We are in the business of change. After decades of research and clinical practice, we often wonder:
If change is inevitable, why do so many smart leaders make a production of it?
Consider:
Every business must adapt and improve to succeed. That’s the impetus for change.
When leaders decide that a major change is crucial, they feel compelled to start a process that signals how serious things are. Big problems call for BIG solutions. Incremental progress seems too slow, so they embrace big change programs as if they are necessary for success.
Implementing change projects requires determined leadership, extra effort from everyone, and abundant willpower to succeed.
But these big projects are risky, even when the best people are enlisted to work with the latest, most promising change processes.
Studies show that as few as 30% of change management projects pay off.
Like any major initiative, change efforts are marathons, not sprints. They suck up cash and take months to plan and longer to implement. Meanwhile, unforeseen challenges emerge, complications arise as competitors adjust, and internal resistance simmers under the surface.
Even the few, lucky successful initiatives are exhausting and take their toll on morale and employee engagement.
No wonder most leaders believe that change is hard!
But while it may be true that change is inevitable, big change projects are not.
Big change projects arise from the notion that significant results come only after major transformations. But when the desired outcomes are first identified precisely, they become easier to achieve and any necessary transformation follows naturally.
Interchange has found a faster, easier, less risky way for businesses to adapt and improve based on a radically different understanding of how things change. We use an approach we call Minimalist Intervention™.
For 35 years C-suite executives have worked with Interchange to co-design small, catalytic executive actions that deliver the changes they want—usually in a few weeks—not months and years. Clients completely avoid the trials and tribulations of large-scale change efforts, combining their own detailed knowledge of their business and industry with Interchange’s change Know-How to deliver the changes they want through these tiny but powerful, targeted interventions.
Some things we at Interchange believe about change
- Conventional wisdom insists on large-scale change processes that tend to be authoritarian, manipulative and way too complicated to fully succeed.
- Large-scale desired changes don’t automatically require big projects to be successful. A well-designed, discrete, targeted intervention can unlock an organization’s ability to change naturally without triggering troublesome resistance.
- Step-by-step programs for organizational change are unreliable because off-the-shelf prescriptions never really fit and are difficult to adapt, expensive, risky and hard to implement.
- Most ‘resistance to change’ is triggered by clumsy interventions that don’t fit. There’s no need to manage resistance if you never prompt it.
- Everything our clients need to achieve the change they want is already hiding in plain sight. Interchange helps them find a simpler way forward, using Minimalist Intervention™.
- Minimalist interventions are co-designed with our clients because our clients are the change agents best positioned to act effectively. They know their companies better than any outsider ever will.
With Interchange, change doesn’t have to be so hard, because we think about and work with change in a very unconventional way.
If you’d like to learn more about:
- Some real-world examples of the results Interchange has helped clients deliver,
- How a client gets started working with Interchange,
- What it’s like working with Interchange,
Contact us via email with your questions at
info@interchange-associates.com,
or call Dave Franzetta at
+1 (949) 2958069
to schedule an appointment to talk with us about your situation and find out more about how Interchange may be able to help you.
Some Interchange Corporate Customers Include
What Clients Say About Us
The Interchange Team Includes Practitioners with Diverse Educational and Professional Backgrounds
Our Team
James Wilk, PhD
Philosopher and scientist Dr. James Wilk holds degrees from Oxford spanning a range of academic fields including not only philosophy, but also neuroscience, physiology, self-organizing complex systems, psychology, sociology, and social policy and intervention, as well as a degree in cybernetics from the former Institute of Cybernetics at Brunel University – the world’s leading centre for cybernetics at the time.
Alan Engelstad, MES
Alan Engelstad is the co-founder of Interchange Associates, its first president and a senior practitioner of the methodology. He advises C-suite executives on how to get the major changes they want through executive actions leveraging available means. The changes achieved capture latent value that would otherwise be out of reach.
David Franzetta, MBA
During his more than thirty-year association with Interchange, Mr. Franzetta has been involved in the co-design of several hundred minimalist interventions, first as a client and later as an Analyst for the firm. Dave started his journey with Interchange as a client in 1993, while in a senior executive capacity at Prudential Financial, Inc. When he retired in 2004 Dave joined Interchange as an Analyst, and since 2009 has been President of the firm.
Alexandra Nasar, JD
Ms Nasar has been a student of Minimalist Intervention™ since her days studying at Oxford with Dr James Wilk, and a practitioner with the Interchange Associates team since 2019. At Pryor Cashman, Ally’s litigation practice focuses on representing commercial and business clients in complex disputes in state and federal courts and private mediation.
Andy Bass, PhD
Andy has worked with James Wilk and the Interchange team for over a decade, designing minimalist interventions for clients in both the US and Europe. Independently he is a consultant, author and speaker focused on improved collaboration between commercial and technical teams (“Suits & Geeks”) …
Our Board of Advisors
Martha Clark Goss, MBA
Ms. Goss is a longtime advocate of Interchange Associates, Inc. Since 1992 Ms. Goss has served on numerous corporate boards. She is on the board of American Water -NYSE:AWK; a Trustee of the Neuberger Berman Mutual Funds, where she is Chair of the Governance and Nominating Committees and Vice Chair of the Audit Committee; and she is on the board of EA Engineering, an environmental consulting firm.
Jeffrey K. McElnea, MA
Advisor to Interchange Associates and CEO of The Jeffrey Development Group, Jeff McElnea is a seasoned leader with over 45 years of experience in marketing communications. Recognized as a “Lifetime Achiever” by Brandweek, Jeff has also been honored with induction into the Promotion Marketing Hall of Fame by MAA Worldwide.
Joanna Seddon, PhD
Dr. Joanna Seddon is a long-time friend and supporter of Interchange and a recent addition to Interchange’s Board of Advisors. Joanna specializes in helping clients maximize the financial potential of their brand and marketing strategies. She is recognized as a global expert on brand positioning, brand architecture, brand valuation, branding in M&A, brand and marketing investment, brand measurement and ROI and growth strategies.