An excerpt from Joseph Pelrine training material about
Attractors:
The attractors are the things or people in the system that are attractive to others and that others get attracted to. By changing the structures of what people perceive as attractors in the system, you can change the dynamics of the system itself.
An
attractor here can be an idea, a group or a single person i.e. because of his/her knowledge, expertise, popularity, charisma, authority, power. In a system is possible to
add or
remove and attractor,
amplify the attractor (i.e. empowering, removing obstacles, adding connections, etc) or
reduce the attractor.
Here follows the list of patterns (
from the Fearless Change book of Linda Rising) as I've classified them as Attractors doing the exercise, do you agree, do you have comments, would you classify them differently ?
Time to time was not easy to me to choose between an attractor and a barrier. I.e. a barrier can be moved to include or exclude an attractor. Also an attractor can largely influence the environment, and an Identity/Role can be an attractor. So what to chose in that case? Anyway I've tried to choose the main effect.
Big Jolt
To provide more visibility for the change effort, invite a high profile person into your organization to talk about the new idea.
You’ve been carrying out some activities to give your new idea some visibility in your organization, but at some point you need to attract more attention to the effort.
Arrange for a high-profile person who can talk about the new idea to do a presentation in your organization.
The system is the organization.
The attractor is the high-profile person.
External Validation
To increase the credibility of the new idea, bring in information from sources external to the organization.
Before being persuaded to accept a new idea, people want assurance that the idea has validity outside the organization.
Give people in the organization external sources of useful information about the new idea.
The system here is again the organization.
The attractor is the external source of useful information about the idea.
Royal Audience
Arrange for management and members of the organization to spend time with a Big Jolt visitor.
You want to get the most out of a visit from a famous person.
Use spare hours or lunchtime during the day or evenings, before and/or after the featured presentation, to make the visitor available for teams, individuals, or managers.
The system is the management team.
The attractor is the visitor.
Guru on Your Side
Enlist the support of senior-level people who are esteemed by members of the organization.
People in an organization can be reluctant to show interest in a new idea unless it has the support of colleagues they respect.
Enlist the support of experienced, senior-level gurus who are respected by both managers and nonmanagers alike.
The system here is again the organization.
The attractors are the senior-level guru esteemed by organization members.
Guru Review
Gather anyone who is a Guru on Your Side and other interested colleagues to evaluate the new idea for managers and other developers.
Some managers and developers are supportive, but others are reluctant to join in until they have some assurance that this is a worthwhile idea.
Gather a review team of respected gurus in the organization to evaluate the new idea.
The system is the developers department including managers.
The attractor is the review team with Guru and supportive developers.
Early Adopter
Win the support of the people who can be opinion leaders for the new idea.
To create more impact for the new idea in an organization, interest must extend beyond the initial group of supporters.
Look for the opinion leaders in your organization and ask for help from them.
The system is the organization.
The attractor are the opinion leaders of the organization giving support to the new idea.
Mentor
When a project wants to get started with the new idea, have someone around who understands it and can help the team.
People want to use the new idea on their project but don’t know how to begin.
Find an outside or internal consultant or trainer to provide mentoring and feedback while project members are getting started with the innovation.
The system the team working on the new project.
The attractor is the consultant or trainer.
Smell of Success
When your efforts result in some visible positive result, people will come out of the woodwork to talk to you. Treat this opportunity as a teaching moment.
When you start to have some success, newcomers will ask you about the innovation.
When people comment on the success they see with the innovation, treat their inquiry as a teaching moment.
The system is not defined here.
The attractors here are informative materials for a new idea.
Do Food
Make an ordinary gathering a special event by including food.
Usually a meeting is just another ordinary, impersonal event.
Make food available at the meeting.
The system is the group that is gathering, could be a team or a department.
The attractor is the food and eating together while discussing ideas/topics.
Plant the Seeds
To spark interest, carry materials (seeds) and display (plant) them when the opportunity arises.
You want to spark some interest in the new idea.
Carry materials about the new idea to events where people gather. Put them in places where people are likely to pick them up and look at them.
The system is not defined here.
The attractors here are informative materials for a new idea.
Evangelist
To begin to introduce the new idea into your organization, do everything you can to share your passion for it.
You want to get a new idea going in your organization but you don’t know where to start.
To introduce a new idea into your organization, let your passion for this new idea drive you.
The system is the organization.
The attractor your passion for the new idea.
Tailor Made
To convince people in the organization of the value they can gain from the new idea, tailor your message to the needs of the organization.
Individuals can be intrigued by interesting ideas, but to have impact on an organization, the idea has to be more than just interesting.
Tailor your message about the innovations to the needs of the organization.
The system is again the whole organization.
The attractor is the message tailored to the needs of the organization.
Sustained Momentum
Take a pro-active approach to the ongoing work of sustaining the interest in the new idea in your organization.
The many other things that need to be done will tempt you to put the task of introducing the new idea on the back burner for a while. But this can cause you and other people to lose interest in it.
Take a pro-active approach in the organization to the ongoing work of sustaining interest in the new idea. Take some small action each day, no matter how insignificant it may seem, to move you closer to your goal.
The system is again the whole organization.
The attractors are the small actions taken every day to sustain the new idea.
See all the other parts of this exercise: ABIDE model, an exercise