A fellow consultant, Holger Nauheimer, asked this question on his Change Managment Blog a couple of months ago:  Will we still talk about Change Management, in 10 years? I had a lot of thoughts on the subject and my mind started to ramble  . . . and time passed but I did want to address this issue so here are some of my thoughts on the subject.

I don’t do Change Management – never have; never will. 

I have never called myself a Change Consultant but I have slipped into saying that I do “Change Management”. Sometimes it is easier to say that you “do” change management than try to explain OD.  Sometimes it is even easier to say that you do leadership development and training. I had the official title of “Organization Effectiveness Consultant in 1982 for a Hi Tech Telecommunications Company (that recently went bankrupt).  For the past 25 years, whenever I explain to people that specialize in Organizational Development, it seems that their eyes glaze over. It isn’t that I can’t define it quite succinctly. I have always used Dick Bechard’s definiton – which may be slightly dated but still holds the essence of OD:

Organization development is an effort (1) planned, (2) organization-wide, and (3) managed from top, to (4) increase organization effectiveness and health through (5) planned interventions in the organization’s “processes,” using behavioral science knowledge. (Richard Bechard, 1969)

I will come back to what I think needs to shift in the definition in today’s environment but first, let me explain why I do not like the term “change management”. The concept of OD is very specific, if not complicated, but “change management” is a moving target. Historically, change management has taken a mechanical perspective that “focuses on observable, measurable business elements that can be changed or improved, including business strategy, processes, systems, organizational structures and job roles.”

Today it is far more nebulous – like empowerment, leadership or engagement. It can be all things to all people. Today it encompasses both the human aspects of change as well as the technical side. A good and simple explanation of this evolution can be found here. The human side of change was only appropriated when those engineering the change finally realized that their efforts were failing.

In ten years we will still be talking about “it” but “it” will be called change leadership! However, I would like to take OD to the next level and maybe it will be called Iterative Sustainable Change.

What is missing in OD today?

The process can no longer be planned nor take the length of time it has in the past. It needs to be designed, co-designed. (Hence, interventions may be planned.) It needs to happen fast, which will be more transformative and truly systemic. This means that it has to be a collaborative process like we have not seen. It will not be managed from the top but lead by each person and managed through out the organization. This means everyone, and I do mean everyone, has to be engaged. Engagement does not mean “involved” or “participating”. I repeat, it will be co-designed by everyone. It will be iterative and sustainable because it happens from the inside out. And my role and the role of all “change consultants” or “change facilitators” will be to help create and hold that safe space.

Please share your thought.