Draws on change-management practice: the commitment chart of Richard Beckhard and Reuben T. Harris (Organizational Transitions, 1977) and the guiding coalition of John P. Kotter (1995).
Lists everyone whose backing a decision needs, rates each from champion to opponent, notes what would move each one, and orders the conversations accordingly.
When to reach for it
Approval that depends on several people whose support is not yet secured, as with a board vote, an executive committee decision, or a cross-functional initiative.
How it runs
- Define exactly what is being approved, by whom, and by when.
- List every person whose support or silence the decision needs.
- Rate each: champion, supporter, neutral, skeptic, or opponent.
- Note the concern or interest that would move each one a step.
- Order the conversations so early answers build momentum.
- Update the map weekly while the decision is live.
Where it sits in SOLVE eX
Go to the source
- Organizational Transitions: Managing Complex Change, first edition 1977, second edition 1987, 1977
- Leading Change: Why Transformation Efforts Fail, Harvard Business Review, 1995
- Leading Change, 1996