A change driver is a force or factor that initiates or drives change within an organization. Change drivers can be internal or external to the organization, and they can take many forms, such as technological advancements, market trends, financial challenges, leadership changes, or regulatory requirements. Change drivers can impact various aspects of an organization, including its strategy, plans, designs, products, services, and operations. They can shape the direction of the organization and influence the decisions and actions taken by leadership and employees.

Change drivers can be either positive or negative, depending on their impact on the organization. Positive change drivers, such as technological innovations or market opportunities, can provide opportunities for growth and competitiveness. Negative change drivers, such as financial challenges or regulatory changes, can present challenges and require the organization to adapt and respond. Understanding the change drivers that are impacting an organization can be helpful in developing strategies and plans to navigate and respond to change. By identifying and anticipating change drivers, organizations can be better prepared to adapt and take advantage of opportunities, and to mitigate and manage risks. The following are common change drivers beginning with internal drivers and progressing to external ones.

Mission & Vision
Many organizations are driven by a leader with a mission and vision for the future. Such an organization may seek to define the future as opposed to reacting to day-to-day competitive pressures.

Principles
An organization may establish principles that are designed to shape change. For example, a principle of minimizing negative environmental impact or of putting customers first in all decisions.

Capabilities
The capabilities of an organization tend to be a change driver. If you have strong engineering capabilities, you may view everything as an engineering problem. If you have strong marketing capabilities, you may view everything as a marketing problem and so forth.

Measurements
Many organizations are in the habit of measuring things, improving them and measuring again. In this case, measurements need to be carefully designed such that a single factor isn’t over-optimized at the expense of everything else. For example, an obsession with cutting unit costs can result in quality failures, liability and reputational damage.

Experiments
The practice of trying many things in a lightweight way that can fail without much damage. The idea is to try brave ideas and scale the ones that work.

Organizational Culture
The norms, habits and expectations of your organization. For example, some organizations are resistant to change such that people try to slow down or derail progress.

Leadership
The ability of leaders to get people moving in the same direction.

Change Agents
The resilient people in your organization who are able to overcome a large number of problems to push change through. An organization filled with change agents will achieve a very different rate of change as compared to an organization filled with resistance to change.

Lead Users
Lead users are your customers who are pushing your products and services to their limits. They are often an important source of change. For example, a large customer of a cloud computing platform who needs much faster network performance than you currently offer. Such a customer might point out your weakness on a regular basis and push you to improve.

Market Research
Going out and asking customers what they think, feel and want.

Critics
Some firms are quite sensitive to criticism and will change based on criticisms by customers, the media or the public.

Technology
External innovation that forces you to change. For example, most firms were forced to open a website and/or migrate to one with the commercialization of the internet in the mid-1990s.

Competition
Competition such as a competitor who is always lowering their costs and prices.

Customer Needs
Changing customer needs such as a shift in demographics to an older population that demands healthier food items.

Customer Perceptions
Changing customer perceptions such as increased awareness that a particular food ingredient is healthy or unhealthy.

Customer Preferences
Shifting customer preferences such as a fashion trend whereby a particular color, style or format is suddenly popular.

Supply & Demand
Changes in supply and demand. For example , a supply shortage that results in a spike in material costs.

Regulations
The introduction or elimination of government regulations.

Economic Environment
The economic environment such as interest rates, economic stability and the availability of funding.

Politics
Political events in areas such as trade barriers and political stability. For example, a need to replace a supply partner due to a trade war.

Restructuring is the process of reorganizing or reshaping an organization in order to improve its efficiency, effectiveness, or competitiveness. It may involve changes to the organizational structure, processes, systems, or culture of the organization. Restructuring can be prompted by a variety of factors, such as changing market conditions, technological advancements, financial challenges, or leadership changes.

There are several types of restructuring that an organization may undertake. One common type of restructuring is downsizing, which involves reducing the size of the organization in order to cut costs or increase efficiency. This may involve laying off employees, closing facilities, or consolidating functions. Another type of restructuring is rightsizing, which involves adjusting the size of the organization to better match the needs and resources of the business. This may involve expanding or contracting certain departments or functions, or shifting resources between different areas of the business.

Restructuring can also involve changes to the organizational structure of the business. This may involve creating new departments, teams, or positions, or altering the reporting relationships within the organization. Restructuring may also involve changes to processes and systems, such as introducing new technologies or streamlining existing processes. Finally, restructuring may involve changes to the culture of the organization, such as adopting new values, behaviors, or practices.

While restructuring can bring about significant benefits, it can also be a challenging process that involves managing change, addressing resistance, and communicating effectively with stakeholders. It is important for organizations to carefully plan and execute restructuring in order to minimize disruption and maximize the chances of success. The following are common types of restructuring.

Mergers & Acquisitions
Integrating the administration, operations, technology and/or products of two firms.

Legal
Changing the legal structure of a firm such as ownership structure. For example, a business unit may become its own legal entity.

Financial
A change to a firm’s capital structure such as a debt restructuring designed to allow a firm in financial distress to continue to operate.

Turnaround
Restructuring the administration, operations and products of an organization that is performing poorly. Often requires new leadership and a change to strategy and culture.

Repositioning
A strategy designed to move a firm or business unit to a new business or operational model. For example, a firm that sells software products that moves to a software services model.

Cost Restructuring
Cutting administrative and operational costs in response to a downturn or anticipated downturn in revenue or margins.

Divestment
Selling or closing a business unit that is unprofitable, nonstrategic or problematic in some way.

Spin-off
Restructuring a business unit to be its own company while retaining some ownership. A spin-off is often done to seek a high valuation for an attractive part of a business.

Tactics are short-term, immediate strategies that are designed to respond to fast-changing realities and situations. They are focused on taking advantage of opportunities and managing risks as they arise, and they differ from long-term strategies in that they are reactive rather than proactive. Tactics are commonly used in business and in life in general as a way to adapt to changing circumstances and seize opportunities as they present themselves. They may involve using specific tools, techniques, or resources to achieve a specific goal or objective, and they may be flexible and adaptable in order to respond to changing conditions. Tactics are an important aspect of decision-making and problem-solving, as they allow individuals and organizations to respond quickly and effectively to changing circumstances. The following are illustrative examples.

Markets
A trader purchases a stock she wouldn’t ordinarily buy simply because the price drops irrationally low as the result of a capitulation process.

Weather
A ski resort applies steep discounts to hotel rooms based on weather forecasts that suggest several weeks of unseasonably warm temperatures.

Locations
A retailer has a strategy to open 10 new locations in a given year. The plan is almost complete when a lease becomes available in a prime location. They decide to open an 11th shop to grab the prime location.

Information Security
An IT team disables several customer accounts when it realizes their passwords may have been leaked.

Environment
A city bans gasoline powered cars in its city center for a day when air quality drops to dangerous levels.

Pricing
A fashion retailer increases its price when it realizes there will be strong demand for a new product.

Promotion
A restaurant chain increases its advertising budget when a particular commercial is unusually successful in driving word of mouth and sales.

Supply Chain
A supply chain disruption causes a fast food restaurant to run out of french fries across an entire region. They contact a wholesaler of snacks and purchase a variety of substitutes such as potato chips.

Diplomacy
A protectionist government places new tariffs on a range of goods. Other countries respond with their own tariffs in a tit for tat response.

Career
An IT team experiences a period of instability as two senior resources leave just as a large project is about to launch. A junior engineer steps in to work long hours to help the team deliver to commitments. The engineer ends up doing the work of far more senior resources and gains valuable experience and reputation. Within months she is promoted.

Projects
A vendor delivers low quality work products that cause a project to miss dates. The program management team decides to withhold milestone payments to the vendor to get the attention of the firm’s management.

Ethics
An employee joins a new firm and finds that it has a poor ethical climate. She decides to cut and run by returning to her former employer.

Negotiations
A purchaser deploys a bogey in negotiations by claiming that it is their firm’s standard to pay suppliers within 135 days of invoice. They know the seller won’t be able to accept such terms and may bend on price.

Strategic direction refers to the long-term vision and direction of an organization, and it serves as a guiding principle for the development and implementation of strategies and plans. It is a set of foundational ideas that provide coherence and consistency to the strategies of an organization, and it helps to ensure that all strategies are aligned with the overall goals and values of the organization. Strategic direction is important because it helps to unite the various strategies of an organization and provide stability of direction over time. It helps to ensure that the organization is focused on its long-term goals and is able to adapt to changing circumstances in a consistent and cohesive manner. Strategic direction is typically set by executive leadership and is communicated throughout the organization in order to ensure that all employees are working towards the same goals. The following are common types of strategic direction.

