7 Rules for Positive, Productive Change: Micro Shifts, Macro Results


Esther Derby - 2019
    Even if you don't have change management in your job description, your job involves change. Change is a given as modern organizations respond to market and technology advances, make improvements, and evolve practices to meet new challenges. This is not a simple process on any level. Often, there is no indisputable right answer, and responding requires trial and error, learning and unlearning. Whatever you choose to do, it will interact with existing policies and structures in unpredictable ways. And there is, quite simply, a natural human resistance to being told to change.Rather than creating more rigorous preconceived plans or imposing change by decree, agile software developer turned organizational change expert Esther Derby offers change by attraction, an approach that is adaptive and responsive and engages people in learning, evolving, and owning the new way. She presents a set of seven heuristics--guides to problem-solving--that empower people to achieve outcomes within broad constraints using their personal ingenuity and creativity.When you work by attraction, you give space and support for people to feel the loss that comes with change and help them see what is valuable about the future you propose. Resistance fades because people feel there is nothing to push against--only something they want to move toward. Derby's approach clears the fog to provide a new way forward that honors people and creates safety for change.

Wayne Bennett: Don't Die With The Music In You


Wayne Bennett
    

The Leader's Guide to Storytelling: Mastering the Art and Discipline of Business Narrative


Stephen Denning - 2005
    Now, in this hands-on guide, Denning explains how you can learn to tell the right story at the right time. Whoever you are in the organization CEO, middle management, or someone on the front lines you can lead by using stories to effect change. Filled with myriad examples, A Leader's Guide to Storytelling shows how storytelling is one of the few available ways to handle the principal and most difficult challenges of leadership: sparking action, getting people to work together, and leading people into the future. The right kind of story at the right time, can make an organization "stunningly vulnerable" to a new idea.

How Change Happens


Duncan Green - 2016
    Drawing on many first-hand examples and numerous new case studies and interviews with grassroots activists and organizations around the world, as well as Oxfam's unrivalled global experience, this important book answers the question: how does change happen and how can we-governments, organizations, businesses, leaders, campaigners, employees, and ordinary citizens-make a difference?

The Tom Peters Seminar: Crazy Times Call for Crazy Organizations


Tom Peters - 1994
    The Tom Peters Seminar demonstrates Peters' unconventional analysis that challenges outdated corporate structures and demonstrates that in the 1990s, "imagination is the source of value in the economy." Peters' bold ideas vault business thinking beyond change--toward invention and revolution.

Accelerate: Building and Scaling High-Performing Technology Organizations


Nicole Forsgren - 2018
    Through four years of groundbreaking research, Dr. Nicole Forsgren, Jez Humble, and Gene Kim set out to find a way to measure software delivery performance—and what drives it—using rigorous statistical methods. This book presents both the findings and the science behind that research. Readers will discover how to measure the performance of their teams, and what capabilities they should invest in to drive higher performance.

The Chaos Imperative: How Chance and Disruption Increase Innovation, Effectiveness, and Success


Ori Brafman - 2013
    In the bestselling tradition of Switch and Made to Stick, Ori Brafman reveals how organizations can drive growth and profits by allowing contained chaos and disruption the space to flourish, generating new ideas that trigger innovation.In The Chaos Imperative, organizational expert and bestselling author Ori Brafman (Sway, The Starfish and the Spider) shows how even the best and most efficient organizations, from Fortune 500 companies to today's US Army, benefit from allowing a little unstructured space and disruption into their planning and decision-making.

Fearless Change: Patterns for Introducing New Ideas


Mary Lynn Manns - 2004
    It contains a collection of eye-openers that is a treasure chest for pioneers of new organizational ideas, A fantastic toolbox for use in future missions!"--Lise B. Hvatum, product development manager, Schlumberger"If you have need of changing your organization, and especially of introducing new techniques, then you want to understand what is in this book. It will help you avoid common pitfalls that doom many such projects and will show you a clear path to success. The techniques are derived from the experience of many individuals and organizations. Many are also fun to apply. This stuff is really cool--and really hot."--Joseph Bergin, professor of computer science, Pace University, New York"If change is the only guarantee in life, why is it so hard to do? As this book points out, people are not so much resistant to change itself as they are to being changed. Mary Lynn and Linda have successfully used the pattern form to capture and present the recurring lessons of successful change efforts and have placed a powerful knowledge resource in the hands of their readers."--Alan O'Callaghan, researcher, Software Technology Research Laboratory, De Montfort University, United Kingdom"The most difficult part of absorbing patterns, or any technology, into an organization is overcoming the people issues. The patterns in this book are the documentation of having gone through that experience, giving those that dare push the envelope a head start at success."--David E. DeLano, IBM Pervasive Computing"If you have ever wondered how you could possibly foster any cultural changes in your organization, in this book you will find a lot of concrete advice for doing so. I recommend that everyone read this book who has a vast interest in keeping his or her organization flexible and open for cultural change."--Jutta Eckstein, Independent Consultant, Objects In Action Author of "Agile Software Development in the Large"48 Patterns for Driving and Sustaining Change in Your OrganizationChange. It's brutally tough to initiate, even harder to sustain. It takes too long. People resist it.But without it, organizations lose their competitive edge. Fortunately, you can succeed at making change. In "Fearless Change, " Mary Lynn Manns and Linda Rising illuminate 48 proven techniques, or patterns, for implementing change in organizations or teams of all sizes, and show you exactly how to use them successfully.Find out how toUnderstand the forces in your organization that drive and retard changePlant the seeds of changeDrive participation and buy-in, from start to finishChoose an "official skeptic" to sharpen your thinkingMake your changes appear less threateningFind the right timing and the best teaching momentsSustain your momentumOvercome adversity and celebrate successInspired by the "pattern languages" that are transforming fields from software to architecture, the authors illuminate patterns for every stage of the change process: knowledge, persuasion, decision, implementation, and confirmation. These flexible patterns draw on the experiences of hundreds of leaders. They offer powerful insight into change-agent behavior, organizational culture, and the roles of every participant.Best of all, they're easy to use--"and they work!"

