Exec Changed Their Mind... Again
READ TIME - 4 MINUTES
"Remember how the Executive said they were happy with a phased rollout?" Priya's colleague messaged her on Teams. "Yeah, now they want to go big bang. By end of June."
Priya stared at her change timeline, covered in carefully planned engagement activities stretching over nine months. Nine months that had just turned into three.
Her laptop pinged again. "Oh, and they want everyone trained before go-live now, not just the pilot groups."
"Fantastic," Priya rolled her eyes in her empty office, pulling up her stakeholder matrix on her screen. "Three months of planning down the drain, and about 2,000 more people to train than we'd planned for."
When your executive's vision changes faster than Melbourne weather and your carefully crafted change approach is falling apart, here's how to stay sane:
1. The "Change Intelligence" Strategy
Senior execs often make decisions without seeing the full people impact.
By mapping out these impacts clearly, you can help them understand the ripple effects of their decisions and get their support for more realistic approaches.
How to do it:
Create a (digital) poster or canvas mapping the ripple effects (impacts) of each change in direction
Document impact on timelines, resources, and outcomes
Create simple "if this, then that" scenarios
Show interdependencies that executives might not see
Highlight risks to adoption and sustainability
Build a clear picture of what's actually possible
Pro tip: Executives often don't see the domino effect of their decisions on the people side of change. Make it visible without making it overwhelming.
2. The "Flexible Framework" Approach
When executive direction keeps shifting, you need a change approach that can bend without breaking.
Baking flexibility into your core products means you can adapt quickly without starting from scratch every time.
How to do it:
Build your change approach into modules that can flex
Create scalable training and support models
Design communications that work for different scenarios
Keep core messages consistent even as details change
Maintain a "minimum viable change" baseline
Know your non-negotiables for change success
Pro tip: Think about what absolutely must stay consistent for the change to work, then build flexibility around that core.
3. The "Strategic Push-Back" Method
Sometimes, pushing ahead with every executive change can put the overarching transformation vision and outcomes at risk.
Learning to push back strategically - with data, options and solutions - can help protect the change outcomes while maintaining executive support.
You’ve got to read the room on this one, but if you decide to proceed, here’s how to do it:
Frame challenges in terms of business impact
Show data about what drives successful adoption
Provide options rather than obstacles
Build allies among influential stakeholders
Document risks to benefit realisation
Present recommended solutions alongside concerns
Pro tip: Obviously your job isn't to say "no" - it's to show what it will really take to get to "yes" successfully.
Look, changing executive direction isn't always a bad thing - in fact, often they're responding to shifts we can't see.
Your role isn't to fight the changes; it's to make sure that leadership understands what it takes to land them successfully.
Remember: Success isn't about having a perfect plan - it's about having an approach that can absorb changes without breaking, and it’s about the courage to speak up when changes put benefits at risk.
That's it for this week.
Next Tuesday we're diving into what happens when people say yes but mean no - don't miss it!
See you then,
Team EVER
PS: Someone pass this on to you?
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