Leading Change: A Practical Guide for Change Agents - Softcover

Koon PhD, Peggie Ward

Softcover

ISBN 10: 198528538X ISBN 13: 9781985285385

Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2018

Synopsis

If you look at the operations of any successful organization, you will see one constant. That constant is change. This book is about leading change. You see in our constantly changing world, an organization’s ability to lead change is critical to its success. We know that change leadership—the way the change is led—directly affects the outcome of the change effort. And yet so often, leaders struggle with their change efforts.We also know that change impacts and is impacted by people. How people respond to change often determines whether change is successfully adopted and implemented, or if it remains merely an idea or concept. Because of this “people factor,” change must be led. If we know this, why do change agents repeatedly fail to address the “people factor” as they lead change?Change is hard…and sometimes -- no matter how well, often and frequently we communicate—in some instances, people can be so resistant to change that they cannot see beyond their own personal agendas to understand and embrace the benefits of the change.These resistors to change are passionate about maintaining the status quo—so passionate that they often emerge as leaders, either openly or covertly, of a movement to thwart the change effort. We live in a world full of change. And the list of change scenarios in our world is long. To be sure it is not within the scope of this book to attempt to provide a discourse on every possible change-scenario, related issues, technologies, or industries/organizations engaged in the transformation, etc. There is a plethora of books and papers devoted to change, change management, making change, managing change, and similar subjects. Leading Change is different. Instead of focusing specifically on one of these topics, it focuses on leading change from a practical/practitioner’s point of view. In this book you will discover 16 Key Change Factors (KCFs) or attributes of change that when understood can assist in the change leadership process. As you read the chapters of this book, you will unwrap these KCFs in more detail and review a few case studies of change leadership in action at other companies, as well as examples from my own professional experience. Each section includes CAPs or Change Agent Principles that provide a quick summary of key take-aways for change leadership and change agents. Key Thoughts and Questions help you probe more deeply into change opportunities in your organization and there is a list of referenced Section Resources to provide additional details and improve your understanding of the key concepts and/or topics presented in the section.Finally, you’ll read about some of the amazing changes occurring right around us to see how companies and individuals are leading change in our world. My hope is that the change agent principles and examples of change leadership in this book will encourage and inspire you to lead and/or help make change happen in your organization.

About this title

About the Author

"Dr. Peggie Koon is one of those rarest of change agents who can strike an amazing balance of encouraging different perspectives, being truly inclusive, while challenging the status quo. She can best be described as an innovator, visionary and an exceptional leader. Dr. Peggie has a proven track record of breaking down barriers - both cultural and organizational. When she talks, we can all benefit by listening and opening our minds." Jim Keaveney, Emerson Process Automation Solutions "Smart, not afraid to tackle decades of doing things the same way.....as good at interacting with operations guys to develop the needed systems as interacting with owners and bankers explaining what we were trying to do and how we were changing the culture….I never had a more dedicated change agent in my employ……." John L. Barnes, Former CFO, Graniteville Company "Transformational change, within any organization, can be either exhilarating or terrifying (or both, depending on one’s perspectives) including being on the roller-coaster journey that follows. I have now had the distinct privilege of both observing and collaborating with Peggie on a dynamic change process in which Peggie provided strong leadership throughout the transformational journey. In her role as former President of an international association of technical and trade professionals (ISA), Peggie identified the need for strategic and tactical change; then enlisted change agents; and jump-started the change process by facilitating an intervention summit retreat of dozens of leaders, volunteers, and executive staff management" Nelson Norden, Norden Analytics; Former Global Business Development Director, Emerson Automation Solutions Dr. Koon is an executive strategist, change leadership and management consultant and coach. She is the CEO and Founder of Leading Change, LLC., former Vice President at Morris Communications, Augusta, GA (USA), 2014 President of the International Society of Automation (ISA) and 2015 Chair of the Automation Federation (AF). She has more than 30 years of change leadership experience in the automotive, aerospace, nuclear reprocessing, insulating products, textile, and media industries, including IT & OT. Dr. Koon received a B.A. in mathematics from Smith College (Northampton, Mass, USA), completed 2 years of graduate study in Applied Statistics in the School of ISYE at Georgia Tech (Atlanta, GA USA), and received a PhD in MIS from Kennedy Western University ( Cheyenne, WY USA).

Edition details

• Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform
• Publication date: 2018
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 198528538X
• ISBN 13: 9781985285385
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 436