In a pioneering venture, you are likely to attract mainly innovators and early adopters because they are the groups most likely to engage with a new opportunity or idea. However, you will need to find and engage the early and late majority later in the change journey. As you move toward the Design and Deploy phases, these individuals will be needed to solidify and scale the new venture.
A healthy change journey for an existing organization is a coordinated stretch-consolidate-stretch-consolidate process, where the front initially stretches the caterpillar forward, then pauses to let the back catch up. The pause allows the whole to constrict and consolidate, and then the front moves out again, and so on. Proceeding in this way, you will move everyone forward without fracturing the groups. Stretch-constrict-stretch-constrict.
As you embark on the journey of change ahead, remember to keep who you are, where you are going, and who you will take with you as a constant refrain that will help orient you in each of the phases ahead.

Use the simple checklist below to reflect on your organization’s change process. This will help you discern the pace at which you enact change, the people you take with you at each stage, and the specific phase of your ALL CHANGE journey in mind.

  • Who are we as an organization, where are we going, and who are we taking with us?

  • Who are the early adopters; who are the late majority and the laggards?

  • Which phase of our ALL CHANGE journey are we currently in (Dream, Discover, Design or Deploy)?

  • Are we in a time of stretch or consolidation?