Leading for Organisational Change

Chapter 16The Bigger Picture

When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the universe.

John Muir¹

In the course of this book I have shared my recent personal experience of organisational change, and that of others. By examining those experiences, with the benefit of hindsight and in the context of the available literature and research, I hope I have shown how an approach to change which is rooted in an organisation's purpose and depends on storytelling as a key part of its methodology can help an organisation to tackle the various challenges which periods of change tend to present – and even to thrive by virtue of the process of change itself. I hope I have shown how purpose and stories can help to engender a sense of belonging and identity; how they can enable organisations to take an evolutionary approach to strategy setting and implementation; how they build confidence, and foster agility; how they create understanding, allow simplicity and preserve and build energy.

The vital question now, having established their usefulness in achieving the BECAUSE in a change context, is whether these concepts of purpose and storytelling bear up in a wider business context. This is critically important because leaders need to lead in a way that has regard to the cohesion and congruence of their whole organisation, both within itself and in relation to its stakeholders and the market. The BECAUSE theory is not a discrete tool that can be applied ...