Change has been with us since time immemorial.
One of the earliest quotes attributed to Heraclitus in 500BC is that the only thing that is constant is change. This is often cited but there is now a view that he was wrong! Because change is no longer a constant as the rate of change has changed, and our view on it has also altered to include innovation.
The first mention of change management can probably be traced back to the 1950s when Kirk Lewin developed his three-stage model of unfreeze, change and refreeze. If you search change management on Google, you get about 4billion hits!
These historic views and increasing relevance are very interesting but what of today and the future.
The Change Management Institute has published their Global Insights 2022 report which provides an insight into the voice of the profession. In their report they review their predictions from 2019 and although they have come true, many have arrived sooner than expected, driven by the global impetus due to the Covid 19 pandemic, as managing change effectively was essential for the survival of many companies.
The report highlights that the pandemic has resulted in putting people first becoming ‘more important than ever’ and that Change Professionals should acknowledge life has been tough for many. There is an opportunity in this climate for Change Professionals to coach others on the importance of empathy and developing resilient teams.
The report also draws some lessons for the future and my personal take aways from it are:-
- The need for professional change managers with deep technical knowledge and outstanding interpersonal skills, can only increase.
- If ever there was a time when one size fits all, that certainly isn’t today and will never be in the future.
- Any change professional who thinks they know all there is to know, is likely to go the way of that well known Mauritian bird, the Dodo.
It is a short read, and I would recommend it to everyone involved in the change management community.
