The Hard and Soft Sides of Change Management : Tools for Managing Process and People

Change isn’t going anywhere. Learn how to manage it. We live in a wild world of volatility, unpredictability, chaos, and ambiguity, with change seemingly as the only constant. Change can be difficult. It often induces resistance, panic, and fatigue. And, as you may expect or have experienced first-hand, many organizations aren’t handling change all that well, with many efforts resulting in failure. What you may not realize, however, is that some workplace change initiatives are stunning successes, rolling out smoothly and more easily embraced. Why do some change initiatives fail while others succeed? How can organizations and employees handle change better? In The Hard and Soft Sides of Change Management, Kathryn Zukof offers practices and approaches to help you and your organization roll out, receive, and manage change effectively. Namely, Zukoff shows that you need to manage the process (or the “hard”) side and the people (or the “soft”) side of change and find the sweet spot between the two. She demonstrates that when you integrate both sides, you and your organization can make change less of a hit-or-miss affair. Successful change management means deploying sound project management techniques that increase the odds of achieving the outcomes of your change initiative. It also means helping employees understand the need and vision for change, so they feel less threatened by it and become excited and energized by what’s ahead. To deliver best results, you need to: Define the change and how to get there―with project charters and plans. Involve the right people in the right ways―from dedicated change teams to affected stakeholders. Build support, understanding, and awareness―with communication, training, and resistance management plans. Assess progress and adjust along the way―through action reviews and steps to tackle thorny issues. Capturing the inherently messy nature of workplace change―from technology implementations, mergers and acquisitions, and business transformations to office relocations and more―this book offers tangible insights to help you and your organization tackle change challenges. Follow the book’s tools and practices to lessen the messy and objectionable parts of change and actively give your change initiatives the best chance for positive outcomes. Cover Copyright Dedication Table of Contents Introduction Chapter 1 Section 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Section 2 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10 Section 3 Chapter 11 Chapter 12 Chapter 13 Chapter 14 Section 4 Chapter 15 Chapter 16 Chapter 17 Chapter 18 Acknowledgments Appendix References Index About the Author Back Cover Offers practices and approaches to help you and your organisation roll out, receive, and manage change effectively. Specifically, Kathryn Zukof shows that you need to manage the process (or the ‘hard’) side and the people (or the ‘soft’) side of change and find the sweet spot between the two. In The Hard and Soft Sides of Change Management, Kathryn Zukof shows that when you find the sweet spot between process and people, you and your organization can make change less of a hit-or-miss affair. Follow the tools and approaches in this book, and you can start to manage change.