Sunday, May 10, 2009

New change management approach: emergent meaning or prescription?

David Snowden has posted a blog titled 'Emergent meaning or prescription?'. I reflect on my own experience, and have to say I can't agree with it more.

From my experience, change management consultancy typically starts with the leaders wanting to change the staff. Communication is about telling staff what to do (even if some user research is included in the scope of work). This new approach starts the change management program by changing the leaders/experts' mindset, ie the consultants have to be changed, and the senior leaders have to be changed. This is the tough part, as not all the leaders who commission the consultancy work expect this. I also think really good consultants (not driven by consulting recipe) who are regarded as trusted advisors, who can bring controversial ideas to the table to add value has a higher chance of making this happen.

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