LO1: Managing Change
- Knowledge: Knows the Kotter model, its principles and different phases of and conditions for change
- Skills: Can identify different phases of a change process
- Competencies: Is able to apply the model to own case at hand
- Link to Content: Kotter Change Model
LO2: Building a vision
- Knowledge: Knows the importance of vision-building
- Skills: Can formulate a vision for an innovation project
- Competencies: Is able to lead a vision-building process together with partners
- Link to Content: Newspaper from the future
LO3: Setting Objectives
- Knowledge: Knows he importance and the principle of SMART-objectives
- Skills: Can formulate objectives based on the SMART criteria
- Competencies: Is able to lead the development of SMART-objectives and agree on shared objectives together with partners
- Link to Content: SMART-objectives
LO4: Taking Action
- Knowledge: Knows the difference between vision, goals and action
- Skills: Can bring in line vision, objectives and strategic actions
- Competencies: Is able to carry out a strategy roadmap process with partners and set milestones/measures for consecutive action
- Link to Content: Strategy Roadmap
LO5: Getting everyone on board
- Knowledge: Understands the importance of stakeholders and their different roles
- Skills: Can map the interest of different stakeholders and their impact related to the innovation project
- Competencies: Is able to conduct a stakeholder analysis and take action based on the results
- Link to Content: Stakeholder analysis; Stakeholder associated risk analysis
Introduction
Welcome to the Strategic Action Learning module. There is an urgent need to adapt agricultural practices to the impacts of climate change. In the first two learning modules, you have already learned about innovations that contribute to climate-smart agriculture (CSA) and gained an insight into the impacts and risks of climate change on the agricultural sector. In this module you will learn how to take strategic action: you will acquire basic knowledge and skills in competencies for taking strategic action in relation to CSA practices, based on the knowledge you have acquired in Module II.
After completing this module, you will be able to implement ideas for potential fields of action. You will also know strategies and methods for planning and implementing strategic actions related to CSA practices.
Innovation Spiral Phase II – Inspiration
Informal meetings of likeminded people, being inspired, building of informal networks of change agents
Phase 2 of the innovation spiral is based on others being inspired by the project. In informal meetings those likeminded people gather and generate visions and ambitions together. These people with shared ambitions and interests are called change agents. They form informal networks as a consequence of sharing their ambitions.
Shortly this phase is about likeminded people sharing a dream and their ambitions in informal networks.
Therefore, in the next sections you will learn how to manage this upheaval and – more important for starting a common dream – how to build a shared vision.
Managing Change
Especially when innovative solutions to problems are sought, change is inevitable. Managing change is important because it enables organisations and/or actors to adapt to evolving environments, remain competitive, and achieve their strategic objectives. For farmers this might be to adapt to shifting market demands, technological advancements, policy changes and of course climate change. Knowing how to manage change is particularly important for innovation processes.
Several famous models for managing change have been developed over the years, each offering a different perspective and approach to navigating organizational change.
One of the most well-known models is the 8-Step Process for Leading Change, developed by John P. Kotter, which provides a structured approach for organisations to effectively navigate and implement transformative change initiatives. The model offers practical steps and strategies to effectively lead and navigate through organisational change, fostering successful implementation and sustainability.
The 8-Step Process for Leading Change by John P. Kotter:
Achieve quick wins: Ensure that short-term wins can be achieved and celebrate and publicize early successes and milestones to build momentum and boost morale. alongside the long-term changes being sought. But don’t lose sight of the long-term changes you are aiming for.
Develop a clear shared vision and a strategy: Develop a clear and inspiring vision that outlines the desired future state and the benefits of change. The vision must set the direction for everyone involved and strategies must be developed that make the paths and subsequent steps clear.
Form a guiding coalition: Building a strong team of influential leaders and stakeholders with sufficient skills is crucial to lead the change. Teamwork should be encouraged.
Create a sense of urgency: To engage in a change process and mobilize stakeholders to support the change process, leaders need to clarify why these changes need to be made, why they need to be made quickly and highlight the risks of maintaining the status quo.
