There’s a lot of talk in the business world about “change management.” There are countless books about it out there. Change management books are about as effective as diet books. And strangely they’re both dealing with the same root problem: People don’t like to change.
Change is scary.
We are programmed to avoid change. It makes us more efficient. We understand the status quo but we don’t understand the outcomes of impending change. This sparks in us the greatest of all fears; the fear of the unknown.
Change is hard.
We have invested a great deal of time and effort into learning our current regimen. Whether it’s our systems and processes at work or even the things we’ve come to expect as a given. Change means unexpected outcomes and learning new systems and processes. It means a great deal of effort on our part.
Change is personal.
The biggest problem I see with organizational change is that it doesn’t address the individual change that needs to happen. Most people aren’t good at change. And those that are have usually left be the time change happens aren’t good at it and don’t understand why they should have to change. They don’t see what’s in it for them.
Change is inevitable.
But the big problem is that we all need to get better at change. The rate of change is increasing exponentially. And it’s not just that the rate of change is increasing but the degree of change is also increasing exponentially. Change is happening more frequently and the degree of change is greater each time.
Despite my previous knocks against change management business books, the best books that I’ve read about change are by John Kotter. They don’t read like your usual business book and they actually address the human elements of organizational change.
My top 3 recommendations would be:
- The Heart of Change: Real-Life Stories of How People Change Their Organizations
- A Sense of Urgency
- Buy-In: Saving Your Good Idea from Getting Shot Down
Similar Posts:
- Forget Strategy: How do you Scale the Social Media Strategists
- What Is Your Value Timeline?
- We Need More Leaders
# of Comments 9
# of Comments 6
# of Comments 2
