Relational Change: The Art and Practice of Changing Organizations

Description

Learn about alternative ways of managing the change experience to make it doable, energising and transformative. The process of change in all organizations - corporate, public sector and not-for-profit - can be fraught, overwhelming and unpredictable, both for those experiencing change and for those charged with its implementation. Relational Change presents a refreshingly readable and accessible alternative to the normal rhetoric of mechanistic, top-down change. Instead, Liz Wiggins and Harriet Hunter show how paying closer attention to personal interactions and relationships lies at the very heart of effective and sustainable change in organizations. Exploring issues of power, politics, emotions and the way people and systems can become stuck in unhelpful patterns, this book will help you work practically with the messiness of change. The dynamic new ways discussed are highly relevant for life in organizations today and will apply to your life outside work too. Integrating research and theory from a wide range of sources, as well sharing their own extensive experience of leading change, the authors present a stimulating and thought-provoking people-centred and relational approach that focuses on doing with others, rather than doing to them. Relational Change combines academically-grounded, theoretically-robust thinking that explains the rationale for relational change with real-world stories that will resonate with your own experience of change, whether as a seasoned or novice leader.

Liz Wiggins is Associate Professor of Change and Leadership at Ashridge, now part of Hult International Business School. She co-developed GenerationQ, the highly esteemed Master's degree in leadership for those working on change in the health sector. She has over twenty years' experience leading change at Unilever and as a change consultant across both the private and public sectors. She also offers coaching and supervision through Blue Morph Ltd. Harriet Hunter is Head of Organisational Development and Learning at the Scottish Government. She has a wealth of experience in working with people in leading change across the public and voluntary sectors and was a participant on GenerationQ.

Engaging, clear, human, rigorous, enlivening... a must-read for people leading change in organizations. -- George Binney * author of Living Leadership * We now finally have a handbook which appreciates the messiness of change, makes sense of it and teaches us to work with it. -- Erik de Haan * Professor of Organisation Development at the VU University, Amsterdam * Relational Change is an eminently readable book, combining practical advice, just the right amount of untangling of change-management theory, and wise reflections on relevant real-life scenarios. -- Michelle Jarrold * Development Director, Jarrold Retail Division * This book is helpful for managers and leaders. It's incredibly accessible and engaging with just the right balance between theory and practice for a busy manager. It's very readable, practical and relevant to a wide cross-section of leaders. -- Chris Stirling * Site Director, Western General Hospital * Everyone working with transformational change can use this book as a provocative and supporting guide. -- Philippa Hardman * Co-Founding Partner, GameShift * The authors invite us to pay attention to what is happening in organziation, both 'above and below the waterline', and to embrace change as a relational practice; happening one conversation at a time and between people. -- Michele Martin * Organisational Development Practitioner, Barclays * This book should furnish your desk if you want to make a difference and are committed to continuing personal development and organisational development. -- Dr Ian Bullock * Chief Executive, Royal College of Physicians, London * Anyone in the organizational trenches looking for guidance will find some here. Well written, with many true to life examples, easy to read without insulting the reader's intelligence ... managers who accept the messy, unpredictable, political world of organizational change will find value in this book. -- Gervase R. Bushe * Professor of Leadership and Organization Development, Beedie School of Business, Simon Fraser University * This isn't just informative, evocative and stimulating - I really enjoyed reading it. The authors share what at times are complex concepts, in a coherent and structured way. -- David Julien * CEO, First Contact Clinical * This book is as refreshing as it is powerful. A tour de force. Written from a relational perspective, it is full of practical guidance on the complex processes of organizational change and development. -- Donald MacLean * The University of Glasgow, Adam Smith Business School * Change is around us all the time - we are asked to do more, do better. Leading change and improvement isn't easy and we all know that. This book provides a refreshingly different narrative on what is possible and reminds us all that organizations are all about people and relationships ... The tips, reflections and examples within this book provide a range of different ideas and approaches to help leaders to navigate and respond to the opportunities and challenges around us. -- Bridget Turner * Director of Policy & Care Improvement, Diabetes UK * The practical ideas and examples presented are strikingly readable and memorable. Familiar scenarios - which in the workplace usually sink without impact - are explored, advanced and transformed, enabling managers to relish organizational change. -- Imogen Gibbon * Chief Curator and Deputy Director, Scottish National Portrait Gallery * A combination of unrivalled academic expertise and an intimate knowledge of how organizations work, make for a truly transformational yet helpfully practical approach. A must-read for anyone in a leadership position, not least because we live in a world in which relentless change is the new normal. Every leader should have this in their back pocket. -- Amelie Roland Gosselin * Global Communications Manager, Foods, Unilever *