8-Steps for Leading Change & Innovation Management:
To successfully apply the model to your farm or your innovation project:
- All 8 phases should be led and supported by farm business leaders or other important stakeholders
- Only when all 8 phases are completed will change be successful
- The model shows the way to implement the intended innovation process
- It familiarises farm managers with key stages, conditions and barriers
Building a vision
Developing a vision is a key factor in tackling change processes and taking strategic action.
What is a vision? A vision..
- …is an appealing target state that should be achieved
- …is the basis for change and decisions
- …always looks towards the future and represents an ideal, which you want to reach
- …should represent an ideal state
- …should be formulated concise, clear and inspirational, but not too specific
According to John P. Kotter a functioning vision should be imaginable, desirable, feasible, focused, flexible and communicable.
Methods such as “newspaper from the future” (© e.g. verrocchio institute) can help individuals or a team to create a common picture of the future, to develop a vision and to get a concrete idea of the target state.
Newspaper from the future – explanation of the method:
Method helps to develop a vision and get a concrete idea of the target state
Should be used :
a.) at the beginning of a project (or an innovation process)
b.) the foundation of a company/organization (or an innovation partnership)
Method describes an imaginative newspaper article of the future when the problem is already solved -> goal of the method is to think of the ideal condition in the future and to be as concrete and detailed as possible
A shared vision sets an intent and shared cause among members of an innovation partnership, it visualizes an ideal solution and state of what has been reached after the implementation of the innovation process
The result of the method are ideas, solutions, possibilities, inspiration, a shared vision, an idea of the future
Newspaper from the future – implementation:
- Imagine that you are a journalist at a newspaper five years into the future.
- Write a newspaper article of an A4-page in which you describe how your problem got solved/you achieved your goal (try to keep the starting situation and the desired outcome in some years in mind).
- Get more and more detailed during your writing process e.g. what happened to solve the problem, which stakeholders helped in the process, which competences got established, – try to work with imaginary citations from customers or other important stakeholders to get an external view on the topic, – use images or drawings so it seems as real as possible.
- Reread the article. It should motivate you to start with the project, if it does not motivate you revise the article.
Innovative capability: Brings inspiration or a better sense of inspiration; helps to get a better idea of what and who you want to reach with your project/innovation.
First Activity Module 4.III
Think about your own farm: Are you about to make changes that (could) significantly influence the future of your farm? Or are you planning to implement an innovative project together with other stakeholders? Apply the Kotter model (8-step process of leading change) to plan this change/innovation process.
Innovation Spiral Phase III – Planning
Organising, acquiring space, negotiations
The third phase, planning, starts with the change agents organising themselves.
The change agents, usually consisting of different stakeholder groups are starting to make plans for action. Therefore, they have to agree on the respective contributions and the distribution of tasks. It is important to discuss and negotiate – this phase should be used to convince the ‘gatekeepers’- i.e. the people who occupy an important position in a decision-making process – that the project is worth it.
To handle this phase right we suggest some methods which help to set objectives, take action and get everyone onboard.
Setting Objectives
Setting objectives is important when tackling change or planning an innovation project as objectives provide a clear direction and purpose for the project/planned change.
Objectives define what the project aims to achieve, establish criteria for evaluating progress and outcomes, and ensure alignment with overall strategic goals and priorities. Additionally, well-defined objectives serve as a roadmap for stakeholders, guiding decision-making, prioritization, and resource allocation throughout the innovation process, ultimately increasing the likelihood of successful outcomes.
While there are several models for setting objectives in innovation processes, the SMART framework is one of the most well-known.
SMART framework
SMART Objectives:
- Project management technique invented by George Doran, who introduced the idea in a paper titled “There’s a S.M.A.R.T. Way to Write Management’s Goals and Objectives”
- Framework helps formulate goal statements by using certain minimum requirements
- Reframe the current challenges/problems into a clearly defined, measurable and verifiable objectives
- The defined objectives each need to be reformulated based on the five SMART categories:
Specific: objectives should be clear and define precisely what needs to be accomplish
Measurable: objectives need to be measurable e.g., in time/amount/duration
Attractive: objectives need to be attractive, desirable and appropriate
Realistic: objectives need to be attainable, considering available resources, skills etc.
