Types of Change

For GANs and the organizations participating in them, the work of GANs involves developing new strategies, new capacities, new ways of thinking, and new ways of being. In short, GANs are large system change agents.

They are developing three types of change:

Incremental: this is the easiest of changes types. It follows identification of one or more models…often the product of pilot projects…and applying the knowledge developed from them on a much larger scale.
Reform: this is change of moderate difficulty. If follows recognition by stakeholders of the need for change and agreement upon some new ways of organizing. The reorganizing can be done within current power structures, but requires new rules and processes.
Transformation: this is the most difficult of the types of change. Stakeholders recognize that there is a need for significant change that involves basic shifts in values, beliefs, relationships, and power. But the stakeholders do not know what those shifts are, and undertake a process of exploration.

Identifying the type of change needed is critical to success, because different types of change require different methodologies, tools and strategies. For example, negotiating tools are important in scaling up and reform; however, transformation requires re-visioning methodologies.

GANs are distinctive because their work involves all three types of change. Often one geographic location or sub-issue require one type of change, while others are dealing with a different type of change.

One useful unifying theme for building strategies across these change types is learningand the concept of societal learning and change. Just as we learn as individuals, and we have the concept of organizational learning, so too we have learning by societies when they create new capacity to realize new goals. One great example of this is with South Africa as it moved to post-apartheid rule. This was transformation change fostered by scenario development methodologies.

This analysis of change builds upon several decades of work by many people. Below is a table that described the changes in more detail, drawing from a paper following an in-depth analysis of GAN change strategies.

	Incremental	Reform	Transformation
Purpose	To improve the performance of the established system.	To change the system to address shortcomings and respond to the needs of stakeholders	To redirect the system and change its fundamental orientations and core relationships
Participation	Replicates the established decision making group and power relationships	Brings relevant stakeholders into engagement in ways that enable them to influence the decision making process	Creates a microcosm of the problem system, with all participants coming in on an equal footing as issue owners and decision makers
Process	Confirms existing rules. Preserves the established power structure and relationships among actors in the system	Opens rules to revision. Suspends established power relationships; promotes authentic interactions; creates a space for genuine reform of the system	Opens issue to creation of new ways of thinking and action. Promotes transformation of relationships with whole-system awareness and identity; promotes examining deep structures that sustain the system