Change management is no longer just a discipline, it’s a mindset. In today’s hyperconnected, rapidly evolving business landscape, the ability to lead through constant transformation has become the defining characteristic of exceptional leadership, and one that is weighing heavily on all leaders. When leaders claim that “people don’t like change,” they’re missing a fundamental truth about human nature. We navigate change every single day, adapting our morning routines when a loved one falls ill, finding alternative routes when our train is cancelled, or pivoting our plans when circumstances shift. Change itself isn’t the problem. The issue is that people don’t like being changed or having transformation imposed upon them without agency, understanding, or involvement. (more…)

Change is inevitable. Whether in business, communities, or our personal lives, change is a constant—and in every instance, someone is leading it. Leadership during change is not limited to formal positions or job titles. Every day, in countless ways, individuals step into roles that influence, guide, and support others through transition. The question is: what kind of change leader do you want to be? In many traditional models of leadership, success has been closely associated with visibility, authority, and control. Taking the stage, owning the message, and driving the agenda were seen as hallmarks of strong leadership. But the evolving needs of organisations, teams, and individuals are reshaping this definition. (more…)

People’s favourite word in change is RESISTANCE.  We seem to not be able to talk about it enough.  The problem is that many times, the thought of resistance stops us from doing something because we are either afraid of it or just don’t want to deal with it and this causes big problems for us as leaders in our businesses. Whenever there is change, there will be resistance, that is a given.  Why – because it is human and natural to resist any change, whether that be positive or negative.  If I or someone else said to you “You have the winning lottery ticket!” your first reaction would be to dis-believe, which is a form of resistance. (more…)

There are so many different theories on how to lead change. Tom Peters says we should not discuss change but organisational revolution (Peters,1991); Chris Argyris talks about change management as flawed advice (Argyris, 1985); Kotter puts forward a top down change transformation process (Kotter, 1995); Beer, Eisnestat and Spectors, discuss a bottom-up process (Eisnestat and Spectors, 1990) and that is just to name a few ways of looking at this aspect of leadership. (more…)

With all the talk about generative AI, the impact it will have on people, businesses and industries, I started to think what will be the impact on change management and particularly the role of a change professional? And I realised that change management, like potentially most professional roles, is actually split into two halves with one being science and the other being art. The science element is made up of the products that one can typically see/point to, like a change plan, stakeholder map, training plan, etc.  Whereas the art element is made up of what you can see as well, but only if you take the time to observe and notice the impact it has on environments, people, productivity, retention rates, etc. because it involves the people side of change. (more…)

Last January, we talked about the three biggest disrupters of our time: technology, UN sustainability goals, and societal shifts. These three disrupters have put us at a cultural crossroads we have not experienced for 100 years. As a result, we need to think differently when it comes to decisions about leading change. The world will not look, feel or be the same in 10 years time – we will not interact and live the same as we do now. The world will be very very different. According to Dex Hunter Torricke, “The next 10 years are going to be the most disruptive we have ever experienced.” (more…)

There are two questions, regarding change, that seem to plague quite a lot of people:  “is there a good or bad time for change and is there a good or bad change?” Now it may seem the answers would be quite straight forward, but probably as no surprise the actual answer is “it all depends”. That is because change is about people and we all know there is no formula for people, so it is impossible to give a formulaic, straight forward answer. (more…)