Here’s an excerpt from my eBook that is coming out this spring. I plan on breakin’ all the rules in conventional change management. If you like it, please Tweet it and Get on the List!
How to Lead the **** Out of Change
It’s clear to me that leading change is the most important skill—for organizations, governments, communities, and as individuals. So I’m fascinated by change.
I used to think that realizing successful change was about securing executive sponsorship, creating a sense of urgency, building a coalition of committed supporters, and following a structured change management process (plus a slew of other “best practices”). B-O-R-I-N-G corporate speak.
Yes, leading change is all those things, but it’s so much more! I assure you, this book is not yet another conventional book on change management that regurgitates what’s already been written, and written again, and again, and again…
This book imbues much needed creativity into a stagnant field of change management, injects a big dose of collaboration into what it means to lead change, and infuses some serious moxie in how to lead the hell out of change. If you’re looking for conventional prose on leading change, read Kotter.
I’m not saying that the field of change management doesn’t matter. It does. I’m just saying that most changes require a much deeper understanding of what it takes to connect with the people. Leading change is about assembling and connecting, listening and designing, and interacting with a group of people on a mission. Leading change is creating a movement.
When I started writing down my How to Lead the Change process, I knew I wanted to share the steps with people who wanted an unconventional perspective, a deeper look, and a fresh holistic view on how to realize successful change.
leading change is about making connections … between ideas + strategies, desires + beliefs, between what you believe is right and your full potential.
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I’m excited about this book! I can’t wait to share it with all of you.
If you like it, please Tweet it and Get on the List!
Cheers~
Melissa
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
I think the trick is every change initiative is different. Some need lots of visible executive support, some just need them to tick the approve box, some need lots of planning, some are more serendipitous, some need to be directive, some more inclusive. And I don’t think it’s a case of either/or: either visible executive support or your skills as an agent of change. Both are required to varying degrees, depending on the program. Melissa, in reading the synopsis of your book, I like your emphasis on the importance of “assembling and connecting, listening and designing, and interacting with a group of people on a mission”. In my own book, I constantly reiterate that change is fundamentally about people, not systems, building, org charts, etc. I look forward to reading your book when it comes out.
Leslie Allan
Author: Managing Change in the Workplace
http://www.businessperform.com/managing-change
Twitter: http://www.businessperform.com/twitter
Facebook: http://www.businessperform.com/facebook
Thanks Leslie!
Cheers~
Melissa
Well, I am very excited to hear you criticise Kotter. I also am critical of the planned change approach that he represents. At the same time respectful of what he has been able to create. I couldn't find your excerpt from your book, which sounds very interesting.
Stephen,
The excerpt from my ebook to be released this spring is here: http://riverforkconsulting.com/2010/02/11/breakin...
Cheers!
Melissa