Thoughts on Change: How to herd humans without losing your mind
This podcast explores the messy, political, emotional, and deeply human side of leading change. It covers how to move culture, build credibility, and influence without bulldozing. The host, Kelly Mallery, provides insights on herding humans without losing your mind.
Episodes
Episode 21 - Why You Can’t Stop Yourself From Fixing Resistance
Have you ever seen someone struggling with a problem and immediately known how to fix it?You can see the root cause. You know the countermeasure. You’ve probably solved this exact problem ten times before.So you jump in with the answer.And somehow…they don’t use it. They push back. Or they keep bringing you problems instead of learning to solve them themselves.Sound familiar?In this episode of Tho
Why Change Leaders Make Resistance Worse Without Realizing It
You introduce a change that makes perfect sense.The problem is real. The data supports it. The new process is better.And yet…someone still pushes back.We've spent the last few episodes looking at resistance from the perspective of the person experiencing the change.But what happens when we turn the lens back on ourselves?What if the way we're responding to resistance is actually making t
Why People Resist Change: What They're Really Afraid to Lose
You introduce a change that makes perfect sense. The problem is real. The data supports it. The new process is better.And yet…someone still pushes back.We often call this resistance to change. But what if resistance isn't really about the change itself? What if people are trying to protect something they believe the change will take away? Maybe it's their competence. Their control. Their
Why People Resist Change: The Imagined Future Problem
Have you ever introduced a change that made perfect sense…The problem was real, the data supported it, the new process was better.And yet…Someone still pushed back.Maybe they said, “That’s never going to work.” Maybe they avoided the change. Maybe they kept doing things the old way.And we call it resistance to change.But what if we're looking at resistance all wrong? What if people aren'
Why Change Fails: Make Success Easier, Not People Harder
Have you ever led an improvement that made perfect sense on paper…The process was better. The problem was real. The solution was solid. Everyone agreed it was a good idea.And then…People struggled to actually make it work. And suddenly, what looked like resistance starts showing up.But what if we looked at this differently?What if our job as Continuous Improvement practitioners isn't just to
The Secret to Sustainable Change: Why Momentum Matters More Than Motivation
Have you ever noticed that some improvement efforts seem to take on a life of their own?People start talking about them. Others want to get involved. New ideas begin showing up. The improvement spreads beyond what you ever imagined.Then there are the other projects…The ones where every meeting feels like you're dragging a wagon uphill. Every action requires another reminder. Every conversatio
Episode 15 - Why Great Ideas Stall: How to get buy-in by reaching the right people
Have you ever had an idea that everyone agreed was a good idea… after it was too late?You did the analysis. You gathered the data. You built the business case. Maybe you even created the world's most beautiful PowerPoint deck.And then someone said:"You really should have talked to Susan three months ago."Ouch.If you've ever watched a great improvement idea stall because it reac
Episode 14 - The Current You're Fighting: Why Great Ideas Stall Inside Organizations
Have you ever had an improvement idea that was absolutely the right thing to do… and it still went nowhere?The data was solid. The problem was real. The people closest to the work agreed it needed to happen. And yet somehow the project stalled, got deprioritized, or quietly died in a meeting.If you've ever experienced that, you're not alone.In this episode of *Thoughts on Change*, we&apo
Episode 13 - Just Because It's a Problem Doesn't Mean You Should Solve It
Change efforts don't usually fail because they're bad ideas.They fail because they're buried under noise.As Continuous Improvement leaders, we see problems everywhere. We spot waste, inefficiencies, bottlenecks, and opportunities that others miss. But one of the hardest lessons to learn is that not every problem needs to be solved right now.In this episode, we continue the C.H.A.N.G
Episode 12 - Kata & TWI Summit Reflections
What actually makes change stick?Is it:the tool? the process? the storyboard? the training? Or is it something much deeper?In this episode of Thoughts on Change, I sit down with Mark Rosenthal and Laurel Martin to unpack one of the biggest challenges in Continuous Improvement:Why organizations can implement Lean tools… and still struggle to create lasting behavior change.And honestly? This convers
Episode 11 - Are you overhelping your team? Helping with intention in CI.
