Change, Uncertainty and Unknowing

The ability to adapt to change is fundamental to the success of individuals and businesses. A reaction to change, be it physical or psychological, is perfectly normal. We all react to change, we have a range of reactions, and we are all different. Some like change; they thrive on new ideas and challenges. Others don't like change; those people thrive on stability and familiarity. We all have to learn how to help ourselves and our colleagues understand the forces of change; and discovering how to utilise all reactions in a positive way will enable us to manage change effectively, allowing us to enrol others and minimise waste time and effort while getting into action moving forward.

Change isn’t just good old 'change' any more. The level of uncertainty and chaos in life has increased. Time is getting shorter and shorter. It used to be we could expect change in fairly predictable time frames; there were births and deaths in the family, a mid-life crisis happened at forty, the occasional business failed. To an extent that is still the story and handling those issues of change, transition and transformation eventually pass and we get on with the next phase of our lives.

But change is changing – we are caught up in the awareness that everything is not what it seems, events are happening too fast for us to keep up with. It is time to think further about how we perceive and measure change and make the most of our experience in this rapid, ever shifting context – there is much to be explored. 

Jim Ewing started his professional life as a rocket scientist, but it soon became evident that his real passion was for people. He saw that life is about navigating change - braving uncertainty, living well at our ‘learning edge’.

He set out to develop a way to support others, “a conversational, casual, no-frills and no-waiting intervention to be a first responder for individuals and for groups when steep change and life redesign come calling”.

Over time he grew a successful consulting business, working with companies and organisations innovating through change or tackling ‘wicked’ problems. He designed a family of maps to support this work - simple frameworks for transformative conversations for use with individuals, groups, communities, organisations.

In “Braving Uncertainty” Jim introduces the maps and the thinking that lies behind each of them, plus the conversational craft that brings them all to life.

“Braving Uncertainty” was published on 21st July 2024, and is also available exclusively from our publisher Triarchy Press as a paperback and as a PDF.

Changes is a set of easy-to-use digital tools, developed from tried and tested strategies to provide anyone, from the intrepid entrepreneur to an established corporation, with a playbook to take change into their own hands and thrive in uncertainty.

Executive Arts works with licensed practitioners trained in our family of maps. The purpose of licensing is both to pay attention to the value and integrity of the maps in practice, and to provide a dedicated infrastructure to support licensed practitioners and help them gain the full potential from these resources. The infrastructure includes training and workshop materials, online resources, access to expertise, plus enrolment into a community of practice.

The licence fee is a one-off lifetime payment. There are two levels of practitioner:

• Facilitators, either within organisations or as external consultants, may use the maps with others to guide them through change.
• Trainers are able to train Facilitators.

Licensed practitioners are encouraged to develop a familiarity with the complete 'Transition Tools' suite (i.e. TransforMAP, Implemento, Impacto and Stucco) and the Insight Cycle that links and connects them. A key aspect of the process for practitioners who will be working across multiple organisations is in diagnosis, i.e. being able to identify which map to use in client engagements, understanding the links between the maps, and integrating the maps into their practice alongside the other tools, techniques and methodologies that they use. Facilitators can also be trained and licensed in individual maps if required.

If you would like to discuss your requirements with us, please get in touch.

Our practitioners work with individuals and organisations to develop capabilities through training and coaching in our family of maps. These enable us to create a pathway to clear thinking and great relationships. The first work is to diagnose the effects of change by looking systemically at the circumstance, exploring what the real issues may be to identify the most appropriate way to move forward.

Working with Underlying Assumptions and Beliefs

TransforMAP is a guide for making headway through the uncertainty, confusing feelings and conflicting thoughts which accompany significant change.

Designing For Implementation
 

Implemento can be used to design action plans that confront reality, engage resistance and provide 'hindsight in advance'.

Working with Key Influences

Impacto enables us to enrol people in the shortest possible time, clarify and address barriers, and deliver messages in a way that tests understanding and commitment.

Getting Circumstances Unstuck

Stucco brings fresh thinking to old problems, breaks out of vicious cycles, and helps us to know what to do when everything else we have tried has failed.

Realising a Transformative VIsion

EmpowerMAP guides and documents a multi-layered conversation, which centres us in an empowering vision to bring about lives and businesses we can learn from and inhabit at every moment.