“Progress is a beautiful word. But its driving force is called change. And change has its enemies.”
Robert Kennedy (former US Senator)
A very drastic quote by Robert Kennedy on the subject of change. Personally, I would not necessarily use the term “enemies” in this context.
Rather, my experience is that uncertainty and fear come to the fore for many people on the subject of change. And this insecurity and fear is then very often countered by rejection and refusal. Per se, this is completely normal human behaviour.
I personally do not want to exclude myself from this. It took me about five to six years until I was ready to leave my comfort zone and finally dared to take the step into self-employment.
And without going into details here, I have not regretted for a second that I took this step.
All the projects I have implemented together with my clients have also been affected by change.
Almost always, the change also affected people. People who either had to change their working methods, tasks that had suddenly shifted from one person to another, or work steps that were suddenly no longer carried out by a person but by a system.
As soon as such changes are part of a project, it is important to proceed very carefully and cautiously.
“Nothing makes a person more suspicious than knowing little.”
Francis Bacon english statesman and philosopher
I would subscribe 100% to this quote by Francis Bacon!
It is immensely important to always “take along” those who are affected by the change.
This must be done from the very beginning of the project!
There is and remains no alternative!
The agile Change Canvas
A good methodology to start the change process is the agile Change Canvas!
Some people probably know the Business Canvas, which can be used to depict and analyse business models.
I have been working very successfully with the Business Canvas for many years. The big advantage of the Business Canvas is that you have to take a closer look at your plans and business models. And this is exactly what the agile Change Canvas requires!
The agile Change Canvas is perfect for starting the change process and to accompany this sustainably.
How do I start working with the Change Canvas?
In principle, you can use a whiteboard or something similar analogue to illustrate the canvas. It is important that all those involved always have access to the canvas.
I have built a Miro Board template for the Change Canvas. This is how the Change Canvas would look like (sorry, only in german):
The Change Canvas is now filled with life, starting from the top left.
By the way, the Change Canvas is a “living object”, i.e. it is the requirement that the Canvas is always adapted to new circumstances!
At the top left of the Canvas is the point of urgency. As with any change process, the issue of urgency comes first. Urgency is created to underpin the necessity of the change process.
Key questions that are asked and answered here include:
Like all points within the change and thus also within the Change Canvas, the answers to these questions have to be worked out individually for each company!
There is no one-size-fits-all solution here, but I will give a few examples that can be mentioned in the context of DAM and PIM systems:
These criteria are now written on PostIts and placed within the urgency field (screenshot only in german):
One thing becomes immediately clear with these examples:
At this point, we are not talking about DAM and/or PIM systems. The first thing to formulate the urgency is a business case, i.e. which business problems have we currently identified.
A PIM or DAM system could then be used to solve all or a single problem.
How to go on now?
In the Change Canvas, the formulation of the vision would follow the development of the urgency. In this way, the canvas is gradually filled with life. It is important that the stakeholders participate in this process and that all relevant people are continuously provided with the latest information.
The individual creation of a change canvas always has to be done within several workshops, this blog article is only meant to give an impulse and an idea how the change can be started and how it can be successfully implemented.
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me:
Interesting sources on the topic, which I have also used for this article (german):
Change Canvas: Strukturierter visueller Ansatz für Change Management in einem agilen Umfeld (essentials)
Change Canvas: Die visuelle Methode für alle, die an Organisationsveränderungen arbeiten
Business Model Generation: Ein Handbuch für Visionäre, Spielveränderer und Herausforderer
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