We Talk a Lot About Change (But How Do We Actually Feel About Change?)

The dilemma with change is that everyone likes to talk about it, but very few have insight into their own willingness to change, let alone their ability to influence change. Those who see the need for change often want others to change first.
Chris Spies, 2006

It is not only the current US American presidential campaign that introduced the word change into our daily discourse. Most political but also many industry leaders use the word more and more frequently – no address on the future of XYZ (XYZ could be a country’s or a company’s name) without bringing up the notion that we need to change. It goes without saying that few of these leaders actually explain who is this we. And consequently, most who are the targets of the message We need to change rather understand “You need to CHANGE!”, or “I want YOU to CHANGE!” This is one of the beauties of human communication – no matter what and how you say it, you can be sure that people add a very different meaning to what you intended to say. Read more...

Why mergers fail, and how facilitation of change processes can help

A system approach on mergers & acquisitions
by Holger Nauheimer and Rik Berbé
Change Facilitation s.r.o.
http://www.change-facilitation.com/

Research shows that 70-80% of mergers fail. They do not pay off in terms of returns on investment and even show less healthy performance after the organisations are integrated. Of course, there is not one cause for failure. Merging companies is a complex and mostly unpredictable process. People who think mergers and acquisitions are about making cutting costs and simplifying structures, please read further. Read more...

Our New Blog: Virtual Company

Our Company, Change Facilitation - A Global Partner Who Makes Change in Complex Environments - is going through a period of change. We have consolidated our structure, have made our business plan for the next year and most of all: we have articulated our dream, to become the number one provider of services related to change. Read more...

3rd Global Gathering of CFAN Has Ended with a Promise

From April 21-25, 35 folks from all part of the world met in Austria for the 3rd Global Gathering of the Change Facilitation Associates Network. While we still have to process the wealth of video, slide, audio and photo material, here is a first report:

We started on Day 1 to reconnect. Participants came from: Finland, Norway, Lebanon, Israel, Germany, Philippines, Romania, Netherlands, Belgium, Austria, Czech and Slovak Republics, Albania, Canada, UK. Using dialogue techniques, we explored the questions that would help us to digg deeper into our tasks and to recognize our joint emerging future. In the evening of Monday, Prof. Susanne Weber talked about Dynamics in Regional Networks. Read more...

Holger Nauheimer on Complexity

During my presentations in the United States, I shot a couple of video clips. Here is a 7 minute clip on complexity in organizations, including some reflections of contemporary models such as those of Dave Snowden and Ralph Stacey:



If you want to see the video in a bigger window, go to Google Videos.

At IAFNA: Holger Nauheimer's Slideshow on E-Change

The annual conference of IAFNA in Atlanta ended with the commitment of many participants to meet again in Vancouver, April 2009. For me, it was a great possibility to reconnect but also to meet a lot of interesting people who I didn't know before.

Saturday afternoon, I gave a 3 hours workshop on "Communities not Clients - How Web 2.0 Changes Everything, Including Your Business". Watch my slideshow and read more...

Update on Story of Change

Good news: I now uploaded the entire video called The Story of Change in one piece to the Internet. YouTube does not allow videos longer than 10 minutes, Google Videos does. Unfortunately, the embedding of Google Videos doesn't work as well as YouTube videos. So if you want to see the full 23 minutes of the 40 years history of Change Facilitation, follow this link:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=659271750744887678

Please pass the link around to anybody who could be interested.

The Story of Change, Told at Nexus

At the first evening of Nexus II, on March 30, 2008 in Bowling Green, Ohio, Sandra Janoff facilitated a time line which allowed us to look at the fourty years history of the Whole Systems Change Movement. The storyline has now been published as a three part video on YouTube. Watch 20 minutes of collective memory of 80 folks who were part of this history, told by Barbara Bunker, Dick Axelrod, Peggy Holman and others: Read more...

Viral Change: Uncovering 15 Myths about Change

I am enjoying reading the blog of Viral Change (TM). Currently, they run a great series on 15 myths of Change Management, which are:

1. Big change requires big actions
2... (Read more...)

Be The Change - Training with Holger Nauheimer in Helsinki

Good news for all Northern Europeans who would like to update their knowledge and skills on Change Management: Holger Nauheimer (Change Facilitation) and Vesa Purokuru (HUMAP) will hold a two days workshop in Helsinki, Finland:

BE THE CHANGE -
Modern systemic approaches to Change Management
Interactive work shop from top change expert Holger Hauheimer
Helsinki 16th -17th January 2008

Download the training flyer

New Change Management Toolbook Attracts Thousand Visitors

Last week, we went live with the new version of the Change Management Toolbook. While we are quite busy to fix unavoidable bugs, we are happy to report that the website has been widely adopted. Yesterday, we crossed the 1000 users line, and we are expecting more visitors to come to our site as the content grows. We have now about 9200 members in all parts of the world.

Beside the rich background information and a large selection of Change Management Tools, we expect the Forum to be one of the most attractive parts of the website. Here you can create your own topics, ask for and provide advice, and discuss hot topics around Change Management and Change Facilitation. Today for example, we are discussing "Why do change projects fail?". Why don't you join one of the discussions right now?

Today in Other Blogs

I am back from holidays (short ones...) and resume blogging. Today, I start with a review on what other bloggers have posted today (or recently).

Steve Roesler (All Things Workplace) thinks about a mid-term career change. Besides, he introduces quite an interesting version of what I used to call Bandura's Learning Curve, and what he calls Ladder of Learning Mastery. I like his version much better than the one I used. Thanks, Steve (will use it from now on in seminars with attribution). More...

Community of Change Management Bloggers is Growing (2)

You know the phenomenon: You are getting yourself a new car and you have chosen a particular one, let's say a yellow Beetle, because it is so unique. Once you have the car, all you see is yellow Beetles. Pregnant women is a similar phenomenon. I didn't see many Change Management Blogs until recently. But suddenly, the web is full of them. More...

Measuring Success of Innovation

In 2005, PricewaterhouseCoopers conducted a survey on organization's innovation policy, interviewing 355 CEOs of the largest US companies.

CEOs from two-thirds of America's fastest-growing private companies report that innovation is an organization-wide priority, and almost all say it has had a significant, positive impact on their business. Further, the overwhelming majority rate their business better at innovation than their one or two strongest competitors. But, in this scenario, could something be amiss? One in four of those citing innovation as a priority say they do not have an R&D budget. (Source: PWC, 2005)

More...

Daimler-Chrysler: How to Handle Change in Demerger Processes?

DaimlerChrysler reached an agreement early today to sell the struggling Chrysler Group to Cerberus Capital Management, a private equity firm that specializes in restructuring troubled companies, for $7.4 billion. (New York Times, May 14).

There is plenty of literature on the role of change management in merger processes, which have provided some of the prime examples of successful or non-successful corporate change. The theory says that when two companies wed, they will have to undergo a complex process that involves cultural adaptations, technological changes, leadership issues, etc. But what about demergers? More...