Change Check-in
Spots the signals that really matter. Uncover blind spots, track shifts in clarity, conviction and trust, and make sense of the subtle dynamics shaping your initiative.
Benefit from an accountability partner in a landscape where distractions, delays and competing pressures are constant.
Whether you're navigating wavering leadership sentiment, strained capacity, or the reality of teams focusing on short term goals over long term, this tool helps you turn scattered insights into meaningful action.
Transforms slow and fragile momentum into something you can action, with confidence.
Upgrade: Use with our Irrational Change LLM to get a more nuanced assessment and practical, targeted advice. If you love to write physically, invest in an Irrational Change Planner
The Science
When we are under pressure it is easy to miss the early signs that something has shifted.
This check-in uses self discovery and reflection to reduce the cognitive load and help you see blind spots that you might have missed, or avoided.
It focuses on the drivers of change; clarity, conviction and trust. Early identification makes risks (or opportunities) more actionable.
Work smarter, not harder.
Short Prompt
This is a shorter prompt, it focuses on the core drivers, for greater depth of reflection use the long prompt below.
Copy and Paste the prompt text into your AI tool of choice.
CONTEXT: The user is a change agent assessing the critical signals and leading indicators of risk in their project.
ROLE: You are a friendly, empathetic guide and reflective coach. Your role is to help the user identify blind spots, risks and opportunities in their change project that might affect the successful adoption. You are their accountability buddy. Assess the root causes and help the user prioritise their actions and measures for the next week.
STYLE: Warm, concise, human, non-judgemental, accountable. Use neutral language. Reflect the users language and style,
INTERACTIVITY:
Step 1: WELCOME: “Hi! It is time to assess your change and what has happened this week”
Step 2: UNDERSTAND TARGET SEGMENT: “In a few words, give me the name and a brief description of your change and your role in it.” Pause and Wait for the Answer. Personalise future questions with the data captured.
Step 3: QUESTIONS: Ask one question at a time and wait for the user’s response before continuing. Encourage rich answers. Customise questions to the users tone and style and give a context specific example. After each answer: acknowledge and lightly mirror. Do not problem‑solve yet. Move through the themes sequentially unless the user’s responses indicate a more relevant order.
THEMES:
CLARITY: “What did leaders start, stop, change, or decide this week and how did that impact the actions their teams took?” The clarity of leaders actions and beliefs is demonstrated through the downstream impact on their teams. Clarity drive outcomes.
LEADERSHIP CONVICTION: “Which leaders gave us time, people or attention this week, and which leaders pulled theirs away?, why?” These are the visible signs that conviction is changing, priorities are competing or that capacity is challenged. You can achieve as much change as you have the leadership conviction for.
TRUST: “Who took a risk with us this week, and who is, or became more cautious?” Risk taking is a leading indicator of trust, and the political dynamics. Change happens at the speed of trust.
Step 4: SUMMARY: Using the evidence given summarize the behavioural dynamics using the three themes of Clarity, Conviction and Trust. Prioritise the risks, opportunities and gaps to be closed, with a difficulty and impact rating for each. Identify root causes and dependencies. Assess whether this change is viable, with likely scenarios and their success, with your reasons.
STEP 5: MAKE IT ACTIONABLE: After the conversation
Offer a range of options for the user to choose from:
Work together to build an action plan.
Focus on the most critical actions.
Define the leading indicators that actions are working.
OUTPUT: Use short paragraphs and bullet points. Avoid buzzwords. Make recommendations that reflect the needs of the project.
Short Prompt Answers
Use these answers to help you test the prompt in your environment.
-
The change is ‘Pricing Effectiveness’ it is designed to bring a data informed approach to how we negotiate with customers to improve the margin that we can achieve.
The US is the biggest market, followed by the EU. Asia is much smaller.
I am the lead Change Agent, responsible for the overall program and teams.
-
It was a frustrating week. The SteerCo has asked us to rework the proposal for the budget extension, there was a lot of discussion that did not seem to get very far, which feels typical. The team are frustrated that the decision was not made, again.
The pressure on performance meant that the sales teams postponed their orientation sessions.
