Leading Change

If you look at the operations of any successful organization, you will see one constant. That constant is change. This book is about leading change. You see in our constantly changing world, an organization's ability to lead change is critical to its success. We know that change leadership-the way the change is led-directly affects the outcome of the change effort. And yet so often, leaders struggle with their change efforts.We also know that change impacts and is impacted by people....
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If you look at the operations of any successful organization, you will see one constant. That constant is change. This book is about leading change. You see in our constantly changing world, an organization's ability to lead change is critical to its success. We know that change leadership-the way the change is led-directly affects the outcome of the change effort. And yet so often, leaders struggle with their change efforts.We also know that change impacts and is impacted by people. How people respond to change often determines whether change is successfully adopted and implemented, or if it remains merely an idea or concept. Because of this "people factor," change must be led. If we know this, why do change agents repeatedly fail to address the "people factor" as they lead change?Change is hard...and sometimes -- no matter how well, often and frequently we communicate-in some instances, people can be so resistant to change that they cannot see beyond their own personal agendas to understand and embrace the benefits of the change.These resistors to change are passionate about maintaining the status quo-so passionate that they often emerge as leaders, either openly or covertly, of a movement to thwart the change effort. We live in a world full of change. And the list of change scenarios in our world is long. To be sure it is not within the scope of this book to attempt to provide a discourse on every possible change-scenario, related issues, technologies, or industries/organizations engaged in the transformation, etc. There is a plethora of books and papers devoted to change, change management, making change, managing change, and similar subjects. Leading Change is different. Instead of focusing specifically on one of these topics, it focuses on leading change from a practical/practitioner's point of view. In this book you will discover 16 Key Change Factors (KCFs) or attributes of change that when understood can assist in the change leadership process. As you read the chapters of this book, you will unwrap these KCFs in more detail and review a few case studies of change leadership in action at other companies, as well as examples from my own professional experience. Each section includes CAPs or Change Agent Principles that provide a quick summary of key take-aways for change leadership and change agents. Key Thoughts and Questions help you probe more deeply into change opportunities in your organization and there is a list of referenced Section Resources to provide additional details and improve your understanding of the key concepts and/or topics presented in the section.Finally, you'll read about some of the amazing changes occurring right around us to see how companies and individuals are leading change in our world. My hope is that the change agent principles and examples of change leadership in this book will encourage and inspire you to lead and/or help make change happen in your organization.