Purposeful Change in Seven Steps

© Coert Visser (2005)

Benjamin Disraeli, the nineteenth century British statesman, once said: ‘Change is inevitable’. That is quite right. Change happens constantly, whether we drive it deliberately or not. The seven-step-method, which is described in this article, is about purposeful change. The method can be compared to a recipe. All ingredients and steps have their specific function and can add to the taste. But the recipe allows you to determine the order and quantities in which the ingredients are used. The seven steps are:


The seven step method
1. Clarifying the desire for change
2. Defining the desired state
3. Determining the platform
4. Analyzing past success
5. One small step forward
6. Monitoring progress
7. Determining the further desire for change

Below follows a description of the situation of Frank, a team manager who needs help improving the financial performance of his team.

1. Clarifying the desire for change
When people have a desire for change there is always something evoking that change. This may be the presence of something negative or the absence of something positive. Clarifying the desire for change is often a useful first step towards effective change. Acknowledging problems by clarifying how they form a problem is often the key to making the desire for change understood.

2. Defining the desired state
As soon as it has become clear why change is desired, we proceed by defining the desired state. This is done by describing concretely and positively what we want the situation to be like. This step is about answering the question: “How do you want things to be different?” With this step it is particularly important to be very specific: how precisely will things be different and how will that be an advantage to whom?

3. Determining the platform
The third step is determining the platform. The platform is the current situation, the state from which you start or proceed to make progress in the direction of the desired state. The key to determining the platform is to answer questions like: “What have we already achieved?” “What is already there?” and “What has brought us to where already are?” These questions are formulated very constructively. When determining the platform when investigate how full the glass already is and how it became this full. It helps to recognize that some things have already been achieved and how that happened. This helps to strengthen our trust, optimism and hope.

4. Analyzing past success
The next step is to begin to look for situations in which the desired state has already, to some extent, happened. Often, these situations are called exceptions to the problem, or ‘positive exceptions’. These can be situations in which the problem happened less intensely or in which the desired results were already there in some extent. With this step these situations are identified and analysed. How did these exceptions take place? What made them possible and what did you do different to make them happen? A very specific ‘picture’ is painted of anything that might have been helpful to make the past success happen. After you have identified and analyzed one ‘past success’ situation you may choose to do another one. You can analyse as many past success situations as you wish.

5. One small step forwardThem as a next step, try to build on past success. First, look at how past successes are relevant for the current situation. Then, think of a small step forward. This is sometimes called ‘ building a bridge between past success and future success. This small step is based on what we have just learned by analyzing the past success situation. The small step can be seen as an experiment. We never know for sure if the step will lead to success. After all, the current situation will never be completely identical to the past situation.

6. Monitoring progressAs a next step it is important to monitor progress. This can be done by answering the following question: “What goes better?” The purpose of this question is to become more aware of the progress that has been made and to identify what has worked. When is has become clear what has helped to make progress it will be clear how to make further progress: by doing more of what works. Monitoring progress strengthens trust in the feasibility of the goal.

7. Determining the further desire for changeThe next step is to determine whether there exists a desire for futher change or not. If so, then you can return to steps 1, 2, 3, or 4 and follow them from there. If there is no further desire for change the deliberate change process is terminated. Each time the desire for change re-emerges the process can be restarted at once.

Use the method flexiblyThe seven-step method is a descriptive, not a prescriptive method. It reflects how effective change often happens but it does not claim effective change should always happen like this. Often, not all of the seven steps will be relevant and the order in which the steps are used can vary from situation to situation. In other words: don’t take this model to strictly and rigidly. Nearly always the method will be applied iteratively. For instance: after step 7 you go back to a previous step and restart from there.

An Example of how this can work:Frank is a team manager who asks for the help of a management coach to improve the financial results of his team. First they think about why exactly it is important to change: if his team will not succeed in making the budget people may lose there jobs and Frank can surely forget about promotion within the company. Next, with the help of his coach, Frank defines de desired state: within three months he wants to have his team performing on target again so that everybody will be able to see that they are on the right track again. This would mean more security for the team and better career prospects for Frank. Then, Frank and his coach identify where the team stands now and what has already been achieved: a good cost control, satisfied customers and some good-performing team members. Through this, Frank realizes that there is a reason for optimism. Then he analyzes past successes. He remembers a situation in which he has managed to turn a disappointing team result into a better one: he informed the team fully about the situation and mentioned his worries without detailedly instructing team members what to do. Instead he asked them for ideas which led to some great ideas and initiatives and collaborations. He decides to try out this approach again. Soon there are some promising results. Frank gets complimented by the business unit manager. The thread is out of the air and Frank begins to believe again in the possibility of a promotion.