Saddled by best practices

Why change is needed in the field of change management

Let me assure you that this is a thoughtful person who shows all due deference to those that have gone before me. I would add that now more than ever we need to move beyond and expand our thinking in the field of change management. Do broad, surface level “best practices” saddle the field of change management with limited success?

The field of change management is an area where the gap between what’s needed and what’s available is most glaring and the limitations painfully apparent. What’s left is a set of “best practices” that are neither sufficiently deep nor broad. What paralyzes and dumbfounds change leaders is that very little of the big stuff gets done. As organizations fail to realize needed change, employees are frustrated and more disengaged. I would assert that many change management best practices and approaches fall short of helping change leaders truly understand, specifically, what they need to do differently. For example, knowing that frequent communication about the need for change is a change management “best practice” doesn’t help the person responsible for the communication craft effective messages that tap into the nuances of human behavior. Or, knowing that executive leadership is a requirement for successful change doesn’t help executives glean any insight into different actions to realize different results. For those that have yearned for change insights that would change the playing field, these best practices barely skim the surface. And while these best practices have become gospel in the field of change management, ask yourself this question: do these best practices really help you understand what to do differently?