Lean Transformation: The Validated Change Lifecycle State 2: Negotiate the Change Solution

Once you have connected a set of problem/urgencies with a set of change recipients
who want to form a guiding team your Minimum Viable Change is ready to move into State 2: Negotiate Change of the Validated Change Lifecycle , you are ready to start working on the actual change solution.

Change agents typically focus first on is the vision, target state, and potentially some qualitative benefits. A change agent can take a quick stab at the sections and then refine them through one or more workshops with the potential guiding team, or he can choose to work with a complete blank slate.

Once the sections are reasonably fleshed out, the change agent and the guiding team can work on taking a stab at coming up with a supporting set of change actions that will realize the target state, as well as start working on the commitments required to complete the suggested change actions.

As the canvas starts to take shape, attention can then shift to establishing a set of success criteria that will define what the success of the change looks like.

This suggested approach to completing the various sections of the canvas is not set in stone, in reality the conversation between change agents and change recipients will result in the canvas being traversed in a variety of sequences.

It is important to note that this process is also highly iterative, discussion in one section of the canvas will result in refinements in other sections of the canvas and vice versa.

A potential change can result in process change, organizational structure change, and will usually result in a change in techniques and methods being employed by employees within the organization.

Regardless, it is important to leverage storytelling techniques that are semiformal in nature to help visualize what the potential change will look like.

It is important to note that many Minimum Viable Changes will stall and potentially be abandoned at this point in the process. While this might seem like a waste it is better to take this opportunity to abandon a potential change before expending significant effort in attempting to adopt new methods and tools.

For the most part the process of trying to agree on urgency, and negotiate should be considered a relatively lightweight process that can be completed in a couple of weeks, with only a couple of days of actual effort required from any individual change agent.

In order for a Minimum Viable Change to pass through the "negotiate change" state, a target state and vision must be agreed by the potential guiding team. It is much more preferable for the solution to be cocreated with this potential guiding team. Critically, change recipients need to step up to any time commitments specified within the canvas, looking at the relationship between actions and benefits as a kind of contract between change recipients, the change agent, and other change stakeholders.