What do you think?
Rate this book
Leading Continuous Change: Navigating Churn in the Real World
It's not news that globalization and ever-faster technological innovation have increased the pace of change exponentially. Existing change models were devised to deal with individual changes, one by one, but that's not a luxury leaders have any more. Bill Pasmore, senior vice president at the Center for Creative Leadership and a professor at Columbia University, offers a four-part model that will allow leaders to deal with multiple changes simultaneously without drowning in the churn.
First, Pasmore urges leaders to think fewer. He shows you how to “back away from the buffet table”—sort through the dizzying array of potential change efforts you could undertake and identify a few focused “healthy” choices that will most benefit your organization. Next, Pasmore says, think scarcer—be realistic about the resources you actually have at your disposal, including how many people in your organization are willing and able to lead change efforts. Then, having narrowed your choices, allocated your resources, and found your change agents, you need to think faster. Pasmore offers advice for streamlining change processes, getting buy-in throughout the organization, and increasing the pace of change. And finally, he says, think smarter: build in processes to learn from change initiatives while they're happening and apply that learning to new and ongoing change initiatives.
Change is not the problem—thinking about change in old-fashioned narrow and prescribed terms is. Recognizing it for the complex machine that it is and accurately taking stock of your resources and speed is what works.
First, Pasmore urges leaders to think fewer. He shows you how to “back away from the buffet table”—sort through the dizzying array of potential change efforts you could undertake and identify a few focused “healthy” choices that will most benefit your organization. Next, Pasmore says, think scarcer—be realistic about the resources you actually have at your disposal, including how many people in your organization are willing and able to lead change efforts. Then, having narrowed your choices, allocated your resources, and found your change agents, you need to think faster. Pasmore offers advice for streamlining change processes, getting buy-in throughout the organization, and increasing the pace of change. And finally, he says, think smarter: build in processes to learn from change initiatives while they're happening and apply that learning to new and ongoing change initiatives.
Change is not the problem—thinking about change in old-fashioned narrow and prescribed terms is. Recognizing it for the complex machine that it is and accurately taking stock of your resources and speed is what works.
- GenresLeadership
232 pages, Hardcover
First published August 17, 2015
26 people are currently reading
196 people want to read
About the author
William A. Pasmore
32 books4 followersDr. Bill Pasmore
Professor of Practice, Columbia University
Senior Vice President, Center for Creative Leadership
Bill has been advising leaders for decades. He is actively involved in delivering services to clients as a coach to CEOs and trusted advisor to executives and boards in matters pertaining to organization design, culture, leadership, succession planning, board effectiveness, executive development, and change.
He holds the position of Professor of Practice at Teachers College, Columbia University and is also on the executive team at the Center for Creative Leadership where he focuses on advising CEOs, Boards and executive teams. Before joining Columbia and CCL, he was a senior partner with the New York-based consulting firm, Oliver Wyman Delta Consulting, and prior to that, a tenured full professor in the School of Management at Case Western Reserve University.
As a thought leader in the field of organization development, he has published thirty books and numerous articles, including Advanced Consulting, Leading Continuous Change, Braided Organizations, Collaborative Management Research, Developing a Leadership Strategy, The Board’s new roles in Succession Planning, Choosing the Best Next CEO, Designing Effective Organizations, Creating Strategic Change, and Relationships that Enable Enterprise Change.
His current research focuses on understanding the implications of future trends in technology for organizations and leadership, assessing change leadership behaviors, and understanding the factors underlying why people choose to take responsibility and accountability.
He resides in New York with his wife, Mary and is the proud father of two young professional women pursuing careers in consulting.
Bill holds a BS in Aeronautical Engineering/Industrial Management and a Ph.D. in Administrative Sciences, both from Purdue University.
Professor of Practice, Columbia University
Senior Vice President, Center for Creative Leadership
Bill has been advising leaders for decades. He is actively involved in delivering services to clients as a coach to CEOs and trusted advisor to executives and boards in matters pertaining to organization design, culture, leadership, succession planning, board effectiveness, executive development, and change.
He holds the position of Professor of Practice at Teachers College, Columbia University and is also on the executive team at the Center for Creative Leadership where he focuses on advising CEOs, Boards and executive teams. Before joining Columbia and CCL, he was a senior partner with the New York-based consulting firm, Oliver Wyman Delta Consulting, and prior to that, a tenured full professor in the School of Management at Case Western Reserve University.
As a thought leader in the field of organization development, he has published thirty books and numerous articles, including Advanced Consulting, Leading Continuous Change, Braided Organizations, Collaborative Management Research, Developing a Leadership Strategy, The Board’s new roles in Succession Planning, Choosing the Best Next CEO, Designing Effective Organizations, Creating Strategic Change, and Relationships that Enable Enterprise Change.
His current research focuses on understanding the implications of future trends in technology for organizations and leadership, assessing change leadership behaviors, and understanding the factors underlying why people choose to take responsibility and accountability.
He resides in New York with his wife, Mary and is the proud father of two young professional women pursuing careers in consulting.
Bill holds a BS in Aeronautical Engineering/Industrial Management and a Ph.D. in Administrative Sciences, both from Purdue University.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
November 29, 2017
I put down this book feeling most of the observations within it where fairly obvious, and when they weren't the author contradicted himself. All told, it feels a lot like an advertisement for the consultancy he works for.
I found this book neither an informative nor a pleasant read.
I found this book neither an informative nor a pleasant read.
August 13, 2019
This was a bit repetitive, but did have good points.
June 2, 2022
This book would have been better with more examples demonstrating the concepts.
Read
December 14, 2023The principles here are quite solid. Pasmore distills complex continuous change into a fairly simple model that is worth (a) remembering, (b) revisiting. That said, this book needed more granular examples: what does managing change look like at a team or sub-team level? Without that detail, the book felt less like new insight and more like a framework for understanding what you already knew.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews