Customer Reviews

The Change Monster: The Human Forces That Fuel or Foil Corporate Transformation and Change

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Whenever I ask executives about what their biggest problem is, they always say that it is getting the people in their organization to change. The executive rarely sees a need to change her or him self. This perception of the situation is at the foundation of every change problem I have ever seen in my career.

This slanted perspective usually reflects having a lousy idea for what needs to be changed that is being legitimately resisted, a poor understanding of how to communicate about change, and a one-sided view of who should benefit from any change (usually the executive).

In The Change Monster, Ms. Duck addresses the communication issues directly, the one-sided view of who should benefit indirectly, and pays not enough attention to what the idea for change should be.

The book opens with the perspective of organizations that have to change . . . or else because they have just been taken over, taken someone else over, or won't be around if they don't change. Those situations create the potential for a burning platform to get everyone's attention.

Relatively little is said about getting attention when the wolf isn't so near the door, except to cite Dr. Grove's advice, "Only the paranoid survive." That's the hard part. I hope the author will spend more time on that point in future books.

The book describes a new taxonomy for evaluating where you are in the change process: Stagnation (essentially stuck in a rut that isn't working); Preparation (getting people ready for making an important change); Implementation (figuring out and announcing the details of what to do); Determination (actually carrying through on the plans and new commitments); and Fruition (using the new success to strengthen the foundations of future progress). The author does a good job of pointing out that people and parts of the organization can be at all of these steps at exactly the same moment in time. The leaders need to know where people are, help people know where they are, and encourage progress to the next step.

For most people, the key benefit of this book will be in realizing what the important communications challenges are after everyone has been given their new assignments. Many executives will want to drop working on change at that point, and instead drop the ball on the process. You simply cannot communicate too much after the marching orders start to be developed, beginning with asking lots of questions and listening. The emotional commitment has yet to have been made by most in the organization, and you can get counter-reactions instead of support very easily.

For others, the key benefit will be the excellent descriptions of the kinds of emotions that are often felt at the various moments and stages in the process, and how these emotions can be constructively addressed.

I enjoyed the two extended case histories from Ms. Duck's practice that form the bulk of the book. One involves turning around a fading industry leader that was part of Honeywell, and the other is a consolidation of the research-and-development operations of two merging pharmaceutical companies. The first example is more often on the right path, and the latter is more often not. Good lessons are pentiful in both cases about the messiness and nasty surprises of change that will be helpful to those who haven't been through these major transformations before.

Many people will dislike the examples in the book because the clients are off doing the wrong thing all the time except when rescued by the consultants. I'm a little uncomfortable with a book that relies on case histories with so much intensive consulting involvement as really being a management book.

Most significantly, you can simply put the wrong change in place . . . or at least one that isn't as good as a readily available alternative. This book focuses so little on that issue that I fear it will be overlooked by those reading this material. In that event, the myopic executive who see the problem of change as "my people won't change" will simply be able to use consultants in new ways to "bribe and cajole my people to change in the ways I like." I fear that solution often won't solve the problem.

I admire Ms. Duck's candor about her personal life and her consulting experiences. She's got what it takes to hang in there!

After you finish reading this book, I suggest that you think about where you have agreed with others to make a change that isn't occurring. Could it be that you haven't brought other people along with information and emotional reasons to support the change?

Find ways for your organization to be the best it can be!

As someone who's helped plan and implement major change initiatives at numerous companies (and numerous corporate cultures) I've had a large stake in searching for and hoping that someday someone would publish a helpful guide focusing on the human aspect of change, the emotional roller coaster ride experienced by the employees undergoing the change--rather than the often dry treatises focusing on structural archetypes or the academically-oriented anthropologist's view of change. Jeanie Duck has done, and done it beautifully. If you are undergoing change at your workplace I can't recommend this book more strongly. I've already given it to several people I've worked with who have come back to tell me how helpful and meaningful they found it.

In emotionally draining management situations, you as a manager, or you as an employee feels totally lost and alone. You think that this dark cloud over your head is so unique that you don't think there is hope. Nobody will understand how this is done. I think the use of this book, akin to personal self-help book, is to tell you you are not alone. This situation you are going through is normal and you are not going out of your mind. Yes, there might not be concrete steps on how to do things, but in dealing with human beings, nothing is set in stone. That's why it's so hard to manage. That's why we have shrinks. There is no formularic way of "fixing the problem". You will just have to learn from experience, and reading about other people's experiences will help you identify potential red flags.

That's what's good about this book. It's loaded with Ms. Duck's personal experience working as a Change Management Consultant for BCG. She presents two real cases (one real and the other one an amalgamation of similar companies), tells us what was going through in the heads of management and employees. She painstakingly details the action that was taken and how it affected the company as a whole. It's a very good book to start your way into the realms of change management.

Change Monster and Winning at Mergers and Acquisitions both score big time in the areas of change and culture. But the information contained in both of these books creates a synthesis of change management that when blended together provides extraordinary results. Both books provide tools to help drive change and forge buy-in. Change Monster speaks more from a consultant standpoint while Winning at Mergers comes from the voice of corporate management. Winning at points out grave mis-steps in leading change and critical success factors to reverse them. Change Monster fills in some of the more detailed steps. Together these groundbreaking guides are more than enough to help you lead, structure, and support change efforts at any company whether or not they're M&A driven or economically derived and whether you're a consultant or corporate manager.

Author Jeanie Daniel Duck presents an engaging, personal look at the human emotions, conflicts, fears and anxieties that unite to make change difficult. She describes the five stages of the change process - stagnation, preparation, implementation, determination and, finally, fruition. As she goes in depth about each stage, the author illustrates her explanation with personal examples from her experiences as an organizational consultant. Some of the issues she raises may be familiar to those who have read other books about how to launch change initiatives, but we [...] find that her focus on the human elements of change provides a fresh perspective. The book is directed primarily toward executives, managers or supervisors in charge of leading corporate change, but even if you are already prepared to conquer the change monster, this author's personal touches and stage-by-stage approach will intrigue you.

As an internal consultant to a Fortune 500, part of my job is to assist with change management efforts. Thus, I was excited to see this new title on such a pertinent element of the change process. My anticipation was quickly replaced with disappointment as the book is long on stories but short on content. Aside from expanding Lewin's change model with before and after processes, the author does little to guide the reader in understanding the dynamics of change. Her tactics for dealing with change are so covered in war-stories that they are difficult to find. In all, a disappointment for both the experienced and novice reader of change management processes.

While this book is a "must read" for midlevel managers and up it is a gift to the rest of us. For change touches everyone in the business whether we like it or not. Ms. Duck is very clear about this and the steps it takes to be successful. She pares away the jargon, excuses and finger pointing this subject engenders and leaves us with an understandable and inspiring map of the territory. I don't know about you but I like to know where I am at all times and that includes work. With this map I can gauge what is happening there and know whether to stick with my current job or update my resume. In fact, I'm sending a copy to my CEO!

Duck clearly delineates the stages of change, illuminates the pitfalls of ignoring the human factor, and provides proven methods of successfully navigating change. A good read, with lots of reasons to use your highlighter. The points on "creating dissatisfaction" are exceptional.

The change monster made me aware of the stages of change in a company: Stagnation,
Preparation, Implementation, and Fruition. Ms Duck seems to be an excellent consultant from the stories I read. The book seems oriented towards Human Resources types as the title suggests. My background is Information Technology consulting, so I found I related too only a few of her stories. I would say her stories were interesting and demonstrated how companies move through change stages arriving at fruition. Ms Duck reminences on her experience and draws important conclusions and abstractions from her experiences. Some of her experiences seemed familar while a larger portion were not as concrete. I could see how large organizations profit from her holositic view of change.

I'm sure her wisdom should not dismissed. I've read Jack Welch's books and reflected on the quantifiable and scientific approach to change and can see objective change can appeal rationally; however, Ms Duck seems to have produced change through insight and dramatic effects a vast range of companies and types. She seems to have a gift for perception and insight into the inner dynamics of the people that make change happen in a company. Duck hand holds her clients through change stages and comforts them by imparting wisdom that allows her client to see a "better way". This "better way" seems to have dynamic impacts on the production of the company. Once the barriers are removed the company matures and reaches fruition.

I had to purchase this book for a graduate-level class. Jeanie Duck provides an easy-to-read book, providing a fresh perspective on the emotional aspects of organizational change. She concentrates on mergers and acquisitions, but the information and focus she provides can still be utilized in any change situation.