6 Books to Guide Change Management
Interested in diving deeper into the process and psychology behind influencing change in your organization? Security Management asked business and industry experts about the change management books that made a difference in their own lives—see below for a short selection of the top choices.
Switch: How to Change Things When Change Is Hard
How does human psychology get in the way of organizational change? Chip and Dan Heath explore the topic in this book, looking at how unaddressed tension between emotional and rational systems can doom change efforts—both in organizations and in personal lives. The book features a story-driven narrative to make scientific and sociological concepts easier to connect with and to apply in daily life.
Leading Change
John Kotter is a well-known expert in change management. In this book, he outlines his pioneering eight-step process of managing change: create urgency, build a coalition, create a vision, communicate the vision, remove obstacles, create short-term wins, build on the change, and institutionalize change. Many organizations use his method as a professional development tool for up-and-coming leaders.
It's Your Ship: Management Techniques from The Best Damn Ship in The Navy
Prefer a more action-forward lesson? Try this book by U.S. Navy Commander D. Michael Abrashoff, who shares how he improved his own leadership skills to change his sailors’ and officers’ behavior while maintaining combat readiness. The lessons he learned at sea can be applied anywhere from the frontline to the boardroom.
Lessons from the Hive: The Buzz on Surviving and Thriving in an Ever-Changing Workplace
If you grew up on fables and storybooks, this might be the change management manual for you. Lessons from the Hive by Charles Decker and Beverly Kaye is a fictionalized business fable that offers real-world advice about ownership change. The main character must face change at home and work, learning to look at change more positively, establish trust, and deal with fears of the unknown.
The Advantage: Why Organizational Health Trumps Everything Else in Business
When do you know it’s time to change? It might help to take a strategic health-check of the organization. In The Advantage, Patrick Lencioni draws on extensive consulting experience to outline four actionable steps to achieving long-term, sustainable success: developing a cohesive leadership team, creating strategic clarity, overcommunicating that clear message throughout the organization, and reinforcing strategy through systems and ways of working.
The First 90 Days: Proven Strategies for Getting Up to Speed Faster and Smarter
Organizational change isn’t the only major upheaval you might need to navigate. Personal career changes are big deals, and those transitions can set you up for success or undercut organizational culture in a flash. This classic management book by Michael D. Watkins provides guidance for navigating leadership transitions with clarity and momentum.
Alternative Option: ASIS Upskill
Of course, if you prefer a more interactive learning method for change management techniques, ASIS teamed up with the American Management Association to provide a series of business skill courses for free to ASIS members. There’s even a full course about managing change with guidance on leading through ambiguity, managing resistance to change, and understanding disruption.
What’s your favorite change management or leadership book or learning program? Let us know on social media, or email Security Management editor Claire Meyer at [email protected].
