Category: Uncategorized
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Making a Plan Is Not Implementing Change One observation has followed me through almost thirty years of organisational change. There is often a significant gap between planning a change and actually implementing it. Much of the change management I have experienced has been heavily weighted toward planning. We produce change impact assessments, stakeholder analyses, communication…
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Every organisation has a change plan. Far fewer have a transition plan. The distinction matters because implementing change and transitioning people are not the same thing. Projects implement change. People experience transition. One is largely technical. The other is deeply human. Over the years I have noticed that organisations often invest enormous effort into project…
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One of the most important aspects of working as a change consultant is behaviour. How we conduct ourselves should reflect the very change we hope to see in others. If we advocate for change to be managed in a simple, practical way, then we must demonstrate simplicity and practicality in our own actions. If we…
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As a five-year-old, I remember being told by my mum I’d one day sit in my suburb as an old man, talking with a school friend. It was reassuring. It spoke to continuity. Looking back now, I realise—that future quietly disappeared. That memory always stayed with me. It spoke to continuity—of place, of people, of…
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Whatever the transition, it always begins with an ending, as William Bridges reminds us. Too often in organisational change, we focus on the destination without adequately addressing the baggage people carry and how this load shapes their ability to operate in the future state. It can sound overly psychodynamic, but it is not. There are…
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Quite often responses to change are framed as resistance and set in concrete. Those experiencing change “stay put”, hoping things will pass them by and no one will notice. Those responsible for the change frame those who are “not on board” as resistant and quite often a problem to be dealt with. Fortunately, there is…
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Last Sunday, my 85-year-old mother fell after trying to clean a window in her bedroom. She sustained a nasty gash to her leg. She was lucky. It could just as easily have been a broken hip or a head injury. Now she has to visit her GP three times a week to have the dressing…
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Over the last while I have been aligning much of what I talk about professionally with my personal and professional life. I have acknowledged that I am sitting in the middle of unending, continuous change. In my private life, I occupy an ending. My mum and mother-in-law are both over 85. Their end will be…
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As I become more familiar with the ubiquitous nature of change and transition in the contemporary context, my thinking increasingly shifts toward understanding — and acting on — what those impacted by change can actually control. This is a departure from orthodox change thinking that focuses on developing and implementing overarching strategies designed to take…
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Last night I was pleasantly surprised when Justin Balaski—a thought leader from Canada—referred to an experience I had with a hiring manager earlier this year. During the interview, the process was paused and I was told, “change management is more than having chats with people.” I was deeply shocked by the comment and withdrew from…
