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#83 The Impact of Change - Dr. Susanne Evans

 April 12th 2022

"...helping people think about the impact of change on people. And a big part of it is around people feeling secure, people feeling that they understand the impact that this is going to have on them, on their relationships. Uncertainty, because uncertainty is a really hard thing for people to deal with. And I think a big part of fear of change, resistance of change are those questions about what's in it for me?" Dr Susanne Evans

Dr Susanne Evans  and I talk about organisational change. In particular we hone in on the importance of stories. Organisational change efforts are forward and future focused but sometimes digging into the past helps shape and inform the future. We ignore it our peril. Susanne uses the analogy of an archaeological excavation to explain the importance of digging into the past. We talk about understanding people's resistance to change, managing change and the right type of leadership needed for change. We discuss how change efforts go so wrong and how leaders might make it better for people. Susanne reveals some stories (decorations, toilet rolls and chocolate biscuits) that demonstrate how things that might seem small or inconsequential matter. And we dig why what goes on in organisations is often 'all talk' without really listening or having honest, open and, at times, uncomfortable conversations. 




Dr Susanne Evans is an organisation change consultant, trainer, coach and researcher on a mission to change the way that transformations are managed in organisations. Having spent 10 years in Big 4 consultancy firms she saw first-hand the difficulties that leaders and change practitioners had in achieving the benefits of large-scale transformation programmes. She founded Feldspar Consulting in 2007, helping her clients lead change in a more human, effective way. Her PhD research focused on the role of stories in organisational transformation and she distilled both this research and her 25 years of hands-on consultancy experience to create the ChangeStoriesTM approach, enabling her clients to use stories, ask questions and have powerful conversations to drive change. As well as writing and speaking about organisation change, Susanne hosts open storytelling workshops, supporting organisations and individuals in writing a compelling story for themselves, and she is the host of the popular ChangeStories podcast, in which guests share ideas for improving the world of work.


Connect with Susanne

On LinkedIn


Through her website: Feldspar Consulting


Listen to her podcast Change Stories


Resources Mentioned

SCARF model by David Rock


Appreciative Inquiry Model


Manfred Ket de Vries who talks about lifting the rug


Steve Hearsum talks about “no silver bullet”


Kubler Ross Change Curve


Susan David


The School of Life on  work



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