10 Myths of Change Management
Is Organisational Change Management (OCM) based on fads & fiction or factfulness?
There is a worrying pattern within OCM. A published 'expert', someone on the fringe's of academia or even academics themselves make a claim such as 'our brains hate change'. This is then echoed, cannibalised and reinterpreted over the years until the claim becomes embeded as a 'truth' within OCM language.
Born out of the frustration of seeing so many articles blindly repeating these 'truths' I thought I would investigate and go back to the original sources to check the claim.
I tried to do this by applying the Center for Evidence Based Management definition of evidence based practice (“conscientious, explicit and judicious use of the best available evidence from multiple sources.”) to see how well the claims were supported.
Here are my findings to date. Each posts is only 1300 characters long (LinkedIn limit!) so won't take long to read. I have also referenced the sources I used if you want to dive more deeply into the detail.
I would be really interested in any your views on these myths, particularly any evidence I may have missed.
If you would like to cast you vote on these myths and other axioms of change please take our survey here. https://bit.ly/2BDvHcI
Inventor of ‘Lean & Systems Thinking’ Author, Continually Improving whole world issues: Environment, Effectiveness, Efficiency, Carbon, Cash Safety, Liveability Developed Curing Pothole Britain - Save ￡14B?
5 年Hi Alex, thanks for inviting me into the collective of ten theories, which I have read all in one go. Although I was aware of most of them, the age of theory wasn't generally known by me. I found them collectively useful, I will slow read later.? We are in the late 2010's in the fastest changing society that mankind has ever experienced, other than rapid ice-ages? So change is virtually a fact of life. You also asked me about Visualising Transformation (VT). I designed VT as a way of working while Continually Improving. Based on Deming & Ackoff mainly.? When looking at a 'Societal shift', I'll break that into 5 or 6 themes, one always being communication. Within that there may easily be 120 elements. Some elements are relatively discreet, others quite interdependent. We'll always seek win-win, often hitting efficiency & effectiveness together.? The teams get used to small changes that help them, both to do the work, then to be change confident. They also learn more about the whole work and the interdependencies, avoiding tampering, always achieving sustainable +ve change.? The efficiencies frees up capacity, effectiveness gives opportunities to increase income with the same resources, thus a win-win-win: Easier to do work, more joy at work, lower costs, greater income, no redundancies. So far, always exceeded requirements. Never failed to achieve.
Applying 35+years of delivery/change experience to setup, assure and de-risk critical programmes
5 年Another good set of challenges Alex. I think with regard on the Kübler Ross five stages of grief model a more interesting question is not so much its accuracy with regard to specific situation of facing death, as whether this is in any way analogous to the experience of change. I am doubtful of this. I’m sure there may be some extreme situations, but most of the challenge I see nowadays is about an onslaught of continuous change rather than individual changes. In this context I think the analogy to facing death is questionable at the very least.
Transformational Change Lead | Change Management Expert
5 年Richard Newton
Transformational Change Lead | Change Management Expert
5 年Tom Calvard