Change… with moderation!

In recent decades, management literature has been filled with advice on how to instill radical, permanent change within the organization. Books like “Leading Change” have thus become works of reference, and are undeniably useful in making it easier for organizations that have fallen into a rut to adapt to their changing environment. Similarly, “creative destruction” has also been a wildly popular concept in recent years.

Yet, a growing number of companies do not suffer from a deficit, but rather a surplus of transformations. Indeed, past a certain threshold, too much change can have negative repercussions on performance, by confusing people relative to the strategic vision, by sapping their productivity, motivation and desire to take initiative, etc.

The publications we have selected alert executives to these dangers and encourage them to consider alternatives to radical and permanent change:

– Tone down your ambitions: Engaging large-scale change initiatives is not always the best choice.

– Try to recycle what you already have, rather than systematically start from scratch.

– Rely on the strengths of the culture in place to support cultural change.

– Be careful not to “cry wolf”: Don’t try to shake people into changing by exaggerating the stakes.