Changing how you manage and communicate change

Changing how you manage and communicate change

by Naomi Karten
Released March 2009
Publisher(s): IT Governance Publishing
ISBN: 9781849281270

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Book description

Order today and transform the way you manage and communicate change in your business!

How has your organisation changed recently? How did the people in it or associated with it react? Was it in exactly the same way? Do you have more changes coming up?

People's reactions vary depending on a number of factors, including personality types, misconceptions, their personal circumstances and the influences of their work and life experiences. This new book will enable you to recognise and accept these differences, and even harness them for the benefit of the business.

'Changing How You Manage and Communicate Change', written by speaker and consultant, Naomi Karten, is specifically for IT professionals and those working closely with IT. However, you will find that the experiences highlighted in this book apply equally to anyone in any industry who needs to lead change.

Benefits to business include:
  • Manage inevitable changes within your organization to their best advantage
  • Fine tune your management skills by gaining a better understanding of your own reactions to change as well as those of users, customers, suppliers and employees
  • Find out what's unique about your business and why a one-size-fits-all change management approach simply doesn't work
  • Be better prepared by discovering how to make your change management plan more flexible
  • Understand how the introduction of change affects productivity and what you can do about it
  • Learn how to help people to cope with change more positively and effectively

    • Table of contents

    1. ABOUT THE SOFT SKILLS FOR IT PROFESSIONALS SERIES
    2. FOREWORD
    3. PREFACE
    4. ABOUT THE AUTHOR
    5. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
    6. CONTENTS
    7. CHAPTER 1: COULD THIS BE YOU?
      1. A case study of a painful change
        1. Why, oh why, are customers so unhappy?
        2. Moral of the case study
      2. Three other painful experiences
        1. Example 1: Just fill out the forms
        2. Example 2: Spare them the distraction
        3. Example 3: Just do your job
      3. Why communication falls short
        1. Why managers don’t communicate
      4. Food for thought
    8. CHAPTER 2: ILLUMINATING THE EXPERIENCE OF CHANGE
      1. Models that don’t reflect reality
        1. William Bridges: Transitions
        2. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross: The five stages of grief
        3. Virginia Satir: an internal shift
      2. Overlapping views of change
      3. Food for thought
    9. CHAPTER 3: CHAOS AND THE SATIR CHANGE MODEL
      1. The Satir change model
      2. Old status quo: the current normal
      3. Foreign element: the disrupting force
      4. We experience foreign elements differently
      5. A comment about terminology
      6. Chaos: the reaction to a foreign element
      7. A different kind of chaos
      8. An often overlooked source of chaos
      9. Transforming ideas: the way out of chaos
        1. Sources of transforming ideas
      10. Practice and integration: the adjustment to the change
      11. New status quo: the new normal
      12. The trip through the change cycle
      13. Food for thought
    10. CHAPTER 4: UNIVERSAL TRUTHS ABOUT CHANGE
      1. Significant change is a felt experience
      2. People believe they are immune to chaos
      3. Resistance is a common response to a foreign element
      4. All change involves loss
      5. Recurring situations affect chaos differently
      6. Irreversible decisions made when in chaos are risky
      7. Significant change entails a drop in productivity
      8. Learning entails chaos, and chaos triggers learning
      9. Practice and integration is a time of ups and downs
      10. Food for thought
    11. CHAPTER 5: DIFFERENCES IN RECEPTIVENESS TO CHANGE
      1. Accepting the reality of differences
      2. Anticipating and being tolerant of differences
      3. Personality differences in response to change
      4. A continuum of receptiveness to change
        1. The left-hand end of the continuum
        2. The right-hand end of the continuum
      5. Receptiveness to a specific change
      6. Food for thought
    12. CHAPTER 6: ASSESSING YOUR RESPONSE TO CHANGE
      1. The importance of self-care in managing change
      2. Changes you’ve faced in the past
      3. Your general response to change
      4. Changes you’re facing right now
      5. Managing change in others
      6. Food for thought
    13. CHAPTER 7: BUILDING A FOUNDATION FOR MANAGING CHANGE
      1. Creating trusting relationships
        1. The speed of trust
        2. How to lose trust quickly
        3. How to earn trust, and why it’s not so easy
        4. What you can control
      2. Establishing team norms
      3. Conducting temperature readings
      4. Food for thought
    14. CHAPTER 8: INTRODUCING CHANGE THOUGHTFULLY
      1. Identifying who will be affected by a change
      2. Minimizing the compounding effect of chaos
      3. Not withholding news of a looming foreign element
      4. Explaining the reasons for a change
      5. Food for thought
    15. CHAPTER 9: TALKING TO THE PEOPLE AFFECTED BY CHANGE
      1. Seek understanding
      2. Talk to the naysayers
      3. Reduce the uncertainty associated with change
      4. Communicate even in the absence of information
      5. Communicate about information you can’t disclose
      6. Explain the impact of a change on those affected
      7. Invite people to contribute ideas about the change
      8. Give people a sense of control
      9. Help people understand each other’s perspectives
      10. Food for thought
    16. CHAPTER 10: OFFERING CARING COMMUNICATION
      1. Focus on thoughts, feelings, and needs
      2. Speak of the old way with respect
      3. Recognize the power of empathy
      4. Listen persuasively
      5. Monitor your choice of voice
      6. Offer encouragement
      7. Use humor – judiciously
      8. Acknowledge success and progress
      9. Food for thought
    17. CHAPTER 11: LEARNING FROM THE EXPERIENCE OF CHANGE
      1. Learn from the successes of others
        1. Example 1: Smoothing the way for workers
        2. Example 2: Communication as a priority
        3. Example 3: Creating a communication plan
      2. Help people understand that they will adjust
      3. Make new status quo a time of reflection
        1. Questions for retrospectives
        2. Mini-retrospectives
      4. Educate people about the experience of change
      5. Avoid the biggest mistake managers make
      6. Final food for thought
      7. Contact me
    18. BIBLIOGRAPHY
    19. ITG RESOURCES
      1. Pocket Guides
      2. Toolkits
      3. Best Practice Reports
      4. Training and Consultancy
      5. Newsletter

    Product information

    • Title: Changing how you manage and communicate change
    • Author(s): Naomi Karten
    • Release date: March 2009
    • Publisher(s): IT Governance Publishing
    • ISBN: 9781849281270