Karen Ferris Karen Ferris

Change is Broken! White Paper

Download my latest white paper - Change Management is Broken!

I will ask you to subscribe to my posts, but then it is yours to keep.

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Karen Ferris Karen Ferris

Kill The Hierarchy!

In this post I discuss the need to kill the hierarchy.

The only way to enable a ‘faster’ organisation that can respond to constant change is to flatten the structure. It needs to move away from a structure of hierarchical control to a flatter structure that removes the bureaucracy that slows organisations down.

It not about having no structure at all and having no hierarchy – I think there will always be an element of hierarchy.

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Karen Ferris Karen Ferris

Game On! - Support - Coaches and Players

In this post I explore support – the relationship between the Coaches and the Players.

Coaches need to provide unrelenting support for the Players.

Players are operating in times of instability and uncertainty, which is not going to change anytime soon. They need the ability to remain highly effective under intense pressure.

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Karen Ferris Karen Ferris

Game On! - Sustainment - Managers and Coaches

In this post I explore sustainment – the relationship between the Managers and the Coaches.

ustainment consists of three key activities - educate, support, and coach and mentor.

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Karen Ferris Karen Ferris

It's All About the People

I recently wrote an article for ITSM.tools about why organisational change management is so important but also why it needs to change itself.

It’s not about the technology, it’s not about the processes, it’s all about the people. 
Without a focus on the latter, the former have no worth.

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Karen Ferris Karen Ferris

Game On! - Engagement - Players and Managers

Engagement consists of four activities – educate, communicate, facilitate and alleviate. Change resilience can be achieved through engagement. When excessive amounts of change are taking place, employees can become disengaged.

A HBR article (2010) summed up constant change. It said

 “The companies most likely to be successful in making change work to their advantage are the ones that no longer view change as a discrete event to be managed, but as a constant opportunity to evolve the business."
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Karen Ferris Karen Ferris

Book Review - Lean Change Management

Are you passionate about bringing meaningful change into your organization? If the answer is yes, then this book is for you.

If you want to add to your change management toolkit with ideas from Agile, Lean Startup, neuroscience, psychology, and organizational development, then this is a must read.

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Karen Ferris Karen Ferris

Game On! A New Change Management Strategy

Change is now constant and complex. There is no time to take breath and wait for one change to be embedded before moving on to the next. Changes are hitting us like an automatic rifle. The old scattergun effect of dealing with change is dead.

In this post, I would like to explore the roles we need in the organisation to manage in a VUCA world.

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Karen Ferris Karen Ferris

Karen's Conversations #30

The tables get turned in Karen's Conversations #30 when Breed Barrett chats to Karen about her change in direction and her focus on organisational change. Karen describes how the organisational change management world needs a major shake-up and wake-up if organisations are going to survive.

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Karen Ferris Karen Ferris

Constant Change is the New Black!

Constant change is the new norm.

We do not have the capacity to “manage” people through three phases of transition in a world that is now described as VUCA – volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous, in which change is constant.

The existing approaches to organisational change management are simply not suited to a VUCA world.

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Karen Ferris Karen Ferris

Karen's Conversations #29

VeriSM Exposed. Can another approach really add value?

I talk to Claire Agutter - Chief Architect - about VeriSM and we answer the questions everyone is asking.

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Karen Ferris Karen Ferris

Karen's Conversations #28

In Karen's Conversation #28, I talk with James Gander about DevOps and whatever happened to the dead cat!

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Karen Ferris Karen Ferris

The Start of Something Big!

Organisational change management as an approach needs to undergo radical transformation if it is to be of any value when constant change is the new black! Organisational change management practitioners will have to fundamentally change their thinking and approach to be relevant.

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