Leading Change Management – Leadership Strategies that Really Work, by David M Herold and Dohald B Fedor.

Published by Stanford Business Books,  2008

This book goes beyond the steps required to implement change and asks us to think more wholistically about the context for change as well. The authors propose a change framework that encompasses several additional elements:

1. Our personal agendas – recognising that our experiences and motivations might cause us to adopt one change path over another
2. Examining who should lead – who is the right person for the job, nder what circumstances should there be more than one person
3. Who is expected to follow – what are the charactersitcs , skill level, motivations, leadership and interest of this group in the proposed change
4. What is the internal context of the change – what BAU activities are going on, what other changes are planned, or have ovccurred, what has been the success of prioir change efforts, are resources available etc
5. And finally, what is the external context for the change – economic, social and regulatory environment, state of labour market and impact on retention and recruitment, state of third party organisations who will need to be involved (eg suppliers, vendors)

I found this book an excellent read, both in terms of the content – which was highly valuable – and readability. Sometimes change books can be on the academic side, but not this one.

If you are in the change field I highly recommend this one.