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Book Review

Making Change Stick

Twelve Principles for Transforming Organizations

Positive Impact Associates - 2005 (166 pages in paperback)

Author Richard C. Reale

ISBN 0-976-85010-9

Author and consultant Richard Reale wants to help your organization to become sticky! In Making Change Stick he defines sticky as the ability to accomplish and sustain change. Reale correctly observes that leaders tend to focus on the technical side of change but typically ignore the human or people side of change. But, change is personal and involves human emotion and commitment. Any process that emphasizes technical skills at the expense of soft skills is doomed to failure. To provide a balance, Making Change Stick offers the reader twelve principles for making change effective and lasting. These principles are based on a philosophy that long-term success is built on a foundation of a culturally open system. Reale defines this as, “ready to adapt as necessary to prosper under any market conditions.” He further adds this culture should be “dynamically adaptive and supportive of the needs of customers, employees, and shareholders.”

The twelve principles for making change stick are a series of repeating patterns that help an organization to become change-capable. Reale believes that one or more of the twelve principles have been violated or ignored when change does not last in an organization. For example, principle number six is confront fear. Many leaders are unaware of why individuals are fearful of change and how to openly discuss it. A healthy culture nurtures an environment where workers feel safe to discuss their fears. It is when these fