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Change Management Cheat Sheet

Convincing humans to do new things without a rebellion

Kotter's 8 Steps: Create urgency, build coalition, form vision, communicate, empower, generate wins, sustain, institute. Or: panic, recruit allies, dream, talk, delegate, celebrate, persist, formalize.
ADKAR: Awareness, Desire, Knowledge, Ability, Reinforcement. AKA from 'What?' to 'Fine, I'll do it.'
Lewin's Freeze: Unfreeze, Change, Refreeze. Like making ice cream, but with corporate anxiety.
Bridges' Transition: Ending, Neutral Zone, New Beginning. The corporate version of a breakup, rebound, and new relationship.

The Vocal Critic: Directly address concerns; make them part of solution; if still problematic, give them special project 'only they can handle'.
The Silent Resister: Private conversations; find their real concerns; seek small commitments; watch for passive-aggressive sabotage.
The Overwhelmed: Break change into smaller steps; provide extra support; celebrate small wins; remind them they've survived changes before.
The 'This Too Shall Pass': Connect change to organizational permanence; involve in implementation; make clear old way is closed.

The Why: 'We're making this change because...' followed by actual benefit, not corporate jargon.
The What's In It For You: 'This will help you by...' with specific, relevant benefits to their daily work.
The Honesty Bomb: 'This won't be easy, and here's why...' Acknowledging difficulty builds credibility.
The Timeline: 'Here's what happens when...' with clear staging of changes and support available.

Celebrate visibly: Recognize adoption with public appreciation. Humans are simple: acknowledge good behavior.
Remove old options: Make reverting to the old way impossible. Delete the software if necessary.
Embed in onboarding: New people should never know the old way existed. No veterans telling tales.
Update metrics: What gets measured gets done. Align performance reviews with new behaviors.

People don't resist change, they resist being changed
Involve those most affected in designing the change when possible
Over-communicate by a factor of 3 (what feels redundant to you is barely registering to others)
Address the emotional side of change - logic convinces the mind but emotion moves to action

Change is like a colonoscopy: necessary for health, uncomfortable while happening, and something everyone tries to avoid scheduling.

Life's too short for boring management. Make it count.

Management Master™

Pro tip: Pin these cheat sheets to your office wall or slip them into your notebook for emergency management situations.