Leading Successful Change (Revised and Updated Edition): 8 Keys to Making Change Work

by Gregory P. Shea

When Jack Dorsey returned to Twitter as CEO in 2015, the company was in trouble. But unlike so many other social media platforms that have crumbled under tough conditions, Twitter is still alive—and thriving.

How did Twitter turn itself around in one of the most turbulent and competitive industries? The change management approach of authors Gregory P. Shea and Cassie A. Solomon guided a significant area of the organization's turnaround effort.

In this revised and updated edition of Leading Successful Change, Shea and Solomon share success stories from a host of companies including Twitter, Viacom, and the Conference of State Bank Supervisors, offering a tested method for leading successful change, which they have developed over a combined fifty years of helping organizations do just that.

In Leading Successful Change, Shea and Solomon why most change efforts fail; the two key tenets for making successful change; how to create a scene that will provide a vision of the future; the 8 Levers of Change, a tried-and-true method for designing the work environment to support the changes; and how winning companies—from IKEA to Whirlpool—are successfully implementing change.

Genres: Business, Leadership, Management, Self Help, Nonfiction

Audible Audio

Published September 24, 2024

Reviews

[Csimplot Simplot · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book!!!

[Nex Juice · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was alright - written more for large corporations than small business owners like myself, but I still gleaned some value. My full review on Youtube is at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0a3XZ...

Always have a clear vision of the change you want to initiate - what is the ideal world going to look like when the change is complete? Be as detailed in this vision as possible, to foresee any possible hiccups. Then, focus on the behaviors necessary to make that happen. We are often too focused on results and outcomes than on behaviors.

The 8 keys for leading successful change are:
1) Organization - Structure of the company (Organizational Chart)
2) Workplace Design - Layout of physical and virtual space
3) Task - Processes & Systems
4) People - Training
5) Rewards & Punishments - Compensation & Intrinsic
6) Measurement - Metrics
7) Information Distribution - Who knows what, when and how
8) Decision Allocation - Who participates when, in what way, in which decisions

One thing I realized I need to improve on is sharing my metrics with my team so they know what is most important to the company and how we're doing from week to week. I realize that sharing the metrics are a form of information distribution - telling them what is being measured and why. Currently, they are completely unaware of that, which I realize now is a failure on my part. I am going to improve that part of my business, and I hope you gain something from this info to help yours too!

[Greg’s Library · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is full of insightful and practical ideas about change management. My main take aways from this book are:

1. To create change in organization, human behavior much change
2. To change human behavior, you need to create a working environment that will be conducive for that change to happen.

The book is short. It will work for busy professionals. However, if you are looking to be entertained at the same time, you may find the book less entertaining.

[Kristina Aziz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting read

This book was boring, but I appreciate the challenge of taking an intangible and manipulative skill like change management and making it seem, if still manipulative, less intangible.

The authors take change management and split it into 8 variables to be controlled, including people and information. Can't say I read anything new in this book but I certainly read it plainly. The authors might benefit from reading the One Minute Manager if they were aiming to make their book at all interesting to read.

I received this book from a Goodreads giveaway

[Kerri · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book had decent content, but was very dry to read. It give some practical advise on how to visualize, strategize, and break down change management initiatives. It also gave some good examples on what to do/not to do. I do wish it had a bit more of attention grabbing material, but it would still be a helpful read if you are in a power position and looking to make some radical changes to your business.

I won this book in a giveaway in exchange for an honest review.

[Divyesh Sheth · Rating 3 out of 5]

Authors of the book are well versed in change management. One of the insights they share with the reader is powerful: "Successful change requires to think about people involved in the change and the culture of organization has to change along with it". Authors provide a good 8 step process to lead a successful change. A bit more details on each step would have been helpful.

[kieran thomson · Rating 2 out of 5]

Underwhelming

For the price you pay this certainly is not value for money at all. It is very light in actual substance and feels half-hearted and incomplete. There were some good points made but for the price it certainly was not worth it.

[Lawrence Chen · Rating 2 out of 5]

totally repeat universal management rules. no juicy, no joke, hard reading. WDP series for christ sake. What waste I just read.

[Marie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some valuable insight. Not a bad short book to really think about

[Navin Valrani · Rating 2 out of 5]

Shortest book ever! Some good examples on change management but nothing earth-shattering on its proposed framework.

[Beth · Rating 3 out of 5]

Short and Accessible.

[Tosin Toshine · Rating 4 out of 5]

This seems like a refresher.

[Derek Neighbors · Rating 3 out of 5]

As a consultant that deals with organizations desiring radical change, thought this might be a good investment of time. It is a quick read, that gives some reasonable practical advice about overcoming a staggering failure rate of change initiatives. However, it was pretty dry and lacked the kind of story telling narrative that makes for good non-fiction. Shea does a good job of sharing proven methods (8 Levers of Change) and notes that a strong vision for the future is necessary. Most importantly change is not option, nor is it impossible.

Successful change efforts require 2 vital elements to meet their objectives:

1. Change behavior and
2. Change the work environment to support the new behavior

I liked that they acknowledge taking a more systems approach. Good content, poor read.

[Alyssa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good book about leading successful change initiatives in the workplace through setting scenes and adjusting the environment. Shea and Solomon talk about the 8 levers of change and how to maneuver them together to change people's behavior. I expected this to be pretty dry, but I was pleasantly surprised at how many new ideas I learned that I can use with my team at work. There were also some great case studies included that showed how changing different combinations of levers produced different results. Quick and easy read.

[Robert Bogue · Rating 3 out of 5]

If somewhere between half and three quarters of all organizational change initiatives fail, why do we keep trying to do them? We do them because in today’s ever-changing world, we know that we don’t have any choice but to try to evolve our organizations. Sometimes those changes can be slow, evolutionary changes, and other times it’s necessary to do much faster, revolutionary changes.

Click here to read the full review

[Koby Bryan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a GREAT read of clear change strategies and principles for businesses, backed up by data and plenty of examples of what works and does not. I love straightforward books like this, written in a personable voice that references a few personal experiences to keep the author grounded and credible.

[Nick Jordan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I come to this as a pastor of 2 small (United Methodist) churches. Very helpful at points (imagining behaviors and then crafting environmental changes to encourage them; thinking in systems terms), but this is definitely aimed at massive organizations with massive complexity, so plenty is not applicable to my context.

[Cariadne · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was very timely for me as an organization I consult with is working through change initiatives. I appreciated how the 8 steps were further boiled down to 2 major topics. Case studies were included and the most interesting one was about Disney.

[Javier Andrés Montaño Guzmán · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good to start on topic

Is not a technical guide to do get things done. Also wont teach about all themes that the work requires to achieve change succesful change.

[Theodore Kinni · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sharp and concise: if you want change, define the behaviors needed to achieve it and design an environment that fosters those behaviors

[Michelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Practical. Can come away from it with an actual plan. Good examples. Well written. Insightful.