Thoughts on Change: How to herd humans without losing your mind
This podcast about the messy, political, emotional, deeply human side of leading change. Around here, we talk about how to move culture, how to build credibility, and how to influence without bulldozing. Basically: how to herd humans without losing your mind.
Episodes
16 episodes
The Secret to Sustainable Change: Why Momentum Matters More Than Motivation
Have you ever noticed that some improvement efforts seem to take on a life of their own?People start talking about them. Others want to get involved. New ideas begin showing up. The improvement spreads beyond what you ever imagined.<...
Episode 15 - Why Great Ideas Stall: How to get buy-in by reaching the right people
Have you ever had an idea that everyone agreed was a good idea… after it was too late?You did the analysis. You gathered the data. You built the business case. Maybe you even created the world's most beautiful PowerPoint deck.And ...
Episode 14 - The Current You're Fighting: Why Great Ideas Stall Inside Organizations
Have you ever had an improvement idea that was absolutely the right thing to do… and it still went nowhere?The data was solid. The problem was real. The people closest to the work agreed it needed to happen. And yet somehow the project s...
Episode 13 - Just Because It's a Problem Doesn't Mean You Should Solve It
Change efforts don't usually fail because they're bad ideas.They fail because they're buried under noise.As Continuous Improvement leaders, we see problems everywhere. We spot waste, inefficiencies, bottlenecks, and opportunities ...
Episode 12 - Kata & TWI Summit Reflections
What actually makes change stick?Is it:the tool? the process? the storyboard? the training? Or is it something much deeper?In this episode of Thoug...
Episode 11 - Are you overhelping your team? Helping with intention in CI.
If you work in CI, helping probably feels like second nature. In fact, it’s probably one of the reasons you got into this work in the first place. But here’s the uncomfortable question we’re digging into today: Is your helping actually helpi...
Episode 10 - Stop Treating People Like Projects: The Real Secret to Influence in CI
If you’re struggling to get engagement with your change efforts, there’s a good chance the problem isn’t their resistance……it’s your lack of connection.I know—this one can sting a little.In Continuous Improvement, we’re tra...
Episode 9 - Herding Humans, a new way to lead change
In this episode of “Thoughts on Change,” Kelly proposes a shift from pushing change to “shaping what’s possible” through credibility and influence. She defines a “change shaper” as someone who shows up effectively when resistance appears, regar...
Episode 8 - Building a bridge from credibility to shaping change
Kelly introduces Thoughts On Change as a podcast about the human side of leading change and explains the recent progression from “Resistobots” (internal reactions to discomfort) to the Transform framework and now a focus on credibility. She sha...
Episode 7 - CI Warrior Series: Abby Kovarik on Muda, Culture Change, and Leading with Heart
Kelly Mallery introduces the first CI Warrior interview on Thoughts On Change with Abby Kovarik, a continuous improvement specialist at Raymond Corp (a Toyota Material Handling brand), who focuses on strengthening people, clarifying work, and b...
Episode 6 - Getting results that matter, which layer of the problem are you solving?
Kelly explains that even with integrity, clear intent, relationships, and gemba time, credibility won’t stick without delivering results—solving not only the requested problem but also the hidden, unspoken one. She describes three layers behind...
Episode 5 - Intent, the invisible driver behind change
In this episode of 'Thoughts on Change,' Kelly explores the critical role of intent in building credibility during change initiatives. Understanding that people judge us based on our behavior while we judge ourselves by our intent is crucial. K...
Episode 4 - The #1 reason CI practitioners aren’t heard (and how to fix it)
In this episode of 'Thoughts on Change,' host Kelly delves into the discrepancy CI (Continuous Improvement) professionals often feel between their potential contributions and the tasks leaders assign to them. Emphasizing the politics, emotions,...
Episode 3 - We Don't Just Face Resistance...We Create It
In this episode of Thoughts On Change, Kelly discusses how change leaders often create the resistance they face and introduces various archetypes, dubbed 'Resistobots,' which embody different counterproductive behaviors. These include Commandax...
Episode 2 - People Don't Hate Change, They Hate the Future They Picture
In this episode of Thoughts on Change, host Kelly explores why people resist change—even when they deal with it constantly. The answer isn't about change itself, but about the future people imagine. Kelly unpacks the psychology behind change re...