THE PAINLESS WAY TO MAKE CHANGE

Organisations are held in place by stories and structures. Most attempts at change focus on changing constraining structures (technical structures, organisation structure, cultural structures etc). When we try to change the structures (restructuring, downsizing, reorganising) we nearly always run into resistance and destroy value. A far easier and more productive way to change an organisation is by changing its stories. When one has a new story in one’s head, it’s almost impossible to continue to do the things that seemed to make sense under the old story.