Submission to ACMP to speak at Change Management 2017 New Orleans

Andrew OKeeffe
Leading Change Using Human Instincts: What Really Works for Humans
Presentation outline and interaction plan
The following outline of my presentation builds from concepts to specifics. Stories are incorporated
throughout the presentation to make it more engaging, memorable and applicable.
1. Crystalizing the presentation: By knowing our instincts we avoid being blinded to how
humans respond to change and we can make informed choices.
2. The challenge to capture attention: In the 100 years of leadership practice, one subject we
have not yet solved is change management. There must be something missing. The missing
element is that we have not incorporated human nature into our methodologies. At best, we have
misread human nature and at worst ignored it.
3. The transformation from knowing human instincts: By knowing the science of human
nature we transform our success at leading change for both change managers and for the
leaders that we coach in our organizations. We can lift of organizational change capability.
By knowing the science of human nature then we can make sense of
the behavior of a big-brain social species in times of change such as a
merger. I then surprise the audience with an unexpected storyabout a
merger of two groups of chimpanzees at Edinburgh Zoo, Scotland (I
have spent time with Dr Jane Goodall and she and I present to business
audiences together so I share stories on good authority). In short, the
story of the chimp merger is that when the two groups of chimps (one
was the domiciled group of Edinburgh joined by a group from The
Netherlands) what occurred will not surprise any change manager.
Even though the two groups lived in an enclosed space, it was about
two years before the keepers saw any sign of integration!
The benefit of knowing our instincts is that we are no longer blinded by
them and can now make informed decisions.
4. Misreading of how people respond to change: Conventional wisdom says that people
resist change. That cant be true otherwise wed be still living in caves. That conventional thinking
is a misreading of how people actually process and respond to change (the reality is a mix of three
instincts: Emotion Before Reasons, First Impressions to Classify, and Loss Aversion). Yet that
conventional thinking has shaped and limited approaches to managing change.
5. The human journey: Through the long journey of
human history we have only recently moved from
being hunter-gatherers and villagers and moved into
offices and factories. In the Western world that shift
began only 250 years ago with the start of the
Industrial Revolution. Such a short time is no time to
alter the essence of human nature including how our
brains work. Behavior that served us well in our
ancestral setting is alive and well in todays
workplaces.
Our approach is based on the science of Anthropology,
Psychology, and Primatology. This is a new evidenceapproach to change management that has been
applied in major organisations (see below).
6. A big-brain social species: At our core we are a big-brain social species. There are benefits in
Nature of being a brainy social species (it helped as a protection against predators) but there is
also a deal of social complexity that comes with being part of a group of other brainy individuals

with their own drives and motivations. This essence drives 9 instincts in the framework of human
nature.
The framework comes original from work out of London Business School and synthesizes the work
of many other academics.
7. Interaction identifying human instincts: Depending on the time available, an interactive
exercise I often run is to have delegates reflect on this scenario. Imagine we left the room right
now and outside the conference room is a row of busses. We board the busses to be taken to the
local zoo. We enter the zoo and we are looking for one particular species: Homo sapiens! We find
that exhibit and we are looking at the individual humans on display. We are wondering what is the
essence of this species. And then we notice a poster on the side of the exhibit. The exhibit lists six
behaviors that characterize this species. What do you think would be on the poster?
The main reason to run this scenario is that people do identify the critical instincts. In other words,
they know the essence of human nature without having previously turned their mind to the
subject. It helps their learning and the adopting of the approach when the 9 instincts are revealed.
8. Explaining the framework by way of story: The framework is mainly explained by way of
story. For example, one of the instincts is Confidence Before Realism. This instinct means humans
are more inclined to be optimistic than pessimistic and tend to deny reality if reality will block our
objectives (such as senior leaders underestimating complex change and resources required to
implement). To explain this instinct I share two examples a bad example which ended in
disaster and a good example where a leader who knew about this human instinct made a really
good executive decision. The bad example is the Deepwater Horizon disaster where information
from the rig that it was not safe to cap the well was denied.
The good example is Captain
Sullenberger who landed flight
1549 in the Hudson River because
he knew that pilots, after an event
like the bird strike that caused
both engines to fail, invariably
deny the reality that is staring
them in the face and try to not
only save lives but also the plane.
He knew that decision pilots
invariably make based on human
nature invariably ends in disaster.
The stories allow the framework to come alive by explaining events people are aware of and
obviously makes the presentation stimulating and memorable.
9. Building up the 9 Essentials framework: Knowing about human instincts means that there
are 9 Essentials (see framework below) in how we plan and implement change. Depending on the
time available in the presentation I will cover 4-5 of the Essentials. As I cover each Essential I will
include case study examples of situations where the Essential has been used (including from
Accenture, Cable & Wireless, IBM, Metro Trains Melbourne, Philips, Symantec, and Thales).
For example, Gossip. Once we know that humans, with our incredible vocal capability, would use
this capability to listen out to and tell stories that help our survival and our social interactions. In
times of change, especially if a change is not being well managed, gossip will occur as rumor.
Rumor is mainly people seeking plausibility. Ill share a number of ways that this instinct of gossip
can be used well by change managers. One is what I call The Gossip Test. The gossip test says
that we know people are going to talk (for example, after an announcement). The point of the
gossip test is, what do you want people to say? Once we determine what we want people to say,
this leads to our actions that will most create that desired future state. I will give case study
examples from an acquisition and an office relocation.