A change manager explains the loose grip mindset: building flexibility into plans instead of rigid structures. He merged separate change components into one client-focused plan, added a 10-15% budget line for unplanned actions, and now schedules regular unfilled time blocks for strategic thinking rather than filling every calendar slot.
Chapters
Second one is, um, have a loose grip. So it doesn't mean no grip, it means a loose grip. And so be flexible on this too. And so, um, and you can both appreciate this because we come from this world, is I often got asked to create a change plan, okay? And, uh, One of the things that I always did with my change plans later in my career is that I would combine communication, change, and training all into one plan. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Because in the end, what they really want is, how are you gonna move my people? Right. And they don't really care that this is a training module and this is a change management thing and this is a communication piece. They don't— clients really didn't care. They just wanted their people to move. So I was like, and it took me a while to figure that out. And I don't know of anybody else that, that combined those all in one because it was like, the training plan's not the same thing as a communication plan. I, I know that, but, but clients don't care which one it is that's moving their people. So then, so then you create a change, in the change plan, there's a work plan. Here's what I always put in my work plans. You're gonna— you guys are gonna love this. I always had a line item called unplanned change actions, right? You're both nodding. You're just going like, oh my gosh, yes, right? Because then they're— and, and I would get questions on that. So there'd be a budget in there, you know, there's time and budget. I'd have like 10 to 15% of my stuff that would be like, yeah, unplanned change actions, like What's that piece? And I'm like, it's the stuff I don't know. And they're like, what do you mean? Oh, so this is just a plug number. It's like, kind of, but I'm telling you that I'm an expert at this and I can't anticipate 15% of what's gonna happen. Mm-hmm. And so I need to be able to have a, a, a, a place that I can put that in, or else you're gonna be wondering why I'm not doing other stuff that we have in here. Mm-hmm. Contingency in a way. It is, but, but yes, and contingency sounds like a plug number. These are change actions, and I would literally— and then I literally had a spreadsheet that I like, here's, here's my list of change actions, and then I would have the ones that were planned and unplanned, and I'd say, here's, here's how I'm eating up that budget with these unplanned change actions, by the way, which you kind of asked for. You know? Yeah, it wasn't untracked. It isn't unmanaged. It's just unforeseen. Yes. Right. So my clients love this much better than a, you know, a 15% contingency plug. Yeah, it's about the same kind of thing, but it, but it had discrete units attached to it. Right. That I could track. So anyway, that's, that's this loose grip. Um, the other way I'd look at loose grips is in— and, uh, because I is not on this call, but, uh, for today, but this one's for you, Keziah. Um, you know, she's got so many things going on in her life that, um, I wonder where her loose grip is. Where's, where's the block of unplanned time every week? Every week in the rhythm where you go like, I've got this 2-hour block, which I'm not going— I'm going to put it on my Outlook, however you track your time, but I'm not going to put anything in there. It's just going to be the time for me to figure out what's next. Executives, same problem. I've seen them have, you know, 20-minute increments in their calendar all eaten up. And it's like, where's the time for you to think 5 years out for strategy? And they're like, Man, I just wish I had that time. It's like, that's in your control. You need to just take it. So that's a reminder for us too, to have that, those, those unplanned change action blocks in our weekly calendar.
