September 7, 2008

Change or control?

They say that change is difficult. Apparently, organisational change is even more fun. Mark links to McKinsey saying "Only a third of transformations of any kind were deemed very or extremely successful."

Apologies for being pedantic but I don't think change is difficult. Control is what's difficult. People and organisations are changing all the time, just not in the ways that some of us want.

I think a lot of boring discussions about "change management" would be more interesting if we looked at what demands are being made for obedience and why they're not being met.

Posted by Johnnie Moore at 13:11 in Facilitation
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Adriana says

Brilliant distinction!

In my experience too, control is usually at the root of problems within companies and even the most common sensical adjustments, let alone chance, turn into a compromise not worth making.

Stuart Reid says

Yes, I like that Johnnie. Looking at why demands for obedience are not being met could generate some real insights.

I'm going to dwell on that one for a bit.

Cheers,
Stuart

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