Change is a Challenge
Change. People can create it, anticipate it, observe it, and plan it. They can praise it, curse it, and ignore it; but, people and organizations can’t hold it back. Change. Today, responsible leaders embrace effective change—change that works for the common good of organizations, communities, and families, not change that gratifies the beliefs and personal preferences of individuals. It’s not the change, it’s the people. People frame their perspectives on change differently. Some people are confused and confounded by the changes they experience. Others relish finding new and different situations that promise opportunities for exploration. Building within an organization an understanding of the fact that these differences exist among individuals in the organization is one of the most pressing and important challenges facing leaders today.
Two New Models
Dangerous Opportunity: Making Change Work© presents two effective models that help leaders effectively navigate through the change process. The first model addresses the three clearly identifiable styles—preferences—with which people approach change.
Though people’s change style preferences may fall at a variety of spots along a continuum, their change styles fall into three general categories: Originator, Pragmatist, and Conserver.
The second model, the Change Process Model, provides a map on which leaders can follow the change process and see how people with different Change Styles move through a transition. The model also provides clear guidance to leaders regarding actions to take and to avoid during each of the four change stages described by the model.
Three Change Styles
This book provides detailed insight into each of the three Change Styles. It offers descriptions of both effective and ineffective behaviors for each Change Style. It illustrates with short vignettes what those behaviors look like in the workplace and the consequences they can bring. The book also looks at the contributions each Change Style offers the organization and explores the leadership characteristics of people exhibiting those styles both effectively and ineffectively.
Case Studies
Through exploring the actions of leaders in two extensive business stories, this book illustrates how effective and ineffective behaviors of all three Change Styles affect real world business during times of transition. “Dancing Beneath the Camel’s Feet” follows an entrepreneurial effort to launch a new venture in pharmaceuticals from within a century-old tobacco company. “No Good Deed Shall Go Unpunished” looks at good intentions and subsequent actions taken to start a new healthcare business within the volatile dot-com industry during its early stages. Both stories give powerful insights to how Change Styles operate within organizations regardless of whether those styles are recognized and understood by the participants in the unfolding events.
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