Our change and crisis maturity model
Explore how organizations tackle change and crisis.
What is change and crisis maturity?
Change and crisis maturity measures an organization’s effectiveness during seasons of transition and challenge. The main catalyst for maturity comes from the behaviors, culture and operating principles that leaders and organizations utilize to navigate seasons of change and crisis.
Our RiverWalk Change and Crisis Maturity Model outlines four phases that organizations may (or may not) evolve through over the course of its existence.
If you’ve taken our free organizational assessment, use the graphic below to see where your percentage score places your organization on our change and crisis maturity model:
Each phase represents different outlooks and milestones in the change and crisis leadership capabilities of an organization. Click on the hotspots in the graphic below to learn more about each phase of our change and crisis maturity model.
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Organizations in the continuity focused phase of change and crisis leadership often have little to no formal change and crisis leadership practices in place across the organization. Efforts in this phase are typically perceived as uncoordinated, reactive, emotionally charged and done on an as-needed basis.
Continuity-Focused change and crisis leadership tends to only start dealing with things at the point where it significantly disrupts daily operations. Leaders in this phase tackle change and crisis with the primary objective of minimizing disruption and without any consideration of the positive opportunities that change and crisis may present in the short and long term.
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Organizations in the project-based phase of change and crisis leadership often have some change and crisis processes in place, but they are typically tactical in nature and only applied to specific / routine occurrences or situations. There may be designated change and crisis personnel to oversee these standard operating procedures, but their efforts are limited to working on a change-by-change or crisis-to-crisis basis.
Leaders are focused on maintaining status quo through change and crisis, but are open to “happy accidents” that result from change and crisis. Project-based change and crisis leadership tends to struggle with consistency and effectiveness across unplanned or multiple changes and crisis’, particularly when they vary in ethos and/or complexity.
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Organizations in the leader-led phase of change and crisis maturity tend to have fully integrated and agile change / crisis principles established across their organizational structure and culture. Their efforts tend to be perceived as coordinated and consistent across different teams and departments, allowing organizations to be more proactive when it comes to change and crisis.
There may be designated change and crisis leadership personnel, but they function in support of the organization’s leaders who are the primary initiators. There is also clear measurement and monitoring metrics to guide their change and crisis leadership efforts, which are rooted in a clear understanding of the overall impact they hope to achieve on the organization as a whole.
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Organizations in the opportunity-driven phase of change and crisis leadership leverage (and even proactively seek out) change and crisis as a means of optimizing various key performance indicators. Change and crisis leadership is not just an agile process or a set of adaptive principles, but it is a core competency and part of the organization’s fabric. Change and crisis leadership efforts are perceived to be ongoing, positive and a necessary catalyst for stability and progress.
Change and crisis leadership in this phase is an expected and intentionally developed competency for both leaders and individual contributors. The organization regularly assesses and improves their change and crisis leadership up-skilling efforts, and are continuously seeking best practices to maximize change and crisis.
These four phases provide a framework for organizations to identify their current level of change and crisis maturity, and and gaining insight about the maturity level of your organization can create a number of benefits including (but not limited to):
Change and crisis leadership maturity is key to the capability and effectiveness of an organization’s success and survival. It is in some ways, a measure of how well an organization can plan for, deliver, and sustain results.
When an organization has a mature outlook on change and crisis, it is better equipped to navigate change and crisis for the good of the organization. This can result in greater efficiency, productivity, employee engagement, and the ability to achieve strategic goals.