About SteadMark

    Purpose

    Paramedicine taught me that change only happens when people feel read, not pushed. Middle managers get handed the rollout and no way to tell how their teams are actually responding, so they guess. Guessing is where change breaks. SteadMark exists to give managers the read they need to lead.

    Mission

    SteadMark reads the team channels you connect, starting with Slack. It grounds what it finds in established behavioral and change research and tells managers what to do today, this week, and this month. The change function gets the aggregate read across every manager. Managers stop guessing how to get adoption. They start leading it.

    Vision

    In three years, SteadMark will be the default tool middle managers reach for when leading change, the way pulse surveys became the default for engagement. Framework-backed action, grounded in what your people are actually saying, not what a consultant assumed six months ago.

    The frameworks behind SteadMark

    The frameworks below are the research context a change practitioner will recognize. They are presented here as educational background. SteadMark does not implement or certify in any vendor's methodology.

    Individual change model

    ADKAR® (Prosci®)

    Awareness, Desire, Knowledge, Ability, Reinforcement as the five stages of personal adoption.

    Organizational change model

    Kotter's 8-Step Process

    Urgency, coalition, vision, communication, empowerment, wins, acceleration, anchoring.

    Foundational theory

    Lewin's Change Model

    Unfreeze, Change, Refreeze. The original framework for organizational transition.

    Psychological transition

    Bridges' Transition Model

    Ending, Neutral Zone, New Beginning. Focuses on the internal experience of change.

    Practitioner framework

    Prosci® 3-Phase Process

    Prepare, Manage, Sustain. The operational wrapper around ADKAR.

    Project health diagnostic

    PCT® (Prosci Change Triangle®)

    Success, Leadership/Sponsorship, Project Management, Change Management. Assesses whether all four aspects of a change initiative are healthy.

    Organizational alignment

    McKinsey 7S

    Strategy, Structure, Systems, Shared Values, Style, Staff, Skills. Diagnostic for systemic change readiness.

    Emotional response

    Kubler-Ross Change Curve

    Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression, Acceptance. Adapted from grief research for workplace transition.

    Group dynamics

    Satir Change Model

    Late Status Quo, Resistance, Chaos, Integration, New Status Quo. Used in team-level change.

    Continuous improvement

    PDCA (Deming Cycle)

    Plan, Do, Check, Act. The iterative engine behind most modern change programs.

    Behavioral economics

    Nudge Theory (Thaler and Sunstein)

    Small environmental changes that make the desired behavior the path of least resistance.

    Implementation framework

    PCI® (People Centered Implementation, Changefirst®)

    Six critical success factors: shared change purpose, effective change leadership, powerful engagement processes, committed local sponsors, strong personal connection, sustained personal performance.

    ADKAR®, Prosci®, PCT®, and Prosci Change Triangle® are registered trademarks of Prosci Inc. Changefirst® and PCI® are trademarks of Changefirst Ltd. All other framework names are the property of their respective authors or organizations. SteadMark references these frameworks for educational purposes and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or certified by any of the above organizations. See our trademark notice for details.

    Why do people resist organizational change?

    Resistance is not a personality trait. It is a response to an unmet need. Self-Determination Theory, developed by Edward Deci and Richard Ryan in 1985 and refined across four decades of research, identifies three needs that drive human motivation at work: competence, autonomy, and relatedness. When a change threatens one of these, people resist. Each kind of resistance looks different, and each one responds to a different kind of invitation.

    Competence

    The person is worried they cannot do the new thing. It shows up as hedging, quiet withdrawal, or a sudden insistence on the old way of working.

    Autonomy

    The person feels done-to. The change arrived as a decision made somewhere else, and the pushback is a bid to get some say back.

    Relatedness

    The person fears losing status or relationships with their peers. What looks like foot-dragging is often protection of a standing that took years to build.

    The conversation is still yours to have. SteadMark points you to the one worth having today.