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The necessary basics if you are going to succeed
“As in the Renaissance, it will be an exciting time, a time of great opportunities for those who can see and seize them, but of a great threat and fear for many. It will be more difficult to hold organizations and societies together. The softer words of leadership and vision and common purpose will replace the tougher words of control and authority because the tough words won't bite anymore. Organizations will have to become communities rather than properties, with members, not employees, because few will be content to be owned by others. Societies will break down into smaller units but will also regroup into even larger ones than now for particular purposes.”
Charles Handy: Beyond Certainty: The Changing Worlds of Organizations, 1995
Change management is the integrated process of assisting and supporting people through times of change in order for the organisation to achieve the required and desired outcomes.
Knowledge management gets discussed a lot within the framework of change management, but be warned, information does not equal knowledge, and knowledge alone does not always and necessarily comfort change for people.
Change has an impact at three levels:
- at the individual level (personally)
- at the team (group) level or small organisational level, and
- at the system or environment surrounding the team (group) or small organisation
So implementing positive and efficacious change requires learning on all three levels if it is going to be long-lived and sustainable.
Most change management approaches target one or both of two areas only:
- the systems approach (“The whole has a different dynamic that its parts,”) and
- the constructivist paradigm (The map is not the territory”)
But when the change has to be implemented, there is much more that can be drawn upon and is very useful. If you intend to be successful, these considered options may certainly assist:
- Chaos Theory
- Gestalt Therapy
- Learning Organisations
- Neuro-Linguistic Programming
- Quantum Physics
- Systems Thinking
- Theme Centred Interaction
- Transactional Analysis
In applying the process of change, there are skills and expertise required by the facilitators (whether they are internal or external agents). The following basics are as a guide:
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Skills the Change Agents need to acquire
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Individual
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Group
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System
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Coaching
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Y
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Y
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Coping with Complexity
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P
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P
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Y
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Determining Vision & Objectives
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Y
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Y
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Y
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Facilitation Skills
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Y
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Y
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Feedback Systems
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Y
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Y
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Y
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Large System Change Tools & Resources
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P
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Y
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Learning from mistakes
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Y
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Y
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Y
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Leadership
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Y
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Y
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Listening Skills & Correct Questioning
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Y
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Y
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Quality Management
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Y
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Y
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Resource Orientation
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Y
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Y
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Y
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Technical skills of the specific sector
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Y
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Training skills
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Y
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Understanding mental maps & perspectives
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Y
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Y
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Y
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Understanding self-organisation
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P
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Y
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P = Good to have (i.e. partly needed)
Y = Must have (i.e. strongly needed)
Executive Wisdom Consulting Group has consulted comprehensively on change management to organisations in the USA, Dubai, Jakarta, New Zealand, and of course, Australia. To discuss your change management needs, contact us.
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