Force Field Analysis

Anyone who has worked with me knows I quite like this simple model of change management by Kurt Lewin -- equilibrium in the middle with forces for change on one side and forces resisting change on the other. Right now, I am living this model. I am the Agent of Change.

When I was interviewed for the job, the panel focussed on my experience of change management. I could tell from the members' magazine and other documents I read that the Trust was going through considerable change, but I should have asked more questions about what that meant at property level. In this region, key roles are disappearing and key individuals are moving on. At Blickling, all sorts of changes are happening (including my appointment), but there is no overarching plan. This makes it difficult to justify any change, large or small.

You may recall the shock waves caused by my assumption that everyone would use the Outlook calendars. This continues to cause problems. People miss updates and come in for meetings that have been moved, or fail to note the correct time. Very frustrating. Does anyone remember SOTFOT (Start on Time, Finish on Time)? It isn't the way it works here.

The regional marketing group are keen to use social networks like Twitter and Flickr to encourage visitors to record their experiences at Trust properties. But the Handbook explicitly asks people not to use mobile phones to take photos. Goodness knows why -- no reason is given.

I found an entertaining blog about a journalist's visit to Blickling, and sent the link to a couple of colleagues. Astonishment all round that people write these things (!).

Best of all -- I don't actually have to say or do anything to discover the resistors to change. As I walked through the office on Friday, someone asked me about a rumour she had heard that I was planning to turf a group of people out of their space to make room for my management team. Not a bad idea, just not one of mine.

I know what I need to do -- help everyone engage with change, so they don't feel it is being done to them. Encourage more flexible thinking so that change becomes less frightening. Welcome discussion about possible outcomes, rather than definite solutions. But mainly, make it OK to be worried, but not OK to say no.

To achieve this, I need to call on all my reserves. There are useful allies to be found in unlikely places. Quick wins are the top priority -- but the wins need to be for the changers, not the resistors. I suspect I will end up with a Workflow-type project, within the property. That in itself would be such an innovation, it might meet huge resistance. But did that stop me before? Volunteers welcome.