The Satir Change Model and Why It has Everything to do with Predictive Analytics

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by MMA / Ipsos

By Michael Bertie, Ipsos MMA SVP Analytic Consulting

Time for a game of Jeopardy! The category is: “Little Known Founders of Change Management”.

The answer: “Known as ‘The Mother of Family Therapy’, this American author and therapist is also responsible for creating the widely recognized Change Process Model that defines how change impacts organizations.”

Now give yourself $1,000 if you came up with the correct question, “Who is Virginia Satir?”

I readily admit that I was not familiar with Virginia Satir, until I really started studying and implementing approaches to organizational change management. Her name may not be familiar to you either, but I am willing to bet that her Change Model will resonate:

satir change model - predictive analytics

The model’s premise is genius in its simplicity:

  • Organizational performance flatlines after a period of growth; to break the status quo, a foreign element (e.g. an enlightened senior stakeholder) introduces a call for change
  • This call for change will meet resistance, with a period of chaos to follow, furthering disrupting performance, before a transforming Idea is integrated throughout the organization
  • Over time, this integration will lead to improvement, to the point where this heightened level of performance becomes firmly established as the new status quo (at which point, the process likely needs to begin anew once more)

Ok, but what does this have to do with predictive analytics? Well, to be honest, it has EVERYTHING to do with predictive analytics. Implementing a Marketing Analytics platform can be a truly disruptive experience for any company to undertake — I guarantee that there will be as many dissenters as proponents, it will be chaotic and full integration will take time.

All of this points to the need for analytic programs to adopt strong governance structures (co-led by internal champions and stakeholders) and a vigilance in driving adoption, not just of the analytics itself but (perhaps more importantly) the recommendations derived from the analytics. That is when truly meaningful and measurable value is created, without which an analytics program is not really worth much at all.

That’s where we come in. Ipsos MMA consultants are not just experts in Marketing Analytics – we are equally focused on partnering with our clients to drive adoption via change management principles, and we are there with our clients every step of the way.

Give us a call or send us an email, and we’ll be happy to talk to you more about the Satir Change Model or any element of our Change Management process, or even just test ourselves in quick game of Jeopardy!