Avanti Change Readiness
Stand at the threshold together, and see how far you have come.
The Threshold
Every change has a threshold people must step across together, and readiness is what lets them stand there with clarity, trust and energy rather than hesitation.
- The Case for Change
- A Picture of What Comes Next
- Trust in the Leadership
- A Voice in the Change
- Capacity to Change
- Energy for Change
- Support Through Transition
- Confidence to Adapt
- Before or early in the change
- Later in or after the change
- How far people have travelled across the threshold
- Dashed marks at 5 and 7.5 show where growing edge, established and signature strength begin
Drawn with made-up sample data.
The figures in this picture
| Element | Before | After | Change | Band after |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Case for Change | 7.5 | 8.2 | Moving towards | Signature strength |
| A Picture of What Comes Next | 7.0 | 7.6 | Moving towards | Signature strength |
| Trust in the Leadership | 5.8 | 6.6 | Moving towards | Established |
| A Voice in the Change | 6.7 | 7.0 | Steady | Established |
| Capacity to Change | 5.7 | 6.6 | Moving towards | Established |
| Energy for Change | 6.7 | 7.47 | Moving towards | Established |
| Support Through Transition | 7.4 | 8.1 | Moving towards | Signature strength |
| Confidence to Adapt | 4.9 | 5.9 | Moving towards | Established |
What It Explores
An anonymous, strengths-based survey in which staff and managers read how ready they feel for a specific change, run before and after so an organisation can see the conditions it has created and how far people have travelled across the threshold.
Every change has a threshold. On one side is the way things are: familiar, sometimes frustrating, often carefully built by the people who work there. On the other is the way things will be. Between them is a doorway that people have to step across, not once as an organisation, but one by one and team by team. Some stride across, some hesitate, some stop to ask good questions about what they are being asked to leave behind. How ready people feel at that threshold has a great deal to do with the conditions their leaders have created.
Avanti Change Readiness is an anonymous survey that helps an organisation read how ready its people feel for a specific change, and what would help. Staff and managers rate 40 short statements about eight readiness elements: The Case for Change, A Picture of What Comes Next, Trust in the Leadership, A Voice in the Change, Capacity to Change, Energy for Change, Support Through Transition and Confidence to Adapt. Results are reported by group, never by individual. The survey is designed to run twice, before and after or at stages, so the organisation can see how readiness has moved and where the conditions for change have grown stronger.
Why It Matters
- Changes are often planned in detail, while the conditions people need to make them work receive far less attention.
- Hesitation and resistance are easily misread as negativity, when they often protect something that matters.
- Many public service staff are tired from earlier changes, and new change lands on that fatigue.
- Organisations rarely check how readiness has moved, so they cannot tell whether their efforts are helping.
What You Receive
- A 40-statement anonymous questionnaire about a specific change, completed by staff and managers.
- A group report showing readiness across eight elements for each group of seven or more.
- Material to help managers share results with their teams.
- A second reading, before and after or at stages, with each element described as Moving towards, Moving away, Steady or Too early to tell.
- A short summary of what changed between readings and what to carry forward.
Feedback. A facilitated session to work through the results together is arranged with you. Talk to us
What People Take Away
- 1Name the eight elements of change readiness and what each looks like in practice.
- 2Recognise readiness as the product of conditions leaders create, rather than a quality staff have or lack.
- 3Identify the elements of readiness already in place and how to build on them.
- 4Explain why different groups can experience the same change differently.
- 5Treat hesitation and resistance as information about what people want to protect.
- 6Agree practical actions to strengthen the conditions for change.
- 7Compare readings over time and describe how readiness has moved for each group.
Who It Is For
- Services, directorates and organisations going through significant change
- Senior leaders and change sponsors who want to understand readiness
- Programme and transformation teams
- Managers supporting their teams through change
- Partnerships and systems changing together
- Voluntary and community sector organisations
When to Use It
Before a significant change
Before a restructure, new service model, merger or system change begins, a first reading shows where the conditions for change are strong and where they need building.
At stages through the change
Run at key milestones, it shows how readiness is moving and whether actions taken in response are making a difference.
After the change has settled
A reading after the change shows how far people have come across the threshold and what to carry into the next change.
When change seems stuck
Where a change has slowed, the instrument helps identify which conditions are missing, without blaming those who are hesitating.
Shared change across partners
Where several organisations are changing together, group-by-group readings show how the same change is experienced across the system.
Our Approach in This Instrument
Change Readiness reads the threshold without judging those standing at it: every element starts from what is already in place, a lower reading describes the conditions people have been given rather than their attitude, and resistance is treated with respect because it often protects something of value. It keeps integrity, wellbeing and the people and communities the organisation serves at the centre of the change.
Proper Use
This is a development instrument. It is not a clinical assessment and it is not designed or validated for selection, recruitment, promotion or performance management decisions. Scores describe perceptions at a point in time and are a starting point for conversation, not a verdict.