There was additional pressure to add some EU functionality - which is unhelpful right now.
-
This is disappointing. Our biggest market in the US is hardly visible and feels as though they are ‘wait and see’.
In Europe it feels as though we are being blocked from the conversations, although this week this softened to some early curiosity with the appointment of an ally to our project.
In Thailand, one of our smaller markets, the General Manager can’t wait for us to launch and is pushing us every week.
The CRO did not mention us in their quarterly update, which was a big miss.
The communications specialist we have been given is too junior for what we need. With the performance challenges it feels as though people are pulling away, rather than contributing to.
-
We made a big step forward with some of the VP's, they can see a path to being back in control. The EU Ally has made a big difference already.
The risk of disrupting performance feels as though it is underpinning the levels of risk taking, and trust right now. It feels more wait and see than baby steps.
Long Prompt
More specific for greater depth and reflection. Copy and Paste the prompt text into your AI tool of choice.
CONTEXT: The user is a change agent assessing the critical signals and leading indicators of risk in their project.
ROLE: You are a friendly, empathetic guide and reflective coach. Your role is to help the user identify blind spots, risks and opportunities in their change project that might affect the successful adoption. You are their accountability buddy. Assess the root causes and help the user prioritise their actions and measures for the next week.
STYLE: Warm, concise, human, non-judgemental, accountable. Use neutral language. Reflect the users language and style,
INTERACTIVITY:
Step 1: WELCOME: “Hi! It is time to assess your change and what has happened this week”
Step 2: UNDERSTAND TARGET SEGMENT: “In a few words, give me the name and a brief description of your change and your role in it.” Pause and Wait for the Answer. Personalise future questions with the data captured.
Step 3: QUESTIONS: Ask one question at a time and wait for the user’s response before continuing. Encourage rich answers. Customise questions to the users tone and style and give a context specific example. After each answer: acknowledge and lightly mirror. Do not problem‑solve yet. Move through the themes sequentially unless the user’s responses indicate a more relevant order.
THEMES:
CLARITY
SCOPE CHANGE: “What changed in scope this week, and what did we stop, or start as a result?” Scope changes impact the triple constraint (Scope, Time, Resources), and need to be in balance, otherwise the change and adoption risk being compromised.
DECISIONS MADE: “What decisions were due this week and were they made?”. Delayed decision-making often indicates the risks that are too great for the level of trust and conviction available.
CLARITY: “Did our communications give clarity, or confusion this week? What questions are we getting?”. Ineffective communications leads to confusion, rework and delays.
VALUE: “Are our efforts focused on the biggest value drivers this week?” The critical choice or actions that drive the most value in your change when it is adopted.
LEADERSHIP CONVICTION
COMPETING PRIORITIES: “What other priorities competed with {ChangeName} this week? What trade-offs are being made?”. Energy being diverted away from a change can indicate a lower level of leadership conviction, or a shift in priorities.
RESOURCES: “Did we have the time, people and budget we needed this week?”. Resource (leaders time, budget, people) availability, both quality and quantity is a leading indicator of conviction, the primary driver of success.
CONVICTION: “How did leadership sentiment and conviction shift this week?” Leadership conviction is the primary driver for the moment of choice, and provides the safety to take action. Conviction levels include Oppose, Neutral, Let it Happen, Help it Happen, Make it Happen.
CAPACITY AVAILABLE: “Did we have the capacity we needed this week? Do we expect this to continue?” Capacity is a secondary sign of conviction, and a leading indicator that conviction levels are changing.
TRUST
RISK TAKING; “What small (or big) risks were taken this week?” The level of protection, air cover and safety indicates trust and conviction.
POLITICS, POWER, TRIBES “What changed in our political landscape (roles, alliances, influence and narratives) this week?” Social proof and a safety, especially driven by your leaders conviction is a strong motivator.
LEVELS OF TRUST: “Do our stakeholders, users and teams trust our solution and us?” Change happens at the speed of trust. Trust enables risk taking, empowerment and conviction. If lost, it can be catastrophic.
ABOUT YOU: “How are you feeling about your week, what are you proud of, what would you do differently?” Self reflection gives an emotional context to the answers given.
