Conquer the most daunting change initiative with the right people, tools, and strategies. James Dallas' Mastering the Challenges of Leading Change is an informative, insightful guide to effectively leading the transition through change. While most change management books present case studies about what happened at other companies, this book is based on the author's own experiences managing over 10 transformational and turnaround initiatives, 15 acquisition integrations, and 5 operations/quality shared services centers of excellence. By relating personal lessons learned, how they were subsequently applied, and how you can benefit from them, this book provides a unique first-hand perspective on successful agents of change. You'll learn the qualities and skills required to usher in the new paradigm, and how to break a large initiative into manageable chunks that are more likely to proceed as planned. By crafting your strategy based on proven methods, you're far and away more likely to meet or even exceed your change objectives. The majority of change initiatives fail because people mistakenly think that a change agent is the same as a project leader. They're not. This book shows you why, and how get the tools, strategies, and people you need at the helm of your initiative to come out the other side much stronger as an organization. Learn the critical skills required for effective change management Assess the difficulty and politics of a change initiative Choose the right people to help implement the change See past obstacles and lead effectively in a crisis Change is occurring within and across all industries, countries, and organizations. They begin with the best of intentions, but most fail to meet their objectives. Don't let your organization be one of the failures. Mastering the Challenges of Leading Change shows you how to plan, lead, and manage a successful transition.

Table of Contents:
Foreword xi Acknowledgments xv Introduction: It Ain’t Easy Being Green xvii Part I Priorities 1 1 Set a Course for Change 3 The Three Questions 4 Assessing the Culture 6 Ghosts, Hubs, and Mavericks 11 Wisdom from the Front Line 14 Measure Leaders by Their Front-Line Relationships 16 The Importance of Looking Outward 17 The Value of Conviction 20 2 Create the Core Team 23 Who’s Not on the Team 25 The Two Questions That Count 26 Picking the Program Leader 28 Two Key Roles That Are Too Often Ignored 29 Moving beyond “Off with Their Heads” 31 Don’t Partner with Cab Drivers 33 Team Diversity 35 3 Set Expectations and Decide Where to Start 39 A Tour of the Matrix 41 Part II Politics 51 4 Become a Communicator 53 Never Soft-Pedal 56 Brush Up Your Speaking Skills 57 When to Tell Tales 63 5 Craft Messaging That Motivates 67 Become an Amateur Anthropologist 69 6 Overcoming Resistance 78 The Many Faces of Resistance 79 The Fifth Type of Resister: The Machiavelli 81 Removing a Toxic Player 85 Cleaning Up the Sludge 86 Influencing the Narrative on the Front Line 88 Part III People 93 7 Reading Minds and Other Methods for Assessing Progress 95 Read Faces, Not Reports 97 Adjust for Culture 99 Never Kill the Messenger 100 Combating Groupthink with Anonymous Feedback 101 Third-Party Evaluations 103 Don’t Forget Your Hubs 104 8 Alignment and Group Dynamics 108 The Six-Pack Approach 109 Alignment Sessions 113 When and How to Make an Executive Decision 114 Brokering Deals 115 The Importance of Reaching Up 117 9 Master the Humble Art of Building Trust 120 Building Inner-Circle Relationships 121 Step Outside of Your Own Boundaries 124 Eight Practices for Building Trust 126 Put Your Pride to the Side 131 Part IV Perseverance 137 10 Put Out Every Fire 139 Forming a Crisis Management Team 140 Getting in the Trenches 142 In Crisis, Don’t Ever Make It about You 144 How to Elevate a Discontented Team 146 Step into Your Power 150 11 Institutionalize and Leverage Change 153 Why Organizations Lose Their Focus 154 Evolving the Culture 158 Making Metrics Matter 161 The Power of Documentation 162 To Leverage Change, Keep Tearing Down Walls 163 12 Developing Talent as a Sponsor 169 Whom to Sponsor? 170 Awaken New Leaders 174 Develop Their Personal Brand 176 Put Them in the Hot Seat 178 When Sponsorship Fails 179 Provide Air Cover for Risk Taking 180 Epilogue 184 About the Author 187 Index 189