Decision: Option 2B: “Show me”
Stakeholder Leader Adoption Levels:
Leader Rate
Leader State of Mind
Lena (R&D): 3
Evaluation – excited by the push for a demo, but concerned about managing expectations
Sarah (Sales): 1
Awareness – feels out of the loop, unsure how to position this to her team or clients
Markus (Ops): 1
Awareness – hears about an upcoming demo, assumes it’s an R&D show, not truly for Ops yet
David (Finance): 1
Awareness – no new financial data, demo seems premature from a business case perspective
Maria (HR): 1
Awareness – concerned about the lack of people engagement before a tech demo
Impact on Stakeholder Teams:
R&D Team: Works hard, excited about the demo. They are “all in.”
Sales Team: Feels disconnected. “What are we supposed to tell clients if they ask? What is this NovaPac actually for us?” (Information vacuum leads to frustration in Neutral Zone).
OPS Team: Rumors of a “fancy demo” circulate. Their concerns about practicality and disruption grow as they feel uninvolved in any preliminary discussions. “Another thing being cooked up in the lab that won’t work on the floor.”
Finance Team: : Sees this as R&D spending without clear business engagement. “When do we talk about whether this makes sense?”
HR Team: Worries that a tech demo without proper groundwork will alienate employees rather than inspire them. “People will just see complexity, not opportunity.”
Feedback (from Leaders & Teams): This approach creates an information vacuum for most departments, fueling uncertainty and potentially negative speculation (teams stuck in Neutral Zone or reinforcing Endings). Lena and R&D are engaged, but other leaders feel bypassed. Desire is not being cultivated; instead, silos are reinforced. The “human side” of change is neglected.