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Dissatisfaction with Status Quo and the Case for Change: Part 2

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Last we started our breakdown of the Change Formula (DxVxF>R) by focusing on the D or dissatisfaction with the status quo. We will continue this week by looking at a key vehicle in the D portion of the formula, utilizing a Case for Change.

Remember: In order to change or in order to move people from where they are to where you want to lead them, you must establish dissatisfaction with where you and they currently are. People will not change if they are comfortable, ignorantly blissful and have not been confronted with the facts of the current situation. As community leaders and change agents, we take on the burden of establishing why it is unsafe to stay where we currently are for a change, vision or future planning to occur. A helpful tool in methodically and pragmatically building this “case” or campaign is to craft a “Case for Change.” 

In my experience, the best leaders actually write out a one or two page Case for Change document clearly detailing what the dissatisfaction is and why the change must occur in this phase. When I write Cases for Change, I often think about Jim Collins’ quote, “We must deal with the brutal facts of our current reality, while maintaining unwavering faith we will succeed in the end.” 

The Case for Change should answer: 

  • What is the background for the change? 

  • What has led up to this need to change?  

  • What challenges or problems are we facing in the current situation that will cripple us if we don’t begin addressing them today? 

  • What is the impact of these challenges?  

  • What will happen if we stay the same? 

  • Why should we act now?  

  • What are we going to have to let go of and why?  

  • What will the change require? 

  • What will it cost us to change? 

  • What will it cost us if we don’t change? 

  • How will we know when we have succeeded?

Most change initiatives fail because the Case for Change has not been made strongly enough and communicated sufficiently to all stakeholders in the change process. We haven’t created enough Dissatisfaction with the status quo.

The Case for Change does the following:

  • Creates Open Communication: It encourages transparent communication channels to foster dialogue, address concerns, and solicit feedback from stakeholders.

  • Provides a Path for Empowerment: It empowers employees by involving them in the change process, providing opportunities for participation and feedback.

  • Encourages Leadership Support: It demonstrates visible leadership commitment to change initiatives, providing guidance, resources, and support to facilitate transition.

  • Curates Cultural Transformation: It fosters a culture of continuous improvement, innovation, and inclusivity to align organizational values with employee expectations.

  • Celebrates Small Wins: It acknowledges and celebrates incremental successes to sustain momentum, boost morale, and reinforce the benefits of change.


Often it’s only top leaders and stakeholders who understand why the change is important. We must get to a point where every person (leader, staff, worker, volunteer, etc.) can articulate the Case for Change in an “elevator pitch” - a 1-minute, dynamic summary for why the change is an imperative that can be communicated in the time it takes to ride the elevator with someone who is challenging the change initiative.

I was sitting in a meeting once where we were talking about change and this concept. The person who had been trying to implement a change initiative for two years and was running into some resistance exclaimed, “This is like a campaign!”  In many ways it is like a campaign.  The ability to persuade and convince people of your vision and of your change, requires a lot of attention to communication and carefully constructed, sequential movements to make it successful.  Once, when I was implementing my own change in an organization, I wrote an article a week in our local newspaper somehow dealing with the change. That’s 52 articles! To those people looking at implementing change in your community, I encourage you to sit down and think about what the necessary components of your campaign would have.

The key to the Case for Change is to publish it - don’t leave it locked away in your brain, GoogleDocs or what have you.  One of the hardest things to do is to move from a dream, thought, or whisper of a good idea to pushing it out into the public, but the Case needs to be made.  Additionally, make it easy for followers to connect with you through the Case.  If you have to have town halls or leave an email at the end of a column, do so. Eventually, you want to make it super easy for followers and change champions to connect with one another so that a groundswell of support builds. 

In a way, you want to exhaust all possibility of the Resistance being able to say you didn’t work hard enough, didn’t think long enough and didn’t communicate thoroughly enough.  When the Resistance rises (and they will), you will have mountains of data, research, allies, examples, testimonials and relationships to wield against them.  

Where to share your case for change:

  • Write a column in your local paper weekly around the change effort (do this for 6 to 12 months)

  • Share on your social media platforms

  • Speak on the radio/podcast platforms

  • Take out an ad in the local paper, magazine and social media

  • Host a networking event around the change effort

  • Create marketing content and imagery on the change effort

  • Share the change effort in your weekly/monthly e-newsletter 

  • Write white papers

  • Write articles

  • Do a presentation to your stakeholders (members, board, staff, community, donors)

  • Do a video series explaining the need for change

  • Give your stakeholders bulleted talking points (give them 3-5 big points to remember)

  • Take it on the road in a roadshow, roundtable, coffee and conversation layout

  • Conduct a survey

  • Collect research, data, and testimonials 

  • Create other communication tools. 

Another time I was in a strategic planning session and we were working hard on our Dissatisfaction with the status quo when a few team members shared that they just couldn’t get over the negative concept of “dissatisfaction.” They just really didn’t like the word dissatisfaction and thought that it framed the initial conversation and change in a negative light. If that’s you, let me suggest an alternative. The D has also been described as Data and Desire (Cady, Hine, Spalding, & Meenach, 2011), emphasizing the importance of connecting Data to Dissatisfaction and a resulting Desire for change.  

Dissatisfaction does not necessarily mean unhappiness, however if you prefer to use alternatives they can shift the focus toward positive psychology and is rooted in strength-based conversations. Regardless, we have to establish Desire or Dissatisfaction to change as our first step.

If you are in the middle of a change initiative, I’d encourage you to write out your Case for Change based on the questions above. I’d love to hear if that gives you any more clarity and encouragement!


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