Assess Your CQ™

Each individual and every organization is either more or less responsive to change. The Change Quotient (CQ™) of an organization expresses how well leadership understands how to manage and lead change. It encompasses capacity for change (knowledge), change competence (skills) and change readiness (mind-set). To arrive at the CQ of an organization, the Adao Institute for Change conducts a series of surveys and questionnaires which, when answered honestly, will clearly demonstrate the change capacity, competence and readiness of an organization's leadership and identify gaps to be addressed. 

Of course, it is also important to consider the CQ of people within the organization who may not be leading change, but will be directly or indirectly affected by it. Having a clearer understanding of the CQ of staff allows leadership to anticipate and prepare for varying degrees of potential resistance within the organization when a change initiative is imminent. It also identifies areas of need with respect to change readiness and change capacity which are the critical determinants of CQ in employees. Front line employees generally do not require formal change management training since they are not leading change; as a result, the change competence dimension is not included in the CQ assessment of non-management staff. Leadership's level of change competence, however, will strongly impact the overall CQ of all employees.

One interesting exercise is to plot the results of these assessments in the CQ Grid™. This four square grid provides an illustration of whether an organization has a change tolerant or change phobic atmosphere and lists characteristics of various combinations of staff and leadership attitudes to change.

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