Influencing Change
By David Nixon, written for Bolton Trauma Informed Toolkit
This article will take you through the necessary behaviours for influencing change, and then provide you with tools and strategies to implement change making projects.
The development process for this module involved a 2 hour workshop with ten participants. The group worked through an earlier version of the material in this document. The following conclusions were drawn:
There is an issue with language regarding ‘trauma informed’ practice. This terminology comes from a clinical field of practice and may not be a true reflection of the individual’s perspective or experience. Furthermore, phrases heralding from clinical practice are often picked up as sales jargon which can dilute the meaning for some people. For this reason you might think about how you are using both clinical and non clinical terms and how this reflects the experience of the individual.
In the workshop there was a bias towards cultural, creative and action based solutions when we worked through the strategy planning. Less attention was given to leadership, systems and finance. Therefore exploring cultural, action and creatively based pathfinder projects could provide a strong foundation to addressing leadership, finance and systems issues.
A recurring suggestion in the planning part of the session was for ‘quick tools.’ The term has different meanings in different settings, but if we consider the challenge of crossing a river, we would require a bridge. However, this would be costly and time consuming, therefore, if the river is shallow, we could use stepping stones. If it is deep, then a raft or boat. Quick tools work in this way, they are not the complete solution to a challenge, but they will help you begin the process.
Part One - Foundations
“The right question is already half the solution to a problem.”
Carl Jung
Authentic.
What do we mean by authentic? Think about how a child asks questions. They are not trying to be clever or make a point, they are coming from a place of genuine inquisitiveness. To be authentic in your question, you need to think from the child's mind.
Compelling.
Your question should resonate with everyone. It should draw them into a place of shared exploration where multiple perspectives come into place. Making your question compelling brings cohesion to your team.
Open-ended.
As well as not wanting a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ answer, nor do we want a simple solution. We are looking to create a question that invites complex thinking to push the boundaries of what might be possible. Through this real opportunity for change can be explored in the question.
Focused
This might sound contradictory to ‘open-ended’ but to create a focussed question you will need to find the correct wording. Avoid words like ‘which’ and ‘that.’ This will make your question more active. Do not settle for a first draft, re-write and re-words your question as a team and find the most powerful and concise phrasing.
Actionable.
Does your question imply action? Make the language active and think about how you can use the question to act as a foundation for planning. Use concrete verbs such as ‘define,’ ‘apply’ and ‘analyze.’ This is preferable to abstract verbs such as ‘invite,’ involve’ and ‘characterise.’
Behaviours of Change & Influence
“Intuition starts with trust.”
Dwayne Edwards (Sutton, 2023)
Be in intuitive Change is always complex. If we think of a river as a metaphor for change we see a landscape in constant flux; always moving, always changing. In this kind of complexity it is not alway possible to ‘know’ what the right step to take is. Using our intuition provides a solution to this ‘not knowing.’
Have a direction This is part of your overall strategy and will act as a focus for your team. When establishing a direction consider these three factors: Values, Opportunities & Resources.
Know & value all your resources Categorise your resources and identify how available and robust they are. What are your primary resources (those that are abundant) and what are your secondary? Recognise values and personal strengths as resources as well. Your creativity, passion and team morale are all crucial resources in affecting change.
Be open to serendipity Dew (2009) describes serendipity as ‘search, with unintended discovery’(Ansari & Rauch, 2021). This resonates with Louis Pasteur’s famous quote:
“Chance favors the prepared mind.”
By placing ourselves in the right frame of mind, building solid relationships and having clear objectives, we are more likely to see the unexpected and make useful connections. Use your intuition and check it out.
Build trust based, valued relationships By using the “Five Dysfunctions of a Team'' (Lencioni & Okabayashi, 2008) framework, you will not only be more effective at planning and delivering change, but you will also add to the strength of your team as part of the whole process. Integrate team building into the process of change and the whole will always be greater than the sum of the parts.
Be persistent "Fall Down Seven Times, Get Up Eight." A Japanese proverb. Resilience is a factor in making lasting change. The key is to learn from every fall, every blind alley. Not only will this enable you to achieve your goal, it will make subsequent changes that much easier.
Give the process time Give a realistic time frame by breaking the process down into small steps. Aim for small fails and small wins and build this up. Making mistakes on a small scale at the early stage will equip you to win big further down the line. Have regular check-ins and share the load. You will get there.
Be Informed Create a research base. Assign keywords so that you can target your research and use a breadth of material. Undertake this as a team so that you can work through the process efficiently and with multiple eyes on your evidence. Critically appraise your information and select the best quality articles and texts.
Be Prolific Publish material relating to the change you want to make. Publish this both internally and in the public domain via social feeds and email. This not only informs others of your actions, but also instills a positive approach to the plan.
Be Consistent Having a direction is one of your behaviors of change.Maintaining this focus will provide great credibility and evidence of commitment and intent.
Be Strategic Use strategic tools to give yourself the advantage. We will introduce the Strategic Doing tool in the second part of this document.
Be Connected Seek out like minded individuals and organisations for support, information and other unforeseen opportunities. Remember that being open to serendipity is part of your change behavior.
Be Engaging Enjoy making new connections, invite people into what you are working towards so that you can inspire and learn from one another.
Be Collaborative Be open to inter disciplinary and inter organisational working. This will open up potential for new relationships, opportunities and resources.
