the four change issues, change managers need to play a different role – project manager, team coach, learning facilitator and engagement officer. All roles need to be filled, but not necessarily by the same person.
• Change managers can be content- and people-oriented. The roles of project manager and learning facilitator focus more on the ‘what of change’ – things and activities. The team coach and engagement officer focus more on the ‘who’ – the people.
• Change managers can be control- and responsive-oriented. The roles of project manager and team coach focus more on the planned side of change, while the learning facilitator and engagement office focus more on the evolving side.
• The change manager’s toolbox has 16 compartments. Each of the four roles has four categories of tools, giving a toolbox with 16 compartments, each with room for a whole range of specific tools. A change manager’s toolbox is big and needs time to be filled.