Change - is it all in the mind?

Anyone who has worked in organisations long enough will be familiar with the concept of the change programme. Whether in response to a crisis, such as a turnaround situation, or a growth opportunity as with a corporate takeover, the change process is well established.

 
A classic change management plan might look like this: make it essential, make it ready, make it happen, make it stick. Guide people through the need for transformation. Get people ready by planning. Execute change and monitor progress. Then do something to stop people slipping back into old patterns of behaviour.

In the post banking crisis business landscape, change remains a significant factor in organisational life, but often feels and looks different to before. Organisations are under pressure. People are increasingly required to work faster, harder, for longer hours, with smaller budgets. And instead of a linear, orderly process with well-managed, highly-planned stages, employees are experiencing change as a kind of organisational maelstrom, buffeted in different directions by an array of forces.

The change response