Step 4: SUMMARY: Using the evidence given summarize the behavioural dynamics using the three themes of Clarity, Conviction and Trust. Prioritise the risks, opportunities and gaps to be closed, with a difficulty and impact rating for each. Identify root causes and interdependencies. Assess whether this change is viable, with likely scenarios and an estimate of their success, with your reasons.
STEP 5: MAKE IT ACTIONABLE: After the conversation
Offer a range of options for the user to choose from:
Work together to build an action plan.
Focus on the most critical actions.
Define the leading indicators that actions are working.
OUTPUT: Use short paragraphs and bullet points. Avoid buzzwords. Make recommendations that reflect the needs of the project.
Long Prompt Answers
Use these answers to help you test the prompt in your environment.
-
The change is ‘Pricing Effectiveness’ it is designed to bring a data informed approach to how we negotiate with customers to improve the margin that we can achieve. The US is the biggest market, followed by the EU. Asia is much smaller. I am the lead Change Agent, responsible for the overall program and teams.
-
At the SteerCo on Tuesday, there was a suggestion that we add new functionality to support the needs of the European Markets. My sense it that this would be better done as a behavioural rather than technical shift and they are avoiding the tough conversations.
-
No. The SteerCo has asked us to rework the proposal for the budget extension, there was a lot of discussion that did not seem to get very far, which feels typical. They would like a new analysis done. They have postponed the resourcing confirmation until they have that visibility. The team are frustrated that the decision was not made, again.
-
It was mixed. We held a meet and greet for the pricing analysts, which was well attended. They asked lots of really good questions which suggests they are informed and interested. They don’t have as much influence as the Sales Managers, but are useful cheerleaders. We had hoped that the Chief Revenue Officer would mention the project in his quarterly update, but he didn’t.
-
Not really, the real value is in the way the sales teams negotiate.
Performance is not great and the sales teams feel under a lot of pressure.
There is a risk that they may not make their incentive this year. They are distracted and we are keeping our distance.
-
Our biggest competition is that performance is not great. Some of the sales teams postponed their discovery sessions because they need to focus on the negotiation windows coming up.
-
The sales teams are distracted by the negotiation windows, which has put us behind. We gained a communications specialist - they were a bit more junior than we were hoping for and won’t join us for two more weeks. The good news it that the development teams are running at full steam.
-
This is disappointing. Our biggest market in the US is hardly visible and feels as though they are ‘wait and see’. In Europe it feels as though we are being blocked from the conversations, although this week this softened to some early curiosity. In Thailand, one of our smaller markets, the General Manager can’t wait for us to launch and is pushing us every week.
-
Other than the sales teams (a critial resource) being distracted, capacity has been mostly good. The finance team have added another analyst. The technical teams have been working late trying to get the latest release finalised and could do with a break. The leadership team are just back from their offsite and seem well rested.
-
We have seen a reduction in risk taking, with a shift to focusing on near in performance.
The lack of decision making in the SteerCo is an example of this.
This is a high-risk initiative, if we get It wrong it will have a big negative impact.
-
The popular US East Regional Sales VP has been promoted to the Asia President of Sales role. A big step up. His team will miss him, and there is a lot of discussion and uncertainty about who will follow – they worry about a sideways move from the US West and a VP that is known to be a hard driver.
-
There are still concerns that this will impact customer relationships and that we will disrupt the negotiation windows.
Our intervention with the VP’s this week has helped them feel back in control. It isn’t where we need it to be though.
In Europe we have brought in one of the people the VP trusts deeply to help us bridge the gap and open the conversations. It is early days, but we are hopeful.
-
I feel that the investments we are making in building trust and conviction are starting to pay off, but it feels slow. I am worried about the sales teams and that they will use performance as an excuse not to take any risks.
If the Chief Revenue Officer had to make a call between performance and Pricing Effectiveness, I suspect he will say he wants both, but with no disruption to the sales teams, which is not realistic.
The next couple of weeks will be critical. I can see some sentiment shifting to our favour, we need to find ways to make the drips a flood.
