Things Are Going To Be Different

HOT READS FOR THE PRACTIONER

Title: Managing personal, professional and organizational change

Competencies: change management, self-development

Who benefits: individuals, managers and leaders, organizational consultants

Consultant Usage: coaching, training, intrapersonal reflection

What’s it about? I am writing this posting from Mexico, beachside, and I am not as current with recent events as I might be stateside.  But I heard a rumor that there are some big changes coming in the United States come January.  I have friends who are extremely happy about recent events leading to this change.  I have other friends who are not. 

Since change is in the air whether you wanted it or not, I thought this week’s topic ought to be about – you guessed it – change.

If you are interested in change personally, one of my favorite and inspiring authors, Bill Bridges has updated his well-known book with an Audio CD of the same name: Managing Transitions, 2nd Edition: Making the Most of Change.  He calls this CD “Your coach in a box”.  It is all about the human side of organizational change.  I suppose it is aimed slightly more at managers and leaders, but I have always found his work to be intrapersonally satisfying.  If you are an organizational consultant and have not read or heard of his work, this is a must read or listen.

If you prefer to make it real personal, try his 2001 book, The Way of Transition: Embracing Life’s Most Difficult Moments.

One of the best books on organizational change I ever read was the 1996 bestselling book Leading Change by John Kotter.  Still a good read if you ask me.  But I would like to stress his follow-up and just published book that expands on the first crucial step in his earlier formula: A Sense of Urgency.  It is about creating a sense of urgency to get people to actually see and feel the need for change. No urgency, no change!  Given the state of the world, the economy, the business impacts, it is a timely book.

And let me close with an oldie but goodie, my friend Terry Paulson (an oldie but goodie) wrote They Shoot Managers, Don’t They?: Managing Yourself and Leading Others in a Changing World  back in 1991.  It is filled with pithy advice that is just as good today as it was back then.  And it has a good dose of humor that may be just what is needed these days.

Catch you later.
[tags]transitions, change, change management, managing change, managing self, managing others, bill bradley, william bradley,  bradley[/tags]

Bill Bradley

Bill Bradley (mostly) retired after 35 years in organizational consulting, training and management development. During those years he worked internally with seven organizations and trained and consulted externally with more than 90 large and small businesses, government agencies, hospitals and schools.