Be Visible Show the world what you are doing and own the process. Show pride and enthusiasm for your work. People respond to passion.
Part Two - Planning & Strategy
A Language for Change
Imagine the process of change you are about to embark on is a river. This river of change flows through many environments and is constantly moving and flowing. Along the way it carries driftwood from the surrounding environment and will encounter boulders that shift the flow this way and that. In a river change is a constant, so a river is the perfect metaphor for mapping, understanding and managing the process of change.
To use the river as a change management tool you can print out the template provided and use it to map your journey. You should also refer to the ‘Landscape of Support’ slide deck in this toolkit to benefit from the extended application of the Kawa Model (Iwama 2006) and to find out about its origins and applications.
Using a River Metaphor
In our codesign sessions with Bolton community organisations, we explored influencing change using a river metaphor, watch the video here.
A Strategy for Change
Finally, you will need a strategy for influencing change. One of the problems with traditional change strategies is that they often herald from either business or military origins (Morrison, 2020). Ed Morrison, the creator of the Strategic Doing framework (Morrison, 2019) and proposes a new way of addressing “wicked problems” in an open networked world. The phrase ‘open networks’ refers to a system made up of connected groups, instead of a hierarchy which is a linear power system. Open Networks are more adaptable and have greater capacity for innovation and collaboration. This is especially relevant to voluntary and other third sector organisations where the structure has a more organic quality.
In the worksheet at the end of this document you will see how it is possible to map the strategic doing process onto the river model so that your language, map and strategy are all contained in one image that everyone can interact with. This means that whatever change you are making happens, whatever your important question is, there is a single, shared frame of reference.
Notice that in the image both structures have the same number of elements, but the open network has many more connections. This means that there is greater adaptability, flexibility and opportunity within an open network. However, there is also greater complexity which is a factor to always bear in mind. This is why we use the Kawa Model as a single point of reference and to provide a shared conceptual framework and language when implementing change.
A Four Phase Strategy
What could we do?
What is the framing question? In other words, what is the ‘wicked problem’ we are trying to solve? What opportunities are there that would contribute to solving this problem? Think about your assets, resources, values, past successes, knowledge, connections and so on. Build a ‘reservoir’ of assets, resources and attributes to identify what is possible right now. You will end up with a list of possibilities.
What should we do?
Which opportunities would have the most impact right now, and which would be the most realistic to implement. You should also start thinking about how you will measure outcomes and gather the information so that you can review and refine.
What will we do?
You can now begin to plan a pathfinder project. A small scale action that begins to address the problem you have identified. Remember that phrase: “small wins, small fails”? This is where it comes into play. You start with a small project so that you can refine the process and learn as you go. This is an agile and adaptable approach.
Identify a pathfinder project you will undertake.
What’s our 30/30?
Continual assessment means that you always ask ‘what have we achieved in the last 30 days, and what are our goals for the next 30 days?’ This establishes your process flow and enables your team to keep sharing, adapting and learning through the process of change.
Mapping the process
We can now map this strategy onto the river metaphor. By doing this we build our strategy into our planning and communication tool. The four Strategic Doing phases can be shown as stages of the river.
Influencing and making change is complex. By influencing change you will affect change and this change will have an effect. This is why we use the river as a guiding framework - change is a constant. The most important factor is time, you will not only need time to create influence, but also to see the effect of that influence. However, remember the process, make for small wins and review, evaluate and refine all the way.
Identify the problem you wish to solve and why and construct your framing question.
Adopt the behaviours of influence and change that will be the foundation to the process.
Use the river metaphor to establish a language and framework for change.
Apply the phases of Strategic Doing to maintain a strong focus.
Measure your outcomes and use your data to refine the process.
References
Ansari, S. and Rauch, M. (2021) Embrace serendipity for change, Management Studies Insights Blog. Available at: https://managementstudiesinsights.com/embrace-serendipity-for-change/ (Accessed: 28 October 2023).
Dew, N. (2009) ‘Serendipity in entrepreneurship’, Organization Studies, 30(7), pp. 735–753. doi:10.1177/0170840609104815.
Hagel, J. et al. (2018) Frame a powerful question, Deloitte Insights. Available at: https://www2.deloitte.com/us/en/insights/topics/talent/business-performance-improvement/framing-powerful-questions.html (Accessed: 27 October 2023).
Harris, J.D. and Lenox, M. (2014) Three critical factors of business strategy, Darden Ideas to Action. Available at: https://ideas.darden.virginia.edu/three-critical-factors-of-business-strategy (Accessed: 27 October 2023).
Iwama, M.K. (2006) The kawa model culturally relevant occupational therapy. London: Churchill Livingstone.
Jeremy Sutton, Ph.D. (2023) What is intuition and why is it important? , PositivePsychology.com. Available at: https://positivepsychology.com/intuition/ (Accessed: 27 October 2023).
Lencioni, P. and Okabayashi, K. (2008) The five dysfunctions of a team: An illustrated leadership fable. Singapore: Jossey-Bass, an imprint of Wiley.
Morrison, E. (2019) Strategic doing: Ten Skills for Agile Leadership. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Morrison, E. (2020) Strategic Doing: A Tool for Curricular Evolution, researchgate.net. Available at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/344221494_Strategic_Doing_A_Tool_for_Curricular_Evolution (Accessed: 29 October 2023).