Mission

A mission defines your purpose as an organization. If your mission is to provide the highest quality bicycles on the market then this provides long term strategic direction that calls for prioritizing quality over other goals such as cost savings.

Vision

A vision statement paints a picture of the future of a society, city or organization. This is a basic way to provide strategic direction alongside a mission statement. For example, a city with a vision of a high quality of life, zero pollution and expansive green spaces can use this vision to prioritize current planning and spending.

Culture

Culture is the set of behaviors, expectations and norms that evolve in a society, city or organization as a result of the shared experiences of its members. Culture is difficult to change but acts as a strong form of strategic direction. For example, a department store that has a deeply ingrained service culture with respect for the customer will easily implement improvements to customer service where other firms fail.

Ideology

Ideology is a system of ideas and values that provide social, economic, political and moral direction. Ideologies provide strategic direction to a society such that policies remain consistent and stable over time.

Principles

Principles are foundational guidelines or rules that provide direction to future strategy and decision making. For example, a technology company that establishes the information security principle that all data be strongly encrypted in storage and transit. This leaves no excuse for lapses of encryption and provides strategic direction to new projects and initiatives.

Values

Values are principles that relate to matters of right and wrong. For example, a technology company that establishes the sustainability principle that energy be procured from the most sustainable source available and used as efficiently as possible.

Grand Strategy

Grand strategy is a long term strategy that considers every possible approach and tool at your disposal. In some cases, an organization’s current strategy may appear to be irrational but makes sense when you have a view of its grand strategy. For example, an electric car manufacturer that opens up its patents for free use by the competition. This may be viewed as irrational by its shareholders as they view the patents as valuable assets. However, this may speed the adoption of electric vehicles and related infrastructure such as charging stations that ensure the technology wins over competing approaches such as hydrogen vehicles. A grand strategy provides strategic direction over time and represents a long term optimization of strategy over short term considerations.

Motivation is the driving force that inspires people to take action and pursue their goals. It is an important factor in determining an individual’s level of productivity, engagement, and overall well-being. There are various types of motivation, and understanding these types can be helpful in understanding why people do the things they do and how to effectively motivate oneself and others.

1. Intrinsic motivation: This type of motivation comes from within an individual, and it is driven by personal interests, values, and goals. It is often associated with a sense of personal fulfillment or satisfaction.
2. Extrinsic motivation: This type of motivation comes from external factors, such as rewards, incentives, or consequences. It is often used to motivate people to perform specific tasks or achieve specific goals.
3. Positive motivation: This type of motivation is based on positive reinforcement, such as praise, recognition, or rewards. It is often used to encourage desired behaviors or attitudes.
4. Negative motivation: This type of motivation is based on negative reinforcement, such as punishment or the avoidance of unpleasant consequences. It is often used to discourage undesirable behaviors or attitudes.
5. Social motivation: This type of motivation is driven by the desire to belong or be accepted by a group, and it is often influenced by social norms, expectations, and peer pressure.
6. Self-determination motivation: This type of motivation is based on the belief that an individual has control over their own actions and outcomes, and it is often associated with a sense of autonomy and self-regulation.

By understanding the various types of motivation, it is possible to identify the factors that drive and inspire people, and to develop strategies for motivating oneself and others towards success and fulfillment. The following are common types of motivation.

Art For Art’s Sake
The idea that art is its own reward that requires no other motivation.

Avoidance
The avoidance of negative stimuli such as pain.

Cognitive Dissonance
A desire to achieve internal consistency. For example, a desire for actions to be consistent with an individual’s beliefs.

Convenience And Comfort
At the most primitive level, organisms have the motivation to conserve their energy. This may translate into modern human motivations such as a desire for convenience and comfort.

Desires
Commonly cited desires that affect motivation include eating, acceptance, curiosity, family, honor, independence, order, physical activity, power, romance, social contact, status, tranquility and vengeance.

Drives
The theory that the desire to achieve goals or satisfy needs builds over time until that goal or need is satisfied and the cycle resets.

ERG Theory
The theory that motivation is primarily related to existence, relatedness and growth.

Expectations
The observation that motivation is often impacted by expectations. For example, if you expect that if you work hard that you will receive a large bonus you may be more motivated than if you have low expectations.

Extrinsic Motivation
Motivation driven by external rewards such as money, status and praise.

Fear Of Missing Out
A fear of missed opportunities such as a sense that life is passing you by.

Hygiene Factors
Hygiene factors are basic expectations that don’t increase motivation but dramatically decrease motivation if they are not met.

