The change initiative – change management as a simulation game

This article was created with the AI assistant Claude and published by Peter Hoenig.

Most change initiatives do not fail because of the idea, and not because of the plan. They fail because of a bill that only falls due later. The change initiative makes that bill visible: twelve months, four levers, and at the end not just a result but the question of how ready you are for the next one. In your browser, free of charge, with nothing transmitted.

How to play

Each month you distribute your energy across the four levers. You only get progress through pace and pressure – participation even costs pace. So you might conclude: push it through, and briskly. That works too, for two or three months. Then comes the resistance created by the pressure in month one, and the exhaustion that the pace has cost. Together they slow you down more than the pressure ever pushed.

The path that wins in the game is uncomfortable and fairly precisely what works in practice: first prepare the ground, then pick up pace. In the early months, a lot of participation and sparing, honest communication until acceptance carries – and only then deliver. Reverse that order and you achieve less in twelve months, even though you applied more pressure throughout.

The communication trap

There is a catch in the game that I built in because I have met it so often in projects: communication is not measured by how much you talk, but by whether what is said matches what is actually delivered. Announce a lot and deliver little and you do not lower resistance – you raise it. In the game, the adviser then tells you so to your face.

The outlook at the end

After the result comes a second number: how ready would you be for the next initiative? It combines exhaustion, acceptance and resistance. Two games with the same score can be far apart here – and that is exactly the difference between a project that is finished and an organisation that still can. Exhausted organisations do not win a second change.

Who is this for?

For everyone responsible for change: management, project leadership, HR development. As a way into a workshop, as a conversation starter in a leadership team – or simply to see in peace what your own favourite strategy does over a year. More about my work on this is under change management.

In short

Free as free software, independently implemented: Open The change initiative. If you would rather understand the underlying way of thinking first: Networked thinking – why simple cause and effect often leads you astray. And if you have a change ahead of you in which the order should be right, do get in touch for a free initial consultation.

"The change initiative" is a model for reflection and conversation about the dynamics of change – not a diagnostic instrument for individuals or organisations, and not a forecast.