It’s been over fifteen years since the first books on change management were published and yet the statistics for success remain the same (about 2/3 of all organizational changes fail). I want to know why. Your response to the question may help all of us learn where we need to focus our attention.

I have two reasons for asking. My publisher is going to release a paperback edition of my book, Beyond the Wall of Resistance, and this will give me a chance to update and improve it. I’ve been waiting for this opportunity. . . And the second reason, I hope that your response to my question will stimulate rich conversations in our online community.

You can respond be sending me an e-mail rick@beyondresistance.com or go to my online community Change Management Open Source Project. You’ll my question listed in the discussion forum.
Thanks. I look forward to hearing from you.

Rick

You can also access their free e-book at the Change Management Open Source Project as well.

Oddly enough, corporate town hall meetings tend to be the bizarro mirror images of those finger-pointing town halls of August. These meetings are often polite — way too polite — where little of substance is talked about. Or, when a real issue does get mentioned, some executive gives a 15 minute response filled with platitudes , run-on sentences and paragraphs until most listens cry uncle and tune out.

We can do much better. Carolyn’s group holds meetings for hundreds, sometimes thousands of people, where they can engage in dialogue (that means the structure allows and encourages listening, and building on the ideas of others).

Creators of large systems change processes have developed ingenious ways to encourage dialogue and collaboration. (Take FutureSearch or Real Time Strategic Change as just two examples.)

So proven models for civil discourse are already out there, and all we have to do is use them.

This is a major shift for the Army. Col. Charles J. Burnett, the director of the Army’s Battle Command Knowledge System said, “The only ones who could write doctrine were the select few. Now, imagine the challenge in accepting that anybody can go on the wiki and make a change — that is a big challenge, culturally.” (NYT)

I got thinking. What if organizations created field manuals for leading change that were open source (ala wiki technology)? Any one could contribute and anyone could build on or change the work of others. They would create manuals that would become the standard for how change was planned and implemented.

I haven’t thought more about the idea than what you are reading.

I just started a discussion on Change Management Open Source Project.  If you have thoughts please add to the discussion on that site. Thanks.

• Introduction to Change without Migraines e-book
• Podcasts about leading and managing change
• Videos that give the theory behind my approach to change
• Virtual discussion forums. You can comment on existing forums or start a discussion of your own
• Outline for a 1/2 day training design on change management
• PowerPoint slides to use during training sessions or planning meetings

Over 760 joined the Change Management Open Source Project when I first announced it. Now i expect most of those people to sign-in to the new web site and join the conversation.

I hope you’ll take a look.  www.changeOSP.com

But here I am walking the streets of Moscow (something I love to do when I first visit a city) and feeling a bit uneasy.  I walk aimlessly, so far so good, and then I check my map. The map is written in Western type and the street signs  use the Cyrillic alphabet. There seems to be no link between the two.  I come to a huge center for the arts. This should be catnip for me, but I can’t tell if this is the Moscow Center for the Arts, the Bolshoi, or what. I see pictures of artists, but I can’t read the announcements. Who is performing? What are they performing? When will these events happen? Not a clue. In other cities I find familiar words or even snippits of words that allow me to begin to make sense of what I am seeing. 

I continue walking and notice how some excitement builds as I see a McDonald’s sign. (Really, I am not making this up.) Or an ad for Nokia. Or a Starbucks sign. My eyes oepn wide when I see words  on a sign in English, “Terrace Open.” I find that I scan the environment for what is familiar and spend less time focusing on what’s novel.

I find this search for the familiar frustrating, funny, and ironic. It’s as if one I figure what’s playing tonight, I’ll know significantly more about this new environment.

Thinking about this focus on the familiar begins to lessen my need to seek out every sign that I recognize. I grow less interested in the Britney Spears poster announcing a show and pay more attention to the posters that are unusual. Whew.

Makes me think about the focus of this blog (change management) and how this might relate to what I yammer on about. Stay tuned.