Managing Change Step By Step: All you need to build a plan and make it happen

by Richard Newton

Change Management is not a single, coherent and agreed upon approach but rather an assortment of tools, techniques, methods and simple good intentions - all of which are simply and practically broken down by this book. The problems with change management is at all levels of management and many people have roles which require them to not only perform the traditional day-to-day tasks associated with being a manager, but also need to deliver ongoing change in their teams, departments or divisions. They want straightforward and practical advise that is easy to understand and can be applied immediately, which this book delivers. It shows how change management can be constructively approached by a practical frame work.

260 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2007

About the author

Richard Newton is the best selling author of a range of non-fiction books who has recently made the scary jump into fiction writing.

His published works are mostly niche non-fiction books. His first book for everyone, Dream It, Do It, Live It was published 2013. More recently, he published the novella A Touch of Absolution. He's been writing fiction for decades, but this is the first time it has been available to the public.

His books have been translated into 17 languages and won awards, including the Management Book of the Year 2013.

He reads all the time, and for the last few years he has written a review of every book he has read. The reviews reflect his eclectic tastes in reading - good literature, a lot of philosophy, for professional reasons business books, history, travel and mountaineering books - and books about central Asia which is a bit of a personal obsession. But depending on his mood, whim, or the direction of the wind he reads a wide variety that does not fall into any of these categories.

Richard is interested in philosophy, mountaineering, trail running, working and travelling in interesting places, as well as a wide range of music. He works internationally, with home being split between the Cotswolds, UK and the Tatra's, Poland. If you have questions or comments or just feel like chatting get in touch with Richard

Reviews

[Ciprian Rusen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Works well for beginners. For more experienced project managers it doesn't bring too many new ideas and concepts.

[Tracy Stanley · Rating 4 out of 5]

I appreciate stories of change in organisations and there many within Richard Newton’s books along with a solid description of methodology and tools needed to achieve a successful outcome.

There’s lots of great material in this book for those leading change as evidenced by the numerous highlighted passages in my kindle version. For me, it’s not the type of book you read end-to-end, but rather dip into as a resource. Richard’s expertise in project management is evident throughout the book.

Book organisation

Managing Change Step by Step is organised as follows: understanding change management concepts; defining change objectives; building your change team; designing your change plan; identifying both levels of support and resistance to change; implementing the change and then checking that the benefits of the change program have been built into the organisation.

Some of my many highlighted passages include:

Change management is pervasive and ongoing, and so change management is one of the most important skills for any manager.

Predicting, understanding, planning and responding to the ways different people interpret and react to change is the core challenge in managing change.

All change management approaches are broadly about: clarifying what change is required; determining how to approach a change; implementing the change in the best way; and ensuring the change is successful.

Change can be delivered through projects, task forces or the continuous adaption of daily work.
The focus of change programs can vary between the planning and logistical aspects, i.e. a project management approach; culture, human psychology and organisational behaviour; developing leadership skills or communicating and overcoming resistance to change.

I very much liked the guidance on how you ‘chunk time’ when undertaking planning and being reminded about understanding the dependency between tasks.

Also the need to plan from a human response to change; organisational readiness to change and integration for change into existing infrastructure perspective.

Other high-level takeaways:

* Understanding the triggers for change.
* Making evidence-based decisions. Good data is verifiable and not swayed by personal bias. Need to appreciate that the task of collecting data is not free in any organisation. It takes time and effort.
* Selecting a great change manager. The author provided a valuable analysis of the characteristics of the best change managers.
* Appreciating that organisations are complex systems of interdependency.
And finally,
* Understanding that every change project that successfully reaches its conclusion and is celebrated, is just a stage in a never- ending process.

In summary, a solid resource for change managers. Worth the investment for the change analysis examples alone.

[Samad · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very useful book for those who work on change projects. It does not cover project management techniques, but focuses on life cycle of change projects from change management perspective.