Leading Change – Insights Into How Leaders Actually Approach the Challenge of Complexity

Abstract

In recent years, a multitude of authors have compared and contrasted traditional, episodic approaches to change management with more dynamic and continuous approaches that have emerged from thinking around complexity and complex adaptive systems. This debate has taken place alongside a narrative that suggests that most change interventions are unsuccessful, a claim based on little substantive evidence, and that most change leaders are not deemed to be capable of effectively leading change. This paper outlines the findings of an exploratory piece of research designed to find out what change leaders actually do. The results suggest that many leaders are at least intuitively aware of the limitations of traditional approaches to change and tend not to rely upon traditional change models. Many aspects of emerging change theory were reflected in the stories they recounted about their personal experiences of change. The content of those stories is reflected in the Emerging Change Model, which captures aspects of both rationalist and emergent change theories and which, it is hoped, may prove useful to change practitioners as a reflective device.

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