The Change Challenge: Top Picks

What the hell, I'll give it a go

Neil Cassie

If you can't get your pressurised, exhausted, confused and cynical managers to the tipping point where their response to a new initiative is 'what the hell, I'll give it a go', it spells failure for your business and its ambitions for change.

Nothing changes if nothing changes

Dan Bobinski

People will willingly engage in change if they have genuine input to the process. So if we want a successful change effort, we need to change how we implement change. If we don't, we just might be a little insane.

Change needs to shake things up to be successful

Nic Paton

Much as making an omelette depends on first cracking eggs, successful organisational change almost inevitably involves disrupting the status quo, employers have been told.

The value of insight

Dawna Jones

Why do companies encourage employees to be innovative, and then work hard to block the insights they have? Dawna Jones talks to Gary Klein to find out as they explore the value of insight.

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More on The Change Challenge

What the hell, I'll give it a go

Neil Cassie

If you can't get your pressurised, exhausted, confused and cynical managers to the tipping point where their response to a new initiative is 'what the hell, I'll give it a go', it spells failure for your business and its ambitions for change.

Understand change to make changes

Max McKeown

To make improvements you have to make changes. But to make successful changes you need to understanding the nature of change, why it happens, how it starts, how it continues and how it affects people, as well as organizations.

A roadmap for cultural change

Karin Stumpf

It's all very well talking about creating a world-class organizational culture, but how do you actually go about doing it? This three-step approach is a good place to start if you're serious about implementing cultural change.

Embracing change

Peter Vajda

We've all heard the expression 'change is the one constant in life.' Every day we experience change in some way. But for many, change is unsettling, bringing with it feelings of insecurity, instability and disharmony - fears that can all be overcome.

Managing change in a remote team

Wayne Turmel

As we all know, managing change can often be like trying to herd cats. So if it's is hard enough at the best of times, how is it possible to effectively manage major change if your people are spread across different locations or countries?

Change, fear and Yahoo

Peter Vajda

Whether or not Yahoo's new office-bound strategy will be successful is anybody's guess. From the outside looking in, the key issue is whether Yahoo realizes that to be a healthy organization and deal with resistance you first need to deal with fear.

Transformational leaders and change

Duane Dike

The finger of blame is frequently pointed at rank and file staff for being resistant to change. But in many cases, the real resistance comes from transactional bosses who refuse to change the way they lead.

A mandate for change

John Blackwell

With shareholders increasingly flexing their muscles and questioning the performance of senior executives, the link between an organisation's financial performance and investing in changing work practices is more important than ever.

Being curious about curiosity

Peter Vajda

Are you curious? When was the last time you re-invented your business, your relationship, yourself? How do you feel about the notion of re-inventing? Exhilarated? Or is your life so mechanical that there is no room for curiosity or inquisitiveness?

You can't control the waves, so learn to surf

Max McKeown

Anyone living through 2011 has learned that the waves of change are bigger than any individual, company, or nation. They are also more complex. The trick is to learn to read the signs and then ride the surf all the way to shore.

Sandpaper: the secret tool of change

Peter Vajda

We seem to be inundated with information about change and why it is so difficult to achieve, even when our brains are supposed to be 'plastic'. So why is it so challenging to make lasting changes? Here's one perspective. See how it works for you.

Are you engaging or just informing?

Marcia Xenitelis

Do your employee communication strategies really engage your employees, or do they simply inform them? Because unless employees truly understand the issues and make the connection between their jobs and those issues, their attitudes and behaviors will not change.

Decision-making and the benefits of change

Edward de Bono

It is important to consider the future benefits that change might bring about in the decision-making process. Unfortunately, the short-term nature of most businesses means that this rarely happens.

Leadership in troubled times

James M. Kerr

Most management teams can identify what is needed to help their company evolve. But most are much less accomplished at the sort of active, directive leadership that is required to galvanize teams and make change happen.

Why managers aren't the best communicators during times of change

Marcia Xenitelis

In tough economic times, organizations tend to rely on their managers to communicate face-to-face with their teams about what's going on. But this approach doesn't work, because it usually ends up being about managing fear, not change.

Change management and employee communication strategies

Marcia Xenitelis

When it comes to organizational change, it isn't enough simply to present information to employees and hope this will be enough to win them over. If you really want people engaged and on your side, you need to involve them fully in the process.

Business improvement ideas: don't just settle for excellent

Edward de Bono

The usual way to bring about chnage is to prove that something is wrong or inadequate and needs altering. But if something is already adequate, a new idea is unlikely to be adopted, however much better it is.

The times they are a-changin'

Peter Vajda

Change is all around us. Past assumptions about how our workplaces function are outdated. Transformation is necessary. But many business leaders are either waiting for external forces to create change or simply reinforcing what isn't working.

A lesson in change management

Bob Selden

Much of the focus over the election of Barack Obama has been the hope for change that he represents. But for managers, there has also been a great lesson to learn from the smooth transition of power from the outgoing to the incoming president.

Implementing sustainable change

Charles Helliwell

Benjamin Franklin wrote that the definition of madness was doing the same thing over and over again and expecting change to happen. But this is exactly how many change programmes - in organisations both large and small - can be described.

It's time to rethink the way you think

Dan Bobinski

Recent discoveries in how the brain functions have resulted in some startling new conclusions about implementing change. In other words, it's time to rethink how we think.

A breath of fresh air or just sweet FA?

Andy Hanselman

Just as young footballers watch and copy the bad behaviour of their sporting idols, so employees copy the actions and inactions of their bosses. So remember, change starts at the top – and actions always speak louder than words.

The cosmic egg of change

Max McKeown

Change management models don't tend to worry about what happened before. They start as though everything just 'was'. But with all the evidence suggesting that change is inextricably linked to the past, it's no wonder it so often goes wrong.