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Change Management Excellence
Book

Change Management Excellence

Using The Four Intelligences For Successful Organizational Change

Kogan Page, 2004 more...

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Editorial Rating

8

Qualities

  • Innovative
  • Applicable

Recommendation

Authors Sarah Cook, Steve Macaulay and Hilary Coldicott offer a solid, reliable roadmap for navigating the twisted trails of corporate change initiatives. This comprehensive presentation is based on the authors’ combined 40 years of consulting and change-facilitation experience. The book provides a wealth of self-diagnostic tests, interactive exercises and checklists to help you tackle the practical mechanics of introducing organizational change from all four compass points: business, politics, emotions and the spirit. The volume demonstrates little patience with the self-serving "practical" case studies that are de rigueur in business books. While one might applaud the authors’ sense of economy in eliminating "how great we are" stories, their absence may also explain why the book comes across as just a tad dry. Change is a perpetually dynamic story line, so one expects its roadmap to bear a range of narrative hues, although the sound advice here is rare enough. getAbstract strongly recommends this volume - when you’re lost, any good map is your friend. It doesn’t have to be fancy as long as it includes a compass.

Summary

Finding Your Compass

If your organization is experiencing mind-numbing waves of change and is struggling to stay on course, perhaps you need a new compass - a change compass. Just as a compass has four directions, a change compass relies on four types of intelligence: business, political, emotional and spiritual. Incorporate all four into your change initiatives to establish a solid foundation for success. To be an effective innovator, you must apply all four types of intelligence.

1. "BQ: Business Intelligence"

BQ includes technical and market expertise, strategy, accurate anticipation of market trends, consumer demands, solutions for customers and improved customer service. BQ encompasses the skill of monitoring a changing competitive landscape and responding to it in order to promote your organization’s future well being.

The British supermarket operator, Tesco, exemplifies the use of BQ to attain competitive advantages through successful innovation. Under the direction of Sir Terry Leahy, Tesco introduced its Club Card loyalty program. With the data it harvests from card clients, Tesco can anticipate and meet customer needs. Today, it claims ...

About the Authors

Sarah Cook is in charge of service excellence and leadership development consultants at The Stairway Consultancy. The author of Customer Care Excellence, she is an established facilitator and frequent public speaker on customer service and corporate culture. Steve Macaulay has broad experience in telecommunications and IT, where he headed several change management initiatives. He is Management Development Consultant at Cranfield School of Management. Hilary Coldicott is a consultant whose practice focuses on employee development and training.