January 3, 2013
(1) COMMENT
I’ve been talking recently about character and presence—the who we are that combines with what we do to make us complete change practitioners. In this post, I describe three ways presence reflects character.
April 17, 2012
(4) COMMENTS
In my last post, I addressed the inevitability of resistance in transformational change. In this entry, I want to set a context for resistance as I see it. In particular, I’ll be emphasizing the importance that predictability and a sense of control have on the resistance experience.
Within that context, I’ll talk about many misconceptions about resistance, why they are wrong, and offer a more effective practitioner view.
April 10, 2012
(2) COMMENTS
If there was ever an aspect to organizational change that permeates our profession, it’s the need to address resistance. Reluctance, concerns, struggle, and opposition are all natural and healthy parts of the human transformative process. As such, surfacing, exploring, and addressing the views that run contrary to intended outcomes is as important to our role as is promoting understanding, commitment, and alignment toward realization goals.
As critical as it is to our work, some practitioners take the position that resistance is an unnecessary outcome that results from poor implementation planning or execution. I hold the opposite view—I see it as an intrinsic component to reaching full realization. Differences of opinion about issues as fundamental as resistance are worthy of open dialogue within our practitioner community. We will become a stronger discipline by sharing views on important facets of our profession, particularly when they represent divergent opinions.
March 13, 2012
(3) COMMENTS
From time to time, both internal and external change practitioners are asked to help select key leaders who will have critical roles as an organization embarks on a vital transition. Unfortunately, many practitioners don’t give enough thought to what might be included in a change leader’s selection criteria. They toss something together quickly or access a generic list someone else has published that doesn’t take into account the particulars of the organization, the demands of the changes at hand, and the personalities involved. Leader appointment is an important aspect of change success and, as professional change facilitators, we are obligated to be as prepared as possible when asked to participate in the selection process.
In this series, I will share an extensive list of criteria I consider when asked to provide parameters for change-related leader selection.
February 21, 2012
NO COMMENTS
Serving as a professional change facilitator is challenging under any circumstances but this is especially true when attending to people in the midst of deeply emotional, or cathartic, breakthroughs. The intense struggle associated with trying to hold on to the status quo, the anxiety of letting go, and then the difficulties of opening up to new possibilities generates extremely profound emotions that we must be prepared to recognize and respond to properly.
In this post, I include an extensive list of ways we can help others in their emotional journeys.
February 14, 2012
NO COMMENTS
In this three-part series, I am talking about the deep emotion of transformational change, and how to recognize and respond to it. This post addresses the three phases that correspond to letting go of the status quo and migrating to the unfamiliar.
January 24, 2012
NO COMMENTS
I’ve just published the final post in my series on developing synergistic work teams, in which I have been describing a four-phase model that includes Interacting, Appreciative Understanding, and Integrating. Finally, we come to the Implement stage, where all the hard work of communicating, and appreciating and merging divergent views begins to pay off and we begin to reap the benefits of this process.
This classic, newly revised with the latest research and insights, is an indispensable source for anyone-from mid-level managers to CEOs—who...
The tempo of change has sped up to a dizzying pace over the past few years. Success amidst such turbulence calls for much more...
Project Change Management combines change management concepts and project management concepts to illustrate how...