Ikigai
A Japanese concept of motivation that is often translated “a reason for being.” The idea is associated with self-directed goals that act as a person’s primary motivation on a long term basis.

Intrinsic Motivation
Behavior that is intrinsically rewarding. For example, studying a topic out of a desire to master it as opposed to being motivated by grades.

Locus Of Control
Locus of control is the extent to which an individual feels they control the events that surround their life. It is known to be a factor in motivation.

Needs
Needs are a basic type of motivation that include physiological requirements, safety, love, belonging, esteem, self-actualization and self-transcendence as per Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs.

Pull
Behaviors that an individual feels pulled towards.

Push
Behaviors that an individual pushes themselves to do. For example, a student may push to study all night before an exam.

Rational Motivation
Doing what seems most rational.

Reactance
The motivation to resist commands, rules and actions that are perceived as a violation of personal freedoms.

Rewarding Stimuli
Motivation driven by the brain’s reward system such as a desire to eat sugary foods.

Self Determination
The will to self define your existence as opposed to being shaped by external pressures.

Self Efficacy
The level of confidence that an individual has in their abilities is a strong factor in motivation.

Influence is the ability to have an impact on the thoughts, behaviors, and values of an individual. It can involve persuading someone to change their beliefs, convincing them to take a certain action, or inspiring them to adopt a new perspective or way of thinking. Influence can be exercised through various means, such as communication, leadership, or personal example. It can be exercised by individuals or groups, and it can be intentional or unintentional. The degree of influence that someone has may depend on various factors, such as their position, expertise, charisma, or relationships with others. Influence can be a powerful tool for achieving goals and bringing about change, and it is often an important aspect of leadership and personal development. The following are common types of influence.

Society
The systems, norms and shared meaning of a nation or civilization. Society refers to the systems that allow for peaceful coexistence in a place. As such, membership is defined by where you live. Society sets out a complete system for life that has a large impact on how people think.

Culture
Culture are systems of norms and shared meaning that often have far more flexible membership than society. An individual may belong to multiple traditional cultures, subcultures and super cultures. For example, a sport such as soccer represents a super culture that spans many societies. As with society, culture is a strong form of influence as people may identify with a culture and be open to its ideas.

Language
People commonly think using language. As such, learning a second language has a large influence on your ideas and viewpoint. The potent influence of language leads governments, organizations and groups to attempt to shape or control language as a means of influence. For example, propaganda may attempt to introduce new phrases or ban old ones.

Word of Mouth
People are influenced by things they hear from other people. This can occur even if they have no social connection to the person. For example, being influenced by a speaker at a conference.

Family & Friends
People with whom you form bonds are a primary influence.

Community
People who you interact with in your daily life such as coworkers or neighbors.

Social Status
People with much social status may have influence over others. For example, fame and authority amplifies an individual’s influence.

Cultural Capital
Cultural capital is the ability to influence others in the context of a culture. For example, a brilliant engineer may have influence over other engineers but may have virtually no influence beyond engineering culture.

Persuasion
Persuasion is the ability to influence others. Methods of persuasion are well developed with hundreds of widely known approaches and techniques. Persuasion is essentially a social skill that allows an individual to increase their influence over others.

Knowledge
Documented or communicated knowledge. In many cases, an idea spreads because it is insightful and useful.

Education
Education and learning are a means to spread knowledge and build skills including social skills. An education system, school, teacher or classmate can have a large influence on an individual.

Experience
An experience or collection of experiences. For example, surfing may teach an individual about risk and reward.

Profession
Individuals may be shaped by their profession. For example, an author may become more creative over the course of their career or an accountant may become more systematic and disciplined in their thinking with each decade that passes in the job.

Storytelling
Storytelling such as books or myths commonly influence individuals, society and culture. For this reason, fiction can become reality.

Media
Media offers information, knowledge, persuasion, entertainment, storytelling, interaction and sensation. This is a fundamental pathway of influence in an modern society.

Advertising
Advertising is media that pays for access to an audience. This is designed to influence. For example, an ad may seek to influence a customer to buy. Alternatively, advertising may be designed to create brand recognition and positive feelings about a brand.

Propaganda
Media that is designed to sell a political agenda. The term propaganda suggests aggressive approaches to influence that represent heavily biased sources of information.

Art & Music
Art and music represent powerfully emotional and vivid experiences that have significant influence.

