Variations of Change

The chapter on change in Spiral Dynamics Integral by Don Beck was very helpful by clarifying the various levels and types of change. His analysis not only helps prevent misunderstanding when talking about change, but it also is a useful tool to help leaders determine which type of change is needed for specific situations.

There are two tiers of change, the first being change within a system and the second being change from one system to another. Here are the eight variations of change:

TIER ONE
C1: Fine-tune, Minor alteration
C2: Reshuffle the Deck, Rotate existing resources or people
C3: New and Improved, Making existing things better or more effective
C4: Hunker down, Making changes to survive crises
C5: Stretch up, Think outside the box (and then return to the box with the new insight)

TIER TWO
C6: Revolutionary attack on barriers, Replace key components of a system
C7: Upturn to the next level, Transformational: change the form from one system to the next
C8: Epic change, Major shifts across multiple domains (e.g. industrial revolution, information revolution)

As a leader it is important to identify the “From what, To what, and How” aspects of change and then determine which variation of change is needed. Analyzing the situation effectively will enable the leader to make the appropriate changes and avoid meaningless or harmful changes.