Session: Are You Planning Change for the Past or the Future?
Purpose: To put people into the heart of decision making for change
The analogy that change is a story or a journey is well known. The big question is though, what story do people want to share and how do they want to travel on the journey? The word “share” is deliberate as change, as we know it, is not a ‘one-man band’ activity – it takes a great number of different people to enact or embody a change.
Now, leading change can be tricky and feel bewildering, particularly when faced with the degree of uncertainty that is indicative of our world. For example, technology changes happen all the time and can be quite fast, yet not as fast as we sometimes would like them. There is also a drive to apply the UN sustainability goals in our lives and in our organisations – all of which has major impacts and changes on how we and organisations work.
For decades, it has been agreed that change is a constant, but increasing commentators are observing change as “exponential”. So, doesn’t it stand to reason that before a change or crisis happens, an organization should have the ability and resilience to transform? The world is very complex and multi-faceted with lots of different factors impacting across all aspects of life, society and business. The key is to explore and analyse all these different factors, so the right change strategy, approach and plans can be put in place to help people along the journey to the future.
Business typically focus on the tasks that are involved in change – create a project plan, communications, training, etc. They are focused on the tasks of getting things done and ‘if they build it, the people will come.’ That worked well during a time when we could predict the future with confidence and reach consensus on the way ahead.
But now that is not the case really, is it? In this session, we will explore the holistic approach to change through the use of foresight and organisational development tools, along with the ABChange leadership model. We will be taking a look at the dangers, risks and pitfalls that other global organisations have experienced through the use of case studies and research.
Bio
Jennifer Bryan is a published author, global speaker and Director of Change and Leadership, who has worked with nearly 40 different organisations across multiple industries. She is also a Vice President of the ACMP (Association of Change Management Professionals) UK Chapter. Jennifer is author of Leading People in Change – A practical guide. She has presented at TEDx Scunthorpe, Women in Technology Global Conference, University of Reading Henley Business School of Management , Association of Change Management Professionals (Global and UK), to name a few. She has been interviewed in several leading workplace industry podcasts and participated in multiple panels as an expert in people centric change,