Crisis and change go hand in hand. For change to occur, something in the current state needs to be powerfully uncomfortable. In this short presentation, I explain why crisis is necessary to change, and why that can be a good thing.

1. Never waste a crisis
Finding the catalyst for change

2. Why does crisis matter?
Change requires both energy and discomfort--crisis
brings both
When people are reasonably comfortable, there is no
impetus for change
Change takes on urgency and momentum when the
current state is riskier than some form of change
Sustained change usually follows some form of crisis

3. Crises promoting change range from
operational to survival-threatening
Sarbanes-Oxley
Banking/mortgage meltdown
Somali pirates
Columbia and Challenger disasters
9/11

4. Crisis breaks down points of resistance
Force-field analysis: greater chance of success by
removing resistors vs. beefing up drivers for change
Reasons to resist are undermined by environmental
changes
Opportunity to define the drivers in the turmoil of crisis
If you don't define them, they tend to get defined for
you

5. Energy and positivity
Gestalt cycle - is there awareness?
Discomfort with the current state produces energy--
motivation to change
While the crisis provoking change may be negative, the
change itself can be defined positively
Appreciative approaches are useful for steering change
in this direction (produce relief and movement)
Appreciative approaches must acknowledge feelings
about the change--optimism can undermine credibility

6. Timing and urgency are essential
Crises have shelf lives
As crises drag on, people seek equilibrium with
environmental factors
Once equilibrium is established, that crisis is largely
over and change becomes less likely
It's a race to create change that relieves discomfort and
is an improvement over improvised equilibrium

7. How to establish whether there is a crisis
If you have to wonder, there probably isn't one
Listen to people at different levels and functions in the
organization--not necessary to be too formal
If you don't have some level of crisis, you probably
don't have change
If you do have a crisis, get people involved to define
and push toward the most positive outcome
Measure and report change as a response to the
crisis--establishes importance of the change agent

8. Questions for small groups
Discuss a significant change in which you were involved
What was the crisis that provoked it?
How significant was this crisis to the organization?
What was the change and who drove it? Who was
involved in the change?
How long did it take to reach a new equilibrium?
What was the outcome?

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