After engaging with the readings, please write a short response that summarizes the questions/issues explored in the readings, and identify at least one key insight that you learned.

Rubic:
1. You clearly demonstrate that you read the assigned materials
2. You clearly describe one key insight that you learned from the assigned materials.

There are three readings attached (two from website and one pdf), and some samples for you to reference

https://www.prosci.com/resources/articles/change-management-maturity-model
https://www.pmi.org/learning/library/change-readiness-11126

Sample 1:
This weeks readings, such as Change Readiness: Focusing Change Management Where It Counts and Five Levels of Change Management Maturity interested me in how organizations and individuals are supposed to adapt themselves according to an organizational pace. Proscis Change Management Maturity Model and how to address change readiness gaps may bring us insights how to be flexible and reflective within an organization.

Applying changes in management may likely require some efforts and resources. Thus,  organizations need  to take both internal and external factors into consideration, including value alignment, involvement, skill, time, and perceived value. Without these commitment readiness, changes could be difficult to implement. Additionally, culture is also an essential factor that could determine how changes are made within a company. people with different cultural backgrounds may lead to more diversity while some conflicts could arise as well. Therefore,  one of the key insights I have learned from the readings is that organizations may often have to address change readiness gaps. Management teams must fully understand what it takes to implement changes and how these changes help us reach our expectation.

In the meanwhile, organizations may have certain level of consistency to back up forward changes, from the perspectives of policies, rules, and common approaches.  For example, if workers are allowed to make changes at will, those changes may together make results deviate from original expectations. On the contrary, if workers are shown explicit tactic directions, they are more likely to make changes or use alternative approach in order to reach collective goals.  In this way, some changes could be regarded as improvement for overall process and these changes are encouraged.

Sample 2:
The readings mainly cover the issues that the change is the only constancy in this ever-changing and increasingly uncertain world these days and how organizations and individuals (leaders) should react to manage change. These four articles separately depict that how change can be characterized and each categorys development, the five levels of companys change management maturity model, how to assess and upgrade the change readiness of a company, and the framework of a leaders decision making in five types of contexts.

As the aspect of organizations, Proscis maturity model can be utilized to determine which level the company is currently in and what is required for moving to the next step, while assessing the change readiness can allow the company to identify the obstacle while managing the change. For an individuals capability of managing change, the Prosci ADKAR model and Cynefin framework would be helpful. The former describes how to change successfully for a person, while the latter focuses on what should a leader behave in different contexts.

It reminds me of the current situation of the world that unprecedented pandemic impacts almost every person and organization. No one can predict what things will lead to. For many companies, it is such a nightmare that the one who cannot react and respond to this change rapidly fall shortly. While for Internet companies who can quickly act and adjust strategies such as TikTok and Zoom, it seems a good time to boost their businesses.

The key insights I have learned from the readings and experiences are two things: act first and being flexible. To organizations, it is hard to predict the market, customers, or the external environment. The first thing they might do is take action. For example, companies can conduct A/B tests to identify the customers demand, and build an MVP and put it into the market to collect the feedback in a short time. It is a recurring process that contains acting quickly and reacting to the change at first, and then use the analytics and data to adjust.

As an individual or a leader, we should always be flexible whenever we should make decisions. For instance, the COVID-19 might impact my summer internship, I would go back to China as a backup plan or find a remote one. Being a leader is similar, we cannot rely on our instincts and use the same methods in front of different problems. While I was working at Didi, I had to take charge of three cities and each of them has different problems such as inactive customers or lack of drivers. It is essential to be flexible both physically and mentally while managing the change.