The Science of Organizational Change: How Leaders Set Strategy, Change Behavior, and Create an Agile Culture (Leading Change in the Digital Age) Paperback – Illustrated, May 10, 2019

Winston Churchill said that every man makes mistakes, but it is the successful man who learns from his mistakes. My bet is that Paul Gibbons, the author of The Science of Successful Organizational Change, would agree. Paul Gibbons who founded his own consulting firm has appeared in the Wall Street Journal and Financial Times, to name a few. He comes at the generic change management topic with a little “c” instead of a capital “C” and not from a project manager or program manager point of view. He was a quant derivatives trader who had worked for Price Waterhouse Coopers in their “Strategy, Innovation and Change” group and as his bio indicates, he helped them develop methodologies (like we need more) in change management, innovation and transformation.As Gibbons debunks neuroscience of program leadership, but does not truly provide a logical framework for this belief. He instead believes that every person can be a change agent, and a successful one, if they hue to the following strategy: think about the risks of the decision and change, think about the economics of the situation, and behavior of the individuals, circumstances and environment. He puts forth several novel ideas which while logical and commonsensical are designed to make one re-engineer a project plan. He mentions that an individual should reverse-engineer the requirements and project plan. Take the completed project plan and list the circumstances where the project could fail. In other words, force the project plan, project objective to fail. What could go wrong? Start with a blank piece of paper on a white board and collaborate with the stakeholders to understand what could go wrong. Risk rank these factors. This is more than generating the run-of the mill risk log. This is using the risk log to see how project success can be enhanced. Make the leader more accountable for decisions. His theory is that we are all change agents on a project, but it is the successful leader who performs change leadership on a global scale for the programs. Projects do not fail for the same reason, but he identifies an acronym “SOCKS” to be able to categorize these failures. This taxonomy can help identify unexpected costs, shortfalls or other analytical factors such as limited capital budgeting which will affect project success. This is more than a failed acronym or metaphor. It is a way of life to make an effort to lead unsuccessful projects to success. SOCKS – “S”, stands for “Shortfalls”, “O” for cost overruns, “C” for “unexpected consequences”, “K” for “killed programs and “S” for “unsustainable project results.” He believes that every project should undergo a SOCKS review. This is more than a review of a risk log. It is a scientific and intuitive way of fleshing out more risks or identifying unexpected tasks to drive a stalled project to success. I agree with his methodology.Another idea that he hopes to teach to the reader is that the project manager is a change agent at least 80% of the time, the rest is leadership and people management. This is a mindset which sometimes is easier said than done. It becomes a people problem and not a technical problem, why projects fail. The author mentions that change management is looked at as a cost to the business instead of a revenue generator. He doesn’t look at change management as an engineer using scientific or software tools to move code from test to production. This is too mundane. He looks at change management as the approach to review undervalued projects or failing projects at the enterprise and determine what can be done to save them through SOCKS or understanding the motivations of the people assigned to the project. Not to discount them, but to challenge them to success. Another words, as the project management textbooks have generally said, it is the soft skills which can ensure success, not the hard or technical skills. The challenge is that a project management neophyte is not exposed to this philosophy in school or in the study toward certification. Changing habits is about having a big goal to get you motivated. I agree with him that education is seriously lacking in the field of change leadership and the people skills needed to ensure success.Paul does highlight that several Fortune 500 firms, make change as part of their mission statement, and use this mission statement to motivate employees to “knock down” barriers and succeed. He does mention that more science and analytics should be done to ensure accountability of the leader too. He believes that HR should work with Senior Management to identify the general traits that a person needs to succeed in the specific position that he or she is interviewing for, and that these factors will differ by company. This is a novel approach to identify what about meshing the person’s skills with the enterprise will help the person succeed.In the end of the book, it is the belief that people can ensure success of organizational change or ensure that the organizational change will fail. And in the end, does this mean that the students of organizational behavior and psychology make the most optimal program managers and leaders instead of ones who major in accounting or finance or computer science? I wonder.