Time-bound: every objective needs a clear target date for when it needs to be done
- Further division into long-term goals (guidelines) and short-term goals (action points)
Advantages and disadvantages of SMART:
Advantages
- Clear structure
- User friendly (‘Excel friendly’ mapping)
- Good delivery and documentation with changing teams
- Easy to learn and to use
- Promotes the overall innovative capacity of the team
Disadvantages
- Purely intuitive idea finders and design thinkers often find it difficult to formulate goals and define an end state before brainstorming
- The scope of each goal can vary widely
Extension of SMART = SMARTIE:
Specific
Measurable
Attractive
Realistic
Time-Bound
Innovative | Inclusive
Exciting | Equitable
There are several other variations of the SMART framework (e.g. ‘SMARTER’) that are used in project management
- For innovative, intellectual and multidisciplinary teams
- For teams with intensive tasks
- For trainers and innovation coaches
- For organisations/groups who want to show commitment to racial equity and inclusion
- For groups who seek to address systemic injustice, inequity, or oppression
SMART / SMARTIE in the context of innovation management:
- Helps to define the direction of a problem-solving process.
- Provides a good and efficient focus for the process.
- Gives the subsequent process a direction and the brainstorming process a basis for what is being sought
- Individual tasks in the process can be clearly named and delineated. This allows good results to be achieved even in distributed teams with fewer opportunities for coordination.
- For effective project/innovation management, the respective goals should be stored digitally either as tasks or deadlines and, depending on the software tools applied, can also be used to continuously measure the progress.
- A review of the goals and whether they need to be adjusted, if necessary, is recommended after ¼ of the planned period adjustments can still be made without major problems.
Taking Action
Strategy Roadmap
- A strategy roadmap (g. verrocchio institute) outlines the scope, direction and objectives of an organisation’s strategic initiatives / innovations over a period of time that can range from a few months to several years.
- It aims to provide a clear strategic direction and serves as a guiding document for organising and communicating the strategies and goals of an organisation.
- The roadmap defines the key strategic actions your organisation plans to take to achieve specific strategic goals.
- It helps prioritize resources, ensures that efforts are focused on high-impact areas, and facilitates communication across teams.
- It is useful when implementing new projects and ideas.
Strategy Roadmap – How to:
- Development of a timeline with three sections (short/middle/long term) all relevant ideas and projects should be located on the timeline
- Develop/Note strategies for every section
- Note a row below the strategies what you need to pursue the strategy (strengths, weaknesses, competencies)
- Note a row below the probable reaction of the market regarding your strategy (opportunities, threats, competitors, complementors)
- Discuss and reflect the roadmap when implementing projects
Strategy Roadmap – example for a template
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Strategies
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Strengths
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Needs / Requirements
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Weaknesses |
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Competencies |
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Opportunities |
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Market response |
Threats |
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Competitors |
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Complementors |
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Force field analysis
The force field analysis (©verrocchio institute) helps to identify the positive and negative impacts to a challenge therefore it helps to identify the key questions
With the analysis you can point out strengths and weaknesses
Force field analysis – How to:
- Description of the challenge/purpose/aim you want to achieve you need a table with three columns
- Think about an ideal scenario, regarding your aim and put it as a heading of the right column
- Think about a catastrophic scenario, regarding your aim and put it as a heading of the left column
- Take the header influencing factors for the middle column and write down influencing factors which can lead your aim into a positive or negative direction
- Derive from the influencing factors a negative (left column) and positive description (right column)
- Mark in which direction the influencing factors point (arrows)
Getting everyone onboard
In agricultural innovation processes, getting everyone on board early is crucial because it allows farmers, researchers, and industry stakeholders to collaborate on developing solutions that address specific challenges like crop yield, sustainability, and climate resilience. Early involvement ensures that innovations are practical, field-tested, and aligned with the needs of the agricultural community, leading to more effective adoption and long-term success in improving agricultural productivity and sustainability.
Especially when it comes to innovation processes, the identification and management of risks (especially associated with the involvement of different stakeholders) is an important element in project/innovation management, because it helps to maintain control.
Risks are present in different ways and in relative amounts depending on the scale of the initiative and regardless of the area in which the initiative activities occur, there is always a certain risk that can negatively or positively impact the development of the initiative.
When deciding to innovate interactively one of the fundamental elements is the participation of different stakeholder groups. Therefore, it is important to analyse the different stakeholders (Stakeholder-Analysis) that you need for your project / innovation / goal and the risks associated with different stakeholders (Stakeholder-Associated Risk Analysis).
