Is Lean Change the Future of Change?

Last week, a colleague of mine met with the Portfolio and Transformation Director of an innovative UK company with 5,000+ employees and asked him about change management opportunities. The reply was:

"I don’t believe in Change Management anymore. It doesn’t work. Change can’t be managed.”

A surprising response perhaps, but I think he’s got a point. What about you?

For me Lean Change is the way to go. It's a refreshing alternative to traditional approaches.

Traditional Change Management has a ‘Command and Control’ mentality. It imposes change top-down, selling it to a reluctant and overwhelmed workforce to gain ‘buy-in’. This often leads to resistance, which it believes needs to be ‘overcome’. It places emphasis on detailed upfront plans and roadmaps; talks about ‘Change Playbooks’ (which are based on what has worked in other companies) and uses step-by-step models that treat people as entirely logical and rational. It believes that change can be managed.

In contrast Lean Change has a ‘Sense and Respond’ mindset. It’s a bottom-up approach that engages the employees who are closest to the issues – to co-create solutions to problems that they understand. It treats employees as humans and empowers and supports them, which fosters ownership. It acknowledges that organisations are complex systems where change is emergent, and while it can’t be managed, it’s a process that can be facilitated.