Forward thinking is the ability to anticipate and prepare for future events and trends in order to make informed and effective decisions. It involves looking beyond the present and considering how current actions and strategies may impact the future. This type of thinking is important for businesses and organizations, as it allows them to stay ahead of the curve and adapt to changing circumstances. In contrast, a failure of imagination can occur when people are unable to envision potential future developments or scenarios, leading them to make decisions based on outdated or incomplete information. Similarly, resistance to change can prevent people from considering alternative strategies or approaches, even when they may be necessary or beneficial. By embracing forward thinking and the ability to adapt to change, individuals and organizations can increase their effectiveness and success in the long term. The following are common types of forward thinking.

Optimism

Forward thinking is linked to optimism, particularly the practice of viewing the problems of today as opportunities. For example, if an industry is damaging the environment, there is an opportunity to replace that industry with products and services that serve the same need but cause far less damage.

Investment

Investment is the dedication of capital and labor today to strategies intended to produce future benefits. For example, a student who invests their time and money into education in order to improve their future earning prospects.

Prediction

Efforts to predict the future in order to adapt strategy and decisions. For example, a technology enthusiast who wants to be the first to own a new technology but also wants to choose the technology that everyone else will be using in five years.

Agent of Change

An individual who shapes the future in some way. For example, an inventor who develops a method of transport that is faster and more efficient than existing methods. Such an inventor is only an agent of change if their idea is actually implemented.

Risk Management

The process of identifying and treating risk. Risks are future losses that have some probability of occurring. For example, a sailor may identify the risk of severe weather and take steps to avoid such weather. They may also invest in equipment and training that reduces the likelihood of a poor outcome in bad weather.

Resilience

The development of systems to be fundamentally resilient to stress such that they are likely to survive into the future. Resilience is similar to risk management with the difference being that resilience doesn’t anticipate specific risks but instead adopts approaches that reduce a broad range of risks. For example, a sailboat that is designed to be extremely strong such that its main components are practically unbreakable.

Anticipating Objections

The practice of planning for resistance and criticism of your ideas in advance to mount a more effective defense. For example, a salesperson who brainstorms the reasons a customer might resist a deal. This allows the salesperson to prepare effective pitches to overcome such objections.

A grand strategy is a comprehensive and long-term plan of action that encompasses all available options and resources in order to achieve a specific goal or objective. It differs from a normal strategy in that it has a wider scope and a longer duration, and it may take many years to implement. Grand strategies are often used in situations where a stable strategic direction is needed, such as in military, political, or business contexts.

They require a broad perspective and a deep understanding of the various factors that can impact the success of the plan, including resources, capabilities, and external forces. A grand strategy may involve using all available powers and resources under the control or influence of the planner in order to achieve the desired outcome. It is a high-level, overarching plan that guides decision-making and helps ensure the achievement of long-term goals. The following are illustrative examples of a grand strategy.

Intelligence & Counterintelligence

The pursuit of information and design of information flow to your adversaries. For example, an executive team that maintains a close eye on competitors in multiple industries with a program of competitive intelligence. It is also common for a firm to seek to misinform competitors such as a firm that announces vaporware designed to strike fear into the hearts of the competition.

Soft Power

Developing influence over others without any need of direct power over them. For example, a government that develops deep infrastructure ties to neighbors to create an environment of stability and economic cooperation whereby conflict is unthinkable.

Strategic Commitment

Grand strategy is often far longer term than a regular strategy and requires a consistent strategic direction that spans years or decades. For example, the American strategy of containment during the Cold War whereby power and soft power were used to stop the spread of communism. It can be argued that this strategy remained in place for several decades in a reasonably consistent form.

Propaganda

Grand strategy may seek to influence all stakeholders in a strategic situation. In the case of government, this may be described as propaganda. Business influence may be described with marketing terms such as brand image. For example, an industry with a poor environmental record may spend decades attempting to improve its image with marketing techniques.

Research & Development

Developing technologies that change your strategic situation. For example, a technology executive who sees a way to completely disrupt an industry to replace all existing competition with a new type of product or service.

Moral Wins

Winning hearts and minds by doing the right thing and being on the right side of change. For example, a firm that makes a sacrifice now to get on the right side of a sweeping social change.

All Options

Grand strategy is associated with actions that are normally considered off-the-table. For example, a business grand strategy may include approaches such as layoffs, divestiture, consolidation, mergers and liquidation that the firm doesn’t normally consider a strategic option.