Insights

Our best thinking, free to use.

The ideas behind our work, written down: a tool you can use with your team this week, our white paper on why change efforts stall, and practical articles for leaders in the middle of a shift.

Read the white paper ↓
Free tool

Head, Heart or Hands: which one is your team stuck on?

Everyone processes a shift through three filters: what they need to know, what it means for them, and what they need to do. Most leaders answer all three with more information. The Shift Filters™ Resource Guide shows you how to tell which filter is loudest, and what to do about it, for yourself and for the people you lead.

  • The three filters, and what each one needs from a leader
  • What happens when you skip one
  • A one-page reference map to keep at hand
  • Reflection prompts and actions for leading yourself and others

PDF, 9 pages. Enter your name and work email and it’s yours to download.

Cover of the Shift Filters Resource Guide
Built for team leaders, HR business partners and anyone leading people through a change.

Want to go deeper on the Transition Personas™?

Our guide to the nine Transition Personas is shared on request. Tell us how you’d use it and we’ll send it with a few suggestions.

Free self-check · From the Field Guide

Several shifts at once? Choose which one to lead.

When shifts pile up, the instinct is to keep every one of them moving a little. That wears you out without moving any of them. This self-check, taken straight from When Shift Gets Real, walks you through laying your shifts side by side, spotting the problem that shows up in more than one, and picking the shift to lead first.

  • Five short steps: Detect, Unlock, Choose, Act and Learn
  • A one-page plan at the end: one shift to lead, one next step, and when to look again at the rest
  • Free, no sign-up, and your answers never leave your device
Try the self-check

Includes a worked example from the Field Guide.

Choose Which Shift to Lead
DetectUnlockChooseActLearnPlan
Lead
The AI rolloutNext step: take two competing deliverables off the team’s plate for six weeks.
Monitor
The reorgA key ally leaving
Set aside
Nothing yet, and that’s fine.
Shared driver: Capacity. One move there helps every shift it touches.
White paper

The Missing Discipline

Why well-run change efforts still stall, and what senior leaders can do about it.

3 in 10

Fewer than three in ten of 1,200+ leaders and individual contributors believed their organization’s change effort would succeed.

≈ 2 in 3

Roughly two in three named Heart needs when asked what would help them engage. The most common leadership response was more information.

Inside: the believability gap, why leaders respond at the wrong layer, the IPL Shift Leadership Framework™ and the Traction Conditions™, and three governance moves senior leaders can make without new budget.

Download the white paper (PDF)
Cover of the white paper The Missing Discipline
Articles

Practical reads for leaders in the middle of change.

Short enough to read between meetings, specific enough to use in the next one.

Shift Leadership The Case for Shift Leadership Change now arrives too fast and too often for change management alone. Why every person needs to lead shifts from where they stand, and what changes when they do. Includes a downloadable overview of the methodology. Read the article → Leadership teams Leading “What’s Next” Leadership Teams: A Practical Guide for Senior Leaders How a senior leader’s role changes as the team matures, from Super Manager to Team Coach, with practical steps and reflection questions for each stage. By Kristy Braden Read the article →
When you’re ready to apply it

Take the ideas into your organization.

Measure itShift DiagnosticsSix instruments that show where a shift is stalling, from direction at the top to the experience of each person.Choose a diagnostic → Put it in every leader’s handsThe Field GuideWhen Shift Gets Real: A Field Guide for Individuals, now online on Shift Fieldcraft, with worksheets for the moment a shift lands.See the Field Guide → Work with usHow We HelpConsulting, leader development and team sessions for the shifts that matter most.See how we help →
Lead the shift

Want help putting any of this to work?

A 30-minute discovery call, no prep needed. Tell us what’s changing, and we’ll suggest where to start.

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