I literally wrote the book on change management...and still got my own go-live wrong.
What a wood duck!
But this is a tension all of us leading complex change need to manage; the "fast thinking" instinct to feel "done" pulls us away from the more deliberate and effective thinking behind a well executed change.
The 'sprint to Christmas' is on - where are you at risk of prematurely celebrating a go live?
Read MorePragma is my AI change advisor available at app.pragmaticchange.com.au.
It has fielded the same sentiment four times this month:
"I am accountable for this change and I control none of the levers that would let me deliver it."
Sound familiar? Nobody puts it on a slide.
Responsibility without authority is the working output of a design. It didn't simply happen to you.
Four moves for the middle layer, and two for the senior leader who is now recognising they designed an "accountability sink"...
Read MoreIt's tough at the top of a 115 year old machine; mostly because no one will tell you it's tough.
You are the best-briefed person in the building and the worst-informed person on your own change.
You can feel the sanitisation even when you can't see it. And the standard response is to blame culture, the consultants (it's fine, we're used to it...) or a lack of courage — why won't people just tell me the truth?
Most leaders fail to see that the machine is working exactly as designed; it's just that it was designed in 1911.
So in an era of folding iPhones, what are the mechanisms for getting your best and brightest to speak up?
Read MoreYour engagement survey says the culture is strong.
The corridor behaviour says something else entirely...
Which one IS the culture? If I'm leading change...what do I pay attention to?
Both. Here is a pragmatic definition for each, that leaders can actually use.
Read MoreYou wouldn't engage me if you didn't have a financial strategy…so why should I take you seriously if you didn't have a cultural strategy?
A transformation without a functional budget (that's regularly contextualised) is going to fail. Every senior leader knows the financial version of this.
So what is the cultural or behavioural equivalent in your program?
And why do I even have to ask that?!
My answer has a name — and a tool your leadership team can run this week.
Read MoreYou know how I'm supposed to open a LinkedIn article. Especially one published on a Monday...who does that?!
Recognisable caricutures from the Boardroom. A leadership vignette. A clever mixture of intruige and just enough panic to make you keep reading...
Instead, I'm compelled to share a gem from my Evernote files, saved during my Masters at the University of Sydney in 2012.
It's from a British physicist named Mark McKergow. He coined a word using Japanese roots because English didn't have one for the concept he needed. It's 2026 and I keep coming back to it.
Because the way most organisations are approaching complex change right now lacks the substance that McKergow was writing about fourteen years ago.
So what does it actually mean to lead complex change in 2026?
Read MoreWhat two moments will your transformation be remembered for?
Not the months of stakeholder engagement. Not the training rollout. Not the governance forums. Not even that beautiful documentation you’ve laboured over.
Over the long run: The emotional peak. And how it ended.
That’s what the research says. And if you’ve led (or been lead into…) a major change, I’d wager it matches your own memory too.
This is called the Peak End rule and applying it deliberately is one of the most underused lenses in change leadership.
Read MoreMost change programs are built for an organisation that no longer exists.
The 2005 playbook: appoint a sponsor, hire a change manager, “do comms”, run training, go live…play a Kayne West track and declare success.
That model assumed stable hierarchies. Predictable timelines. Clear authority.
That 2005 world is largely gone. And not just because Kanye has lost the plot.
700 change practitioners across the globe just told us what’s actually coming.
In reading about it and writing this article, I realised I’ve been living it for 20 years…
Read More“Every organisation I work with seems to be in a constant state of flux. They can't all be at Level 1 maturity! Does anyone know what they are doing yet?!"
This tongue in cheek musing by a topflight change manager, captures a common frustration across industries. It raises a critical question: does anyone get their transformation right...?
Somewhat recent research from Harvard Business School "Top 20 Business Transformations of the Last Decade" provides some compelling answers.
Organisations don’t just thrive because they adopt new technologies or pivot strategically. Instead, they do so by anchoring their transformation efforts in a powerful “Why”—a purpose that transcends profit. The numbers tell the story: purpose-driven transformations aren’t just aspirational; they deliver tangible results.
Why?
1. We don’t focus on the behaviours that really matter in a given context
2. We don’t measure return on investment, through applied results
Read MoreAfter dialling up the emotion on my goodbye post, thought I'd close off my escient journey by reflecting on my top three invaluable lessons learned from being 'front and centre' to service design, digital transformation and change.
Read More