Stakeholder-Analysis
When developing new concepts/business models it can be useful to empathize with the different stakeholders.
A Stakeholder-Analysis helps to point out the different points of view of the different stakeholders from the different points of view it is easy to gain new knowledge.
How to:
- Write your innovative project / initiative in the middle of a whiteboard
- Brainstorm to identify all possible stakeholders in relation to the specific topic
- Position the stakeholders (on post-its) around the topic on the whiteboard; Stakeholders with a close connection to the goal are placed close to the question/goal, stakeholders with a lesser connection are placed further away.
- Add the needs and perspectives of the stakeholders and draw connection lines between the different stakeholders direct connection=solid line; indirect connection=dashed line
- Label the connection lines to characterize the type of the connections (negative/positive)
- Develop findings and conclusions from the last steps
Stakeholder-Associated Risk Analysis:
A Stakeholder-Associated Risk Analysis is useful guiding the reflections of innovators towards an analysis of potential risks associated with specific actors and the context where the initiative is inserted.
From this analysis, measures can be derived with which the critical stakeholders could change their attitude towards the project. This makes it easier to develop countermeasures and accelerate the implementation of an idea.
There are always people who block innovative ideas! This is why it makes sense to use this method for (politically) sensitive topics in particular.
In general, innovative ideas are always exposed to a certain risk that can negatively or positively impact the development of the initiative. For this reason, it is necessary to study and evaluate the risks that the initiative may face to the point of being able to counteract them.
In the course of the LIASON project, a practicable tool for stakeholder-associated risk analysis was developed. This is an Excel application that allows for simple analysis, facilitating interpretation and decision making.
The so called LIAISON Tool #31: Stakeholder-Associated Risk Analysis can be accessed here: https://zenodo.org/records/6520075
Other tools that were developed in the course of the LIASON project will be introduced in Module 4.IV and 4.V.
Second Activity Module 4.III
Think of current climate related challenges that affect your farm and define goals to counteract them with the SMART-method.
Think about an initiative (an innovation) that you would like to implement to counteract climate related challenges and develop a strategy roadmap. You are welcome to use the template presented in the learning module for this. Discuss the roadmap with other relevant stakeholders and adapt it if necessary.
Take the innovative project / initiative and try to analyze the positive and negative impacts with the force field analysis.
Second Activity Module 4.III – Group exercise
Purpose: The goal of this group exercise is to identify and assess the influence and interests of stakeholders involved in the innovation process.
Participants
- Project Manager
- Innovation Team Members
- Other relevant Stakeholders (e.g., farmers, researchers, industry experts, regulatory bodies)
Materials Needed
- Whiteboard or flip chart
- Markers
- Sticky notes or index cards
Steps
1. Preparation (15 minutes)
- Define the Scope: Clearly outline your innovative initiative / project and its objectives and summarize it on a post-it which will be in the middle of your whiteboard
- Gather Background Information: Collect relevant data on existing stakeholders and their roles in the project.
2. Brainstorming Session (30 minutes)
- Identify Stakeholders: Each participant contributes potential stakeholders related to the innovation project. Use sticky notes to write down each stakeholder’s name and role.
- Categorize Stakeholders: Organize stakeholders into categories (you can define your own categories)
3. Analysis (30 minutes)
- Prioritize Stakeholders: Position each stakeholder based on their level of interest and influence on the project close or far away from the post-it in the middle
- Create a Stakeholder Map: Draw connection lines between the different stakeholders direct connection=solid line; indirect connection=dashed line
- Label the connection lines to characterize the type of the connections (negative/positive)
4. Discussion (30 minutes)
- Evaluate Findings: Discuss the stakeholder map and analysis results as a group. Identify key stakeholders who require more attention and engagement strategies.
- Assign Responsibilities: Determine who will be responsible for engaging each key stakeholder and outline initial engagement steps.
5. Documentation (30 minutes) - Optional (if deemed useful)
- Compile Results: Document the stakeholder analysis findings in a shared report, including the stakeholder map and engagement strategies.
- Review and Revise: Ensure all participants review the document for accuracy and completeness.
