Getting Change Right: How Leaders Transform Organizations from the Inside Out

by Seth Kahan, Bill George (Foreword by)

Overview

An innovative communication method for making change happen in any organization

Getting Change Right presents a new view of leadership communication that says change doesn't flow top-down, bottom-up, or sideways, but inside-out. This is how change spreads through a complex system successfully-the other options are force or failure. Based on years of experience with organizations around the world, change expert Kahan presents a new model of communication, one that moves from a transactional view of information exchange to a collaborative construction of shared understanding. When the right people are having the right conversations and interactions, then they act in concert even though the situations they confront independently are impossible to predict or coordinate. This dynamic practitioner's guide to implementing change

• Presents the innovative co-creation communication model for creating change
• Reveals how communicating with a company's most valuable players is at the heart of organizational change
• Draws on the author's wealth of experience with Fortune 100 companies, leading government agencies, and associations

Getting Change Right offers business insights and field-tested, practical techniques that can be put to work immediately.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780470550489
Publisher:	Wiley
Publication date:	05/17/2010
Pages:	256
Product dimensions:	6.20(w) x 9.10(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

SETH KAHAN is an international speaker, trainer, and consultant who has worked with CEOs and senior leaders responsible for large-scale change around the world. He is the author of Fast Company's expert blog "Leading Change" (SethFast.com), and a regular contributor to the Washington Post column "On Success" (SethPost.com). He is an Associate of the Taos Institute. Kahan received the designation Visionary by the Center for Association Leadership, and The Society for the Advancement of Consulting has recognized him as a Thought-leader and Exemplar in the field of Change Leadership.

Read an Excerpt

Click to read or download

Table of Contents

List of Figures ix

Foreword, by Bill George xi

Introduction xv

1 Creating Rapid Widespread Engagement 1

Expert Input: Ken and Mary Gergen on Social Construction and Leading Change 9

Expert Input: Steve Denning on Operating Without Budget or Authority 26

2 Communicating So People Get It and Spread It 31

Expert Input: Rick Stone on the Power of Story 43

3 Energizing Your Most Valuable Players 59

Expert Input: Jim Wolfensohn on Talking to Everyone 60

4 Understanding the Territory of Change 87

Expert Input: Madelyn Blair on Storylistening for Reconnaissance 92

5 Accelerating Change Through Performance Communities 107

Expert Input: Etienne Wenger on Communities of Practice 115

6 Generating Dramatic Surges in Progress 129

Expert Input: Lesley Shneier on the World Bank’s Knowledge Fairs 139

7 Breaking Through Logjams 155

Expert Input: Larry Forster on the Competency for Collaboration 172

8 WorkLifeSuccess in the Midst of Change 175

Expert Input: John Kotter on the Greatest Positive Impact 186

Appendix A:Sample Strategic Engagement Plan 195

Appendix B:JumpStart Storytelling 201

Notes 207

Acknowledgments 211

About the Author 213

Index 215