Sustaining Change

Managers can help people to handle change more effectively by working on their own behavior. The authors of Sustaining Change studied a number of managers and executives to see how their management practices influence change. They came out with four complementary styles. These categories are brought to life by the authors’ examples, which include personal descriptions of how such-and-such a manager used open questions rather than a directive style to get his project moving, how another modified plant visits to get closer to line staff, etc. The book provides additional value through its inspired approach to complexity theories, emphasizing the importance of tiny interactions in realizing the overall transformation.