Description of the workshop
The Change Management Game is a tool that was created to assist those involved in organizational transformation projects to reflect on questions that are essential to the project's success. One of the game's objectives is to identify areas that are already functioning well in order to maximize their impact on the change initiative.
Designed by Jurgen Appelo, who is at the origin of the Management 3.0 theory, the workshop consists of 34 cards which each propose a question to be addressed upstream of a change project, according to 4 axes of reflection inspired by 4 management frameworks: the system, individuals, interactions and the environment.
The 34 questions are as follows:
- Systel (by running Deming's wheel – Plan, Do, Check, Act):
- What is your goal?
- Where is it going well?
- What are the crucial steps?
- When and where do you start?
- How do you measure results?
- How do you get feedback?
- How do you accelerate results?
- Network (by using the ADKAR® Model – Awareness, Desire, Knowledge, Ability and Reinforcement):
- Are you committed?
- Who is assisting you?
- Who will be the innovators?
- Who are the early adopters?
- How will the leaders help?
- How do you reach the early majority?
- How can you make it viral?
- How will you deal with skeptics?
- How will you prevent a relapse?
- People (by browsing the model of diffusion of innovations – Innovators, Early adopters, Early majority, Late majority, Laggards):
- How will you communicate?
- How will you set an example?
- How do you make it urgent?
- How do you make it desirable?
- How will you teach them?
- Who will be teaching?
- What makes it easy?
- How can they practice?
- What are the short-term wins?
- What makes it sustainable?
- Environment (based on the 5Is model – Information, Identity, Incentives, Infrastructure, Institutions):
- How do you radiate information?
- How do you ease information?
- What is the group identity?
- How can grow peer pressure?
- Can you incentivize good behavior?
- Which barriers will you remove?
- Which guides will you place?
- Who can make the rules?
How to play the Change Management Game
The game's rules are simple and adaptable to your context. Participants share change stories based on drawn cards.
The game can be useful in various situations.
- When starting a new change project, simply put the cards on the table and look at some of them: Are everyone on the team able to answer them?
- Use retrospective questions to reflect on what went well and where there is room for improvement. Have you thought seriously about all the questions asked?
- As a project manager, use the questions in the game to brainstorm and prepare the action plan.
- Use the game in workshops and conferences to share experiences on operational transformation projects.