Changemaker Survey:Obstacles and HelpEugene Eric Kimeekim@fasterthan20.com

July 22, 2013http://fasterthan20.com/

Twitter: @fasterthan20

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Motivation

At the end of 2012, I left the social change consultancy I cofounded (Groupaya), hoping to find ways to have a greater impact on the world beyond consulting while also maintaining a healthy work-life balance.

I wanted to start my exploration by listening to other changemakers to see what potential leverage points might emerge. This survey was my starting point for many rich and wonderful conversations.

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112Respondents

77% left their name and contact information

(I knew 46% of these respondents)

51% male / 49% female(I derived gender from names, so this

doesn’t include anonymous responses)

I created a 10-question survey asking changemakers about their biggest obstacles and their biggest aids. I also asked some demographic questions.

I distributed the survey through my social network (via social media and email), asking people to fill out the survey and to share it with at least one other person with preferences toward people who were part of organizations and who were not executive leaders.

After almost three months (May-July 2013), I analyzed the survey with invaluable guidance from my friend, Amy Luckey. I created a taxonomy for the open-ended responses, which I revised three times. I also sent follow-up questions to several respondents.

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Respondents’ age, organizational size, and job level

18 to 24 25 to 34 35 to 44 45 to 54 55 to 64 Older than 640.00%

10.00%

20.00%

30.00%

40.00%

50.00%

Seek

ing employm

ent

Self-e

mployed

2-10 employe

es

11-50 employe

es

51-100 employe

es

>100 em

ployees

0.00%

20.00%

40.00%

ELTSe

nior

Manag

erOther

Self-e

mployed

Studen

t

Seek

ing employm

ent

0.00%10.00%20.00%30.00%40.00%50.00%

AgeMost respondents fell in my age range (35-44), perhaps a consequence of marketing through my social network.

Organizational SizeDecent distribution across different sized organizations. I specifically asked respondents to share the survey with people in organizations.

Job LevelA large percentage of respondents are executive leaders, even though I asked respondents to share with those who weren’t.

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“Changemakers”?

77%are part of orgs with

an explicit social mission

66%have participated in

leadership development

I define a “changemaker” as anyone who is trying to change their organizations, their community, or the world for the better. I don’t think you need an explicit social mission to be considered a changemaker. However, I think you are more likely to self-identify as a “changemaker” if you do. I’d love to see this change, as I think there are many more changemakers than those who self-identify as such.

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Respondents’ estimated spending last year on trainings, workshops, and coaching broken down by organizational size

0 Between $1 and $1,000

Between $1,001 and $5,000

Between $5,001 and $10,000

Greater than $10,0000%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

Seeking employmentSelf-employed2-10 employees11-50 employees51-100 employees>100 employees

Those investing more than $5,000 on professional development mostly came from larger organizations (>50 employees).

Those self-employed or from smaller organizations invested more on professional development (up to $5,000) than those from larger organizations.

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Changemaker ObstaclesIneffective communication

Lack of understandingSystems perspective, leverage points, uncertain strategy.

Lack of resourcesMoney, time, and knowledge.

Resistance to changeMindsets, behaviors, and structures.

Lack of allies

FearOf change, of failure, of conflict.

Managing selfStress, self-image, self-doubt, emotions, lack of discipline.

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Obstacles by age

Younger respondents find managing themselves to be more of an obstacle than older respondents.

Older respondents (35 and older) find lack of resources a bigger obstacle than younger respondents.

Ineffecti

ve co

mmunication

Lack o

f unders

tanding

Lack o

f reso

urces

Resista

nce to ch

ange

Lack o

f allie

sFe

ar

Manag

ing self

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

25 to 3435 to 4445 to 5455 to 64

Note the disparity of resistance to change from the oldest respondents (55-64) to the youngest (25-34).

9

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

ELTSeniorManagerOtherSelf

Obstacles by job level

Individuals and management find lack of resources a bigger issue than others.

Individuals and people lower in the food chain find lack of understanding a bigger issue than formal leadership.

Huge disparity of resistance to change between individuals (low obstacle) vs those in organizations (huge obstacle).

People lower in the food chain find managing themselves significantly more challenging than everyone else, including self-employed.

