I’m making some people really uncomfortable by asking, “How might we expand the field of change management to take a leap in our thinking and impact change?” Breaking patterns makes people feel uneasy. Oh well. So goes it.
Bruce Mau, world leading innovator, author of Massive Change, and Chief Creative Officer of Bruce Mau Design articulates the approach his team takes in every project in what he calls the Incomplete Manifesto.
No. 5 and no. 40 are two examples of what I believe are needed in the field of change management to expand our thinking.
5. Go deep.
The deeper you go the more likely you will discover something of value.
Design thinking bridges the gap between mechanical change management methodologies and going deep to engage others in realizing successful change. In plain terms, design thinking is a human-centered methodology used to solve complex problems.
40. Avoid fields.
Jump fences. Disciplinary boundaries and regulatory regimes are attempts to control the wilding of creative life. They are often understandable efforts to order what are manifold, complex, evolutionary processes. Our job is to jump the fences and cross the fields.
Being an equestrian, I really like this principle. Why wouldn’t we, as change leaders, look to companies and other disciplines that are at the forefront of realizing successful change? Does your change management strategy consider the 5 Fs, characteristics of companies that are the forefront of realizing successful change? It should. Does your change management strategy bridge the chasm from thinking about change to realizing successful change?
Do we need to break some patterns to realize change? I think so.
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Melissa,
Again, you hit at the heart of true change in change management. I believe that many leaders of companies and organizations are afraid of "Change Management" because they fear that they might not be able to truly control or "manage" the change. Even though they realize that they are not performing as well as they could or should, the known is more comfortable than the unknown.
After returning from many years in Asia, Europe and Russia, I began to provide OD consulting, executive and life coaching and came to a major discovery. Not only do most organizations desperately need some change management involving whole systems, but most people are in dire need of some change management in their lives. Just think about it, how many people actually have a life mission statement? How few actually have a life strategy with goals and plans written, lived out and evaluated regularly (about 4% of Americans actually)? How many people have a comprehensive financial plan developed for their lives and their family? How many people are actually passionately pursuing their full potential, let alone reaching it? Unfortunately, very few.
Thanks for the comments Bryan! Cool web site by the way. I like the take on L-evate!
This tragic reality led me to write a Life-Building Workbook called, "Make A Life" (about life design). The 2nd book being written is "Build Your Life" about life development, and then comes Build Your Organization. Each of the workbooks is based upon the assumptions that people, and organizations will many tiimes not change until it's too painful not to change, and that it is not possible to change until we really see who we are and where we are, as well as who we desire to be and where we desire to go. Just as the unexaminded life is not worth living, the unexamined organization is not worth continuing. it, with passion and compassion. Keep up your crusade! We are listening.
In OD and change management consulting, I believe that my most important mission is to empower the leadership, gate-keepers and stake-holders to really examine their organization, clarify who they desire to be, what they desire to do and where they want to go, then define the changes that need to take place, and the strategies to implement them. I apologize for the length of this comment, but your articles speak to what I have seen, not only in the organizational world, but in the real lives of real people. If people are not living by purpose, then they are living by accident. If they don' t really know where they are, where they want to go and how they plan to get there, then they must be lost. Yet, most people plod on in this condition – in survival mode, rather than really making a life. Unfortunately, many companies are in the same mode. Our mission – to help them realize this and do something about
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