Liminal Thinking


Dave Gray - 2016
    

The Path of Least Resistance: Learning to Become the Creative Force in Your Own Life


Robert Fritz - 1984
    Discover the steps of creating; the importance of creating what you truly love, how to focus on the creative process to move from where you are to where you want to be, and much more.

Amadea: One Spring in France


Michelle Granas - 2015
    It seems that Amadea has finally found someone who appreciates her for her kindness and cultivation. She begins to enjoy her new occupation and the first human warmth she has encountered in years. Unfortunately, the village is not as peaceful as it appears and her path is soon crossed by a number of undesirables, including a charming, married lawyer and a scholarly alcoholic with a problem—and it isn’t his drinking. His son Hugo is trying to force him to sell the family land and has sent round a young thug to keep the pressure on. Hugo never expects, however, that his father will try to reform the fellow. Raymond may be an alcoholic, but like Amadea, he has inner strengths in spite of his failings, and he believes in the power of words. Hugo isn’t happy and when Amadea inadvertently gets involved matters spin out of control. This is a lighthearted story about the value of saying no and also about the sometimes unexpected nature of sustaining relationships.

X-Teams: How To Build Teams That Lead, Innovate, And Succeed


Deborah G. Ancona - 2007
    Based on years of research examining teams across many industries, Ancona and Bresman show that traditional team models are falling short, and that what’s needed--and what works--is a new brand of team that emphasizes external outreach to stakeholders, extensive ties, expandable tiers, and flexible membership.The authors highlight that X-teams not only are able to adapt in ways that traditional teams aren’t, but that they actually improve an organization’s ability to produce creative ideas and execute them—increasing the entrepreneurial and innovative capacity within the firm. What’s more, the new environment demands what the authors call “distributed leadership,” and the book highlights how X-teams powerfully embody this idea.

Changeology: 5 Steps to Realizing Your Goals and Resolutions


John C. Norcross - 2012
    But not if you know the 5-step formula that works whether you’re trying to stop smoking or start recycling. Dr. John C. Norcross, an internationally recognized expert, has studied how people make transformative, permanent changes in their lives. Over the past thirty years, he and his research team have helped thousands of people overcome dozens of behavioral ailments. Now his cutting-edge, scientific approach to personal improvement is being made available in this indispensable guide. Unlike 95 percent of self-help books, the Changeology plan has a documented track record of success. Whether you want to quit overeating or drinking, or end depression, debt, and relationship distress, Dr. Norcross gives you the tools you need to change what you want within 90 days. Changeology shows you: *¦ How to define your goals and get started in a new direction * How to pump up your motivation and prepare for self-change * How to prevent relapses into old patterns * How to master the skills that will help you sustain change * How to personalize your journey with Check Yourself assessments and an inter- active website, www.ChangeologyBook.com. Whatever your goal or resolution, you can use Changeology to achieve a life filled with greater health and happiness.

The Age of Unreason


Charles B. Handy - 1989
    Handy examines how dramatic changes are transforming business, education, and the nature of work. We can see it in astounding new developments in technology, in the shift in demand from manual to cerebral skills, and in the virtual disappearance of lifelong, full-time jobs. Handy maintains that discontinuous change requires discontinuous, upside-down thinking, and discusses the need for new kinds of organizations, new approaches to work, new types of schools, and new ideas about the nature of our society.

Reframing Organizations: Artistry, Choice, and Leadership


Lee G. Bolman - 1990
    Their four frames view organizations as factories, families, jungles, and theaters or temples:The Structural Frame how to organize and structure groups and teams to get resultsThe Human Resource Frame how to tailor organizations to satisfy human needs, improve human resource management, and build positive interpersonal and group dynamicsThe Political Frame: how to cope with power and conflict, build coalitions, hone political skills, and deal with internal and external politicsThe Symbolic Frame how to shape a culture that gives purpose and meaning to work, stage organizational drama for internal and external audiences, and build team spirit through ritual, ceremony, and story