If you work in CI, helping probably feels like second nature. In fact, it’s probably one of the reasons you got into this work in the first place. But here’s the uncomfortable question we’re digging into today: Is your helping actually helping?There’s a fine line between helping people grow and accidentally creating dependence. And if you cross that line, your help can quietly become harmful—for t
Episode 10 - Stop Treating People Like Projects: The Real Secret to Influence in CI
If you’re struggling to get engagement with your change efforts, there’s a good chance the problem isn’t their resistance……it’s your lack of connection.I know—this one can sting a little.In Continuous Improvement, we’re trained to focus on tools, systems, and results. But the truth is, none of those things work without people. And when we stop seeing people as people—and start seeing them as the m
Episode 9 - Herding Humans, a new way to lead change
In this episode of “Thoughts on Change,” Kelly proposes a shift from pushing change to “shaping what’s possible” through credibility and influence. She defines a “change shaper” as someone who shows up effectively when resistance appears, regardless of title, and outlines six characteristics: connect with curiosity and compassion to create safety; help with intention to build others’ capability wi
Episode 8 - Building a bridge from credibility to shaping change
Kelly introduces Thoughts On Change as a podcast about the human side of leading change and explains the recent progression from “Resistobots” (internal reactions to discomfort) to the Transform framework and now a focus on credibility. She shares feedback, especially from women in continuous improvement roles, who are doing the work but want to be trusted to lead real change. Kelly argues credibi
Episode 7 - CI Warrior Series: Abby Kovarik on Muda, Culture Change, and Leading with Heart
Kelly Mallery introduces the first CI Warrior interview on Thoughts On Change with Abby Kovarik, a continuous improvement specialist at Raymond Corp (a Toyota Material Handling brand), who focuses on strengthening people, clarifying work, and building problem-solving confidence. Abby shares how an internship during college led her into lean, including a mindset shift about inventory as waste, and
Episode 6 - Getting results that matter, which layer of the problem are you solving?
Kelly explains that even with integrity, clear intent, relationships, and gemba time, credibility won’t stick without delivering results—solving not only the requested problem but also the hidden, unspoken one. She describes three layers behind common CI requests like “we need 5S”: the surface tool request, the performance gap (missed output, delays, excess inventory), and the deeper systems-and-b
Episode 5 - Intent, the invisible driver behind change
In this episode of 'Thoughts on Change,' Kelly explores the critical role of intent in building credibility during change initiatives. Understanding that people judge us based on our behavior while we judge ourselves by our intent is crucial. Kelly discusses how to bridge this gap by clearly stating our intentions and ensuring our actions align with them. She offers practical steps for e
Episode 4 - The #1 reason CI practitioners aren’t heard (and how to fix it)
In this episode of 'Thoughts on Change,' host Kelly delves into the discrepancy CI (Continuous Improvement) professionals often feel between their potential contributions and the tasks leaders assign to them. Emphasizing the politics, emotions, and human aspects of leading change, Kelly explores why CI practitioners struggle with credibility and influence. The discussion focuses on integ
Episode 3 - We Don't Just Face Resistance...We Create It
In this episode of Thoughts On Change, Kelly discusses how change leaders often create the resistance they face and introduces various archetypes, dubbed 'Resistobots,' which embody different counterproductive behaviors. These include Commandax (the controller), Factron (the rational), Softstep (the accommodator), Shellout (the avoider), Quickshift (the fixer), and Doctrina (the preacher
Episode 2 - People Don't Hate Change, They Hate the Future They Picture
In this episode of Thoughts on Change, host Kelly explores why people resist change—even when they deal with it constantly. The answer isn't about change itself, but about the future people imagine. Kelly unpacks the psychology behind change resistance, introducing the concept of change as a "two-sided coin" where people either see gain or loss. Learn how to identify the fear of los
Episode 1 - Welcome to the show
Welcome to the very first episode of Thoughts on Change! This podcast is for practical change makers—CI practitioners, culture leaders, and anyone trying to drive meaningful change without losing their minds.In this episode, host Kelly introduces the show and shares why it exists: to help you navigate the messy, emotional, and deeply human side of leading change. Too often, change leaders are trea
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