Slow death of planned change: Can we play together?

Many organizations have successfully implemented planned changes, while others have failed. Studies show that 70% of planned-change programs in organizations either get bogged down prematurely or fail to achieve the intended result. This is especially true for changes that focus on reinventing business propositions, international collaboration, breakthrough innovation, and maximizing customer values. Goals are not achieved, policies are not implemented, customers do not experience improvement in service and quality, and employees, supervisory staff and middle management are confused by all the change efforts. Disruptions in today's world have transformed our businesses from complex and uncertain to ambiguous and paradoxical. In this dynamic world, developments continue to influence each other, although it is unclear what the outcome will be. It seems as if everything is changing constantly, with some patterns continuing and showing a certain predictability and others suddenly emerging and prompting innovation. In this situation, leading change as a rational and planned process is no longer useful. What we need now is a change approach based on interaction and a continual process of observation, adaptation, and learning. Change resembles a hiking trip through unknown terrain, where the players know and trust each other so that they can deal with uncertainty and the unexpected.