10

Ineffecti

ve co

mmunication

Lack o

f unders

tanding

Lack o

f reso

urces

Resista

nce to ch

ange

Lack o

f allie

sFe

ar

Manag

ing self

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

YesNo

Obstacles by leadership development training

People with leadership development training are finding resistance to change much more challenging.

On the other hand, people with leadership development training find managing themselves less challenging than those without.

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Changemaker HelpPresence & self-awareness Allies &

supportersStrategy

Discipline, persistence, & passion

Leadership & personal development

Knowledge & experience

Feedback & results

12

Disciplin

e, pers

isten

ce, &

passion

Presen

ce & se

lf-aware

ness

Knowledge

& ex

perien

ce

Feed

back &

resu

lts

Leaders

hip & pers

onal dev

elopmen

t

Allies &

supporte

rs

Strate

gy0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

25 to 3435 to 4445 to 5455 to 64

Help by age

People 55 and older cite feedback as helpful more than everyone else.

Younger respondents cite knowledge and experience more than older respondents!

The older the respondents are, the more they cite allies as helpful, and the less they cite strategy.

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Help by job level

Upper management cite strategy as helpful more than everyone else.

Managers and self-employed found leadership and personal development valuable more than other respondents.

No idea what to say about this disparity!

Disciplin

e, pers

isten

ce, &

passion

Presen

ce & se

lf-aware

ness

Knowledge

& ex

perien

ce

Feed

back &

resu

lts

Leaders

hip & pers

onal dev

elopmen

t

Allies &

supporte

rs

Strate

gy0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

ELTSeniorManagerOtherSelf

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Disciplin

e, pers

isten

ce, &

passion

Presen

ce & se

lf-aware

ness

Knowledge

& ex

perien

ce

Feed

back &

resu

lts

Leaders

hip & pers

onal dev

elopmen

t

Allies &

supporte

rs

Strate

gy0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

YesNo

Help by leadership development trainingPeople without leadership development training cited allies as being helpful more than those without.

Obviously, if you haven’t had leadership development, you’re not going to find it valuable. What’s striking here is how valuable people who have had it found it.

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Disciplin

e, Pers

isten

ce, &

Passion

Presen

ce & Se

lf-aware

ness

Knowledge

& Ex

perien

ce

Feed

back &

Results

Leaders

hip & Pers

onal Dev

elopmen

t

Allies &

Supporte

rs

Strate

gy0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

FM

Help by gender

This disparity is consistent with other studies that show that men tend to attribute their success to themselves, whereas women tend to attribute their success to others.

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Don’t draw too many conclusions

• Small sample size with distribution and self-selection biases

• Wish there were more responses from people in their 20s

• Would have liked to have tracked the regions from which people came. Suspect heavy West Coast (California in particular) and metropolitan biases

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“Fear” can be a red herring

• Lots of people used the word in response to obstacles question. But what does it actually mean?

• Own fear or others’?• Fear of what?• Need to acknowledge the emotional

response, but also dig deeper to discover the roots of that response

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Greater disparities in responses by age than by gender

• The only significant gender disparities were in citing things that helped the most (persistence vs allies, slide 14)

• Younger respondents cited self-directed obstacles (e.g. managing self, slide 7). Older respondents cited external obstacles (e.g. resources, resistance to change, slide 7)

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Knowledge versus know-how

• Disparities in responses around knowledge by age / job level (slides 8, 11, 12) could reflect a shift in mindset as you get older from knowledge (external, can be passed around and acquired) to know-how (internal, experiential)

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Personal & professional development

• The ability to manage yourself (slides 6, 10) was widely cited as helpful (when you’re doing it well) and an obstacle (when you’re not)

• Leadership development programs seem to be effective at helping people manage selves, less so at helping people deal with others (e.g. resistance, slide 9).

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Thank you!To all of the people who took the time to respond to the survey and especially to those who shared the survey with others. Special thanks to Katie Ashmore, Alison Brody, Mary Ellen Capak, Christine Egger, Regina Hartwig, Jelly Helm, Paul Lamb, Kim Elisha Proctor, Angel Santuario, Sameer Siraguri, Chuck Smith, and Brad Wilke for followup conversations.

Thanks to Anna Castro, Marie Haller, and Rebecca Petzel for early feedback on the survey itself. Finally, many thanks to Amy Luckey for helping me think through and analyze the survey.