and the next speaker, Dr. Rana Schuchner, Ph.D. Well, now we want to get to the question, how on earth do we do this? How do we create change movements? How do we create change that feels like a movement? But before we do that, I would like for you to close your eyes. Take a deep breath. Rana Schuchner, Ph.D. And think back to a time when you and a group of people worked passionately towards a goal. You weren't forced. Nobody told you to do this. You simply couldn't resist. You felt compelled to take action. Something needed to change. This could have been a petition about your local environment in your neighborhood. It could be a change project at work that you just needed to join to make a difference. It could be something about your children's school education. Think back to the time and keep your eyes closed. How did it feel to be part of that change? The excitement to be part of a group of people working in unity. The successes you celebrated, the stories you told, the failures you might have had. But you laughed and had fun, right? Now open your eyes again. Taking action towards a cause, an ambition, a worthwhile problem sets free energy and creative potential in the organization. Imagine what your organization could accomplish. Imagine what you could create and sustain with that sense of ownership. Imagine if you could set free that energy that you just felt in your organization. It would be amazing to change something, wouldn't it? So why now? Why do we need to think differently about change? We are currently seeing that managing change, it doesn't work that well anymore. And why is that? Let me walk you through three shifts that are currently ongoing that will act as conditions for change movements to become more successful in organizations. The first shift is about the problems we face. Going from technical challenges that are very clear defined in scope and can be solved by experts and then rolled out. To adaptive challenges that almost change in nature as we're starting to solve them. So we have to work with the people that are closest to the problem. Besides the problems we face, we're also seeing a second shift. And that is in the structures we operate in. From hierarchical rigid structures with set responsibilities and clear frames of job descriptions. To fluid networked teams that operate temporarily to solve a problem in small project teams. And thirdly, you see a shift in power dynamics. Going from formal, old power that is nestled in authority. And you know, it's about how long you've been in the organization and therefore you have more power. Into informal, transparent, fluid power that moves like a current through the organization and gains momentum the more people join. And then, these three shifts are creating the conditions for change approaches to be fundamentally questions. We can no longer sit in a room with three people thinking we can predict and plan for two years ahead and then roll it out into a disengaged crowd. I don't want to deny the existence of classical change management approaches. If you do have a technical challenge that can be solved by experts, by all means, take the steps and make it happen. But, if you are going to change your organization in a way that requires people to take ownership, which you could argue any behavioral change does, well then simply we have to rethink the beliefs and the assumptions we have about change management. Rather than change being done to you. We need change to be done with you. Or even better, by you. So, in order for this to happen, we need to check our assumptions. And I would like to say, what would it like for you to check these assumptions along as I read them out to you? If we want change to be like a movement, you need to believe that people have more to give than we know. And they will take responsibility if we let them. You also need to believe that everyone is a change maker and a problem solver with a perspective worth exploring. And lastly, you also need to believe that the best change initiatives, they will emerge through the collective and they can't be forced into existence. I know, it's a lot to unpack. And I myself find myself being challenged by these assumptions from time to time. As a leader, in your understanding and your role, you might be thinking, but where am I in all of this? What is my role in change movements? If you're a project manager, you might be wondering, how on earth would I align and coordinate all of these chaotic change things that are going on in the organization? And if you're an employee, you might be thinking, this would never work in my organization. Or you might be thinking, finally, she gets it. Somebody lets me talk and have a perspective. Whatever it is you're thinking, we've actually asked these questions to organizations and representatives that have been on this journey. That have actually created change movements. But before we start exploring these questions with them, let's have a look at how change movements unfold. Change movements are essentially about two things. They are about talking and doing. Talking is about connecting, co-creating, rallying a community of like-minded people. And doing, well, it's about experimenting, trying something out, actually doing something together. So imagine a group of engineers sitting together over lunch and talking about the challenges they have at work. Realizing every time they have lunch together, they can solve so many problems. Because they're together and they have these different perspectives that they bring to the table. Over the next couple of lunches, they kind of start to co-create this idea, this dream. What if we could create something that would actually make this easier to do in our everyday life, where we're too busy to sit and have coffee and lunches together? And someone has been on a course and he comes back to the lunch and says, actually, I've heard about a company doing this. Let me try to figure something out. And without any approval or, you know, process, he just goes and starts prototyping a platform. People become curious as they start seeing this platform taking off and really adding value and benefit to the organization that these people are working in. And somebody starts asking, why don't we do this for the whole organization? What's holding us back? And someone jokes and says, why don't we do this for the whole population on Earth? And that's exactly what happened. NASA created a platform where all of us can crowd solve challenges together on how we can better explore the universe. This centennial challenge has been around for over 10 years now. And they've done a lot of research of who actually used this platform in NASA the most. And it's no surprise that it's exactly the researchers who have the belief and assumptions that I just talked about before. Those researchers at NASA that believe that we, all of us, have a perspective worth sharing and exploring, that we can be problem solvers. They are the ones engaging and utilizing this platform the most. So if movements are about talking and doing, then what are the changes? What are the stages? How do movements unfold? Let me walk you through the three steps. The first step is about ignition. It's about sparking an ambition that people can set their energy behind, that they can feel passionate about. It's not something you force into existence. It's not something you tell people to do. It's people co-creating a dream that they can all get behind and then start to experiment on. As they're starting to experiment, you enter the emergence stage. That's where you see small changes happening on a small scale, but nevertheless important enough to create learning and evidence that something needs to change. It's almost like the DNA of the culture of an organization slowly evolving by taking little bits and pieces out and replacing them with something new. And if you do that multiple times and you rally more people and the community starts gaining momentum, well then at one point you reach the tipping point where you can no longer be ignored. And that's the third stage of a change movement, diffusion. And in that stage, you can no longer operate in the underground. You have been visible enough to create so much change in the organization that it becomes a new normal, a new way of thinking, a new way of working.