When I purchased this book I was looking for advice on how to begin and lead change within an organization. Honestly, I expected another repetitious look at management theory. However what I actually got was so much more than what I had hoped for.The Science of Successful Organizational Change delivers on what the title promises; pulling from scientific perspectives to give a much wider view of what causes change within organizations to both succeed and fail. It also takes a very honest look at what success and failure really look like as well as what the costs of both are.While Gibbons pulls from several scientific disciplines by far the most intriguing part of the book for me was the portion where Gibbons forces his readers to take a very hard look at the psychology of risk and risk behaviors. He requires his readers to ask themselves if they are “doubling down” on a losing business scenario or displaying other destructive tendencies when it comes to risk. He walks his readers through what those behaviors are and offers easy to understand examples of what they look like in the real world.After finishing the book I felt better informed and more empowered because I was more self-aware of my own tendencies, both positive and negative, and felt as if Gibbons had given me a road map to successfully change myself so that I could bring more to the constantly fluctuating business landscape.

Great overview of change principles and methodologies, with thought-provoking challenges to conventional wisdom in the field. Good source of useful references.

There are certain books that make you crave more, this is one of those. I have the kindle edition and I have 50+ notes and bookmarks and are in my third reading in certain chapters. This is a book for our complex world and at the same time it is another voice joining an already strong choir advocating a more humanistic & evidence based management. There are so many books about management and business that has a basis on pseudo science and actually lead people to adapt approaches that are actually harmful. This book is NOT one of them. Reading this will help you put a lot of things together to an systemic overview.This book actually addresses more than just organizational change - in my mind it is a little bit of shy of the mark, granted we could look at it more philosophically and say to live is to change but the point is that this book is so much more than just about change.

Started reading the book today and noticed a rather odd printing error. The first page is for a different book entirely - Toxic Rage: A Tale of Murder in Tucson by A.J. Flick. Kind of funny coincidence since I’ve seen a lot of toxic rage associated with people going through organizational change.The first chapter thankfully seems to be aligned to the book I intended to purchase. I don’t have much to review about the actual book yet other than the author seems to be a bit wordy for my taste. Hoping he’ll be able to offer new perspectives to consider on this topic.

Much of what is written about organizational change today is based on opinion, gut and pseudo-science. Paul, a self-professed 'math guy', brings data and 'science' and bridges it with his 35 years of experience by using anecdotal evidence. I put 'science' in quotes because Paul makes the distinction between science, and prescience. That is, when it comes to organizational change and the business world, prescience applies because the ever-changing variable in the experiments are people.Through his stories, data and analysis, and explanation of many behavioural, change and complexity models, Paul has put together the best organizational change book for people who'd rather think, and be mindful about introducing change, as opposed to be given a recipe and process to follow.Like the title says, if you read one organizational change book this year, read this one.

As a researcher and lecturer in decision making in leadership, I initially passed over it thinking it was solely to do with change management, but then I was nudged and, fortunately, read it.From the very beginning Gibbons tells it like it is without subjecting his readers to quirky sounding theories incubated in a university with student subjects facing carefully constructed problems. These are the bane of a practitioner’s research efforts and lead to what Gibbons delightfully calls “pop leadership”. Throughout, he offers smart and refreshing arguments to countervail many strategies that have, until now, simply been accepted in leadership and change management.Not only is this book a game changer for OD practitioners but also for HR and L&D execs. Both these areas will benefit from re-examining the theories and tools that they invite into their organisations in the hope of creating lasting change. Handily, Gibbons provides clear guidance on what theories can be ruled out as ineffective (based on a lack of evidence) and what should be considered worthy of your limited budget using an evidence-based approach.The book invites us to take a sobering look at how we measure the results of our decision making in complex environments and offers some cutting-edge behavioural insights into thinking, judgment and influencing others from a mixture of behavioural sciences.An important takeaway for me is the idea that leaders are important and essential change agents. Many may rely on consultants to map change in their organisation but when it comes to creating an agile environment where change is energising, productive and continuous then leaders, not consultants, are in the best position to change hearts and minds. Gibbons offers many ideas (and examples) for leaders interested in changing behaviours including choice architecture, behavioural economics and b behavioural specificity to support leaders in creating a climate of productive adaptation to a continuously changing competitive environment.Gibbons packs a tremendous amount of research, scepticism, proven theories and probing questions into this book. I would recommend it as the starting point of any foray into organisational and therefore, behavioural, change. I’ll be dipping into it again and again.

Groundbreaking. This is one of the first meaningful 21st Century Management Books and belongs next to other seminal works on your shelf.What Paul Gibbons has done is take a Malcolm Gladwell-esque tour of what we currently know, and the reason I like it so much, WHY we know it, of the current understanding of the organisational universe and its workings. Where he departs (thankfully) from Gladwell is he uses a more critical eye to question some established 'truths' (read 'sacred cows') and when some basic fundamental questions are asked of these 'truths' then their credibility rapidly melts away. He also skillfully doesn't just point out gaps (again differing from Gladwell) and ever the pragmatist he outlines a practical 'so what' and 'here's what you can do'. A very nice touch.This book comes with a warning though. Because Paul is challenge 'sacred cows' some will be distrustful or dismissive. My advice? Ignore them. They're stuck in the past and the thinking behind this book is the future. Think of it as a book describing the merits of evidence based medical practice while others are still advocating the use of leeches. That's how much of a step forward in management thinking this is.Is Paul correct in all his assessments and views? He argues it doesn't matter and I agree with him. The important point is he's asking all the right questions and finally the first shots against the Bad Management Science gravy-train bandwagon have been fired.Therefore this isn't just recommended. It's essential.Oh and practical too. Brilliant!

First - it is important to note that this book covers a much broader range of topics than many on organisational change. A large part of the book is concerned with decision making, in particular the biases and heuristics made famous by Daniel Kahneman (and how to avoid the pitfalls they make us prone to). He also introduces the Cynefin framework created by Dave Snowden (which contrasts simple vs complicated vs complex vs chaotic systems).Another section looks at the culture of change in organisations - arguing that we should try to embed a `growth mindset' across the entire enterprise. (This is a reference to the pioneering research of Carol Dweck.) Both these sections are stimulating and well-written, and for those commissioning change and determining the overall organisational strategy (leaders and decision makers) they provide interesting guidance on how they may want to change their approach to organisational change.For those working as project or change managers delivering change, however, these sections are of less immediate relevance than the chapters of the book on what the author calls `change tactics'.The change tactics section looks at recent research findings in behavioural economics, neuroscience, cognitive psychology and other fields as they relate to changing people's minds, hearts and behaviours. Among other topics, he reviews:* Nudging* Habit formation and habit change* Large group interventions (such as World Café and Appreciative Inquiry)* Mindfulness* Behavioural specificity (such as checklists)This section serves as a good introductory overview of the latest research relevant to organisational change. He also debunks some change management myths which have no scientific basis (such as the change curve / 5 stages of grief) and draws on his own practical experience to good effect. Well referenced throughout, the interested reader will be able to explore the topics covered in more detail if they wish to.One my main takeaways from this book is just how hard it is to put any of the central recommendations of the classic change literature on a firm scientific footing. As the author points out, the highest standards of evidence (randomised control trials) are simply not met by the case study and survey data most change approaches are based on. He echoes calls for the adoption of `evidence-based management' - which surely cannot come too soon.If you're unfamiliar with the research mentioned above, I'd recommend this is a good introduction. You may also be interested in Changing Employee Behavior: A Practical Guide for Managers, by Nik Kinley and Shlomo Ben-Hur.A topic of particular interest to me (briefly mentioned by the author) is how we should adjust our approach to change according to the complexity of the system and problem we're dealing with. When we can clearly specify the behaviours we want people to adopt, clearly a different approach is needed than in so called `wicked messes' - where the definition of the problem cannot even be agreed upon, let alone the solution. In these situations, he recommends the use of large group interventions. Unfortunately we have woefully little evidence of the comparative success rates of different large group approaches. We also have a limited understanding of the trade-off between involvement / autonomy (a key element of such approaches) and other variables of interest. Hopefully we'll know more by the time he writes his next book!

As a change management professional of over 20 years who seeks to always widen and deepen his knowledge, I bought this book in 2019 because of the aspect of creating an Agile Culture. There were so many nuggets of information in there that I hadn't come across in other textbooks and were really useful reference points for my own further education. I also had so many "I knew it!" moments such as why do people keep using the Kubler-Ross grief/death cycle as an analogous process to how organisations change!!!Mr Gibbons chimes with me on so many levels and I keep going back to the book over and over again for continual references and reminders.If you are new to change management - it's a must-have and will accelerate your learning.If you have dabbled in change management like so many people in my industry do, then you really do need to read this book so that you will stop dabbling and do what works and what has been scientifically validated to work.If like me, you are a seasoned pro - it's also a must-have for all the reasons stated above.

Thank goodness there is a gaining momentum in acknowledging human behaviour as key to rational processes and procedures. Paul has written a significant book, bringing organizational change up to date. We can all learn from this book, not just by reading it but by also applying it. We train and maintain for physical agility - this book will teach you to be mindful of behavioural, organisational and cultural agility too. Thank you Paul.