The Tipping Point

How do systems (organisations, societies...) change rapidly? If you have read Malcolm Gladwell's book "The Tipping Point" you will have an insight into the conditions that promote rapid and effective change.

We are one of a few licencees in the UK for an innovative workshop designed to help explore this concept. "Creating Contagious Commitment" was written by Andrea Shapiro who developed the computer simulation used to create dialogue in the workshop.

We are developing a new version of this page - in the meantime, the information below is designed to titillate your interest and persuade you to contact us - we would much rather speak with you than just have you read our site!

	What is the Tipping Point?
	The Tipping Point is a learning tool. It is an interactive workshop centered around a computer simulation that allows workshop participants to create and modify different strategies to move a simulated organization toward a needed change. It is designed to help managers and others who are responsible for organizational change discover and apply new ideas to make change work in their organizations.

	What does it do?
	The Tipping Point introduces a new way to understand the complex processes which impact successful change implementation in organizations. It is based on the dynamics of the spread of epidemics - using models drawn from public health, systems dynamics, and organizational theory. The simulation highlights the interacting factors which affect change. Playing the Tipping Point computer simulation helps managers' think "outside the box", to question their assumptions, and explore innovative strategies -- in a low-risk simulated environment.

	Who can use it?
	The workshop is most effective with managers in the early stages of planning a change initiative. The ability of an organization to change and adapt may be its only sustainable competitive advantage. Despite this, organizations often experience resistance and inertia to important change initiatives. Research has shown that 50-85% of change initiatives fail. The Tipping Point helps leaders discover how to maximize effectiveness in implementing change--through new theory and dialogue.

	What to expect.
	The workshop is experiential. It creates an experimental learning environment that is also fun.Participants come away with new model to help create commitment to your organizational change.It uses focused dialogue with teammates to create a shared vision on implementing a change.There is opportunity to experiment with the factors affecting change using an interactive computer simulation.Participating in a workshop gives practical tools to make your organizational change both contagious and sustainable.

	How does it work?
	The *Tipping Point* workshop is most effective with teams who are responsible for implementing an organizational change. After a brief overview of the theory, the teams vie against each other to create the best change strategy. This friendly competition encourages experimentation and risk taking, and also focuses dialogue on the factors that affect a change. The teams' strategies are "tried out" on the simulation, and the results are seen immediately on the graphical output. The participants then discuss how they can apply what they have learned in their own organizations.

What are the details?

The Tipping Point workshop works best with 15-42 people and takes approximately one half day for the simulation alone and a full to a day and a half to do the whole program - which includes applications of the simulation. The workshop leader provides handouts, gives an overview of the theory, shows sample runs to demonstrate how the simulation works, guides the discussion, and helps people understand the results. To learn more about the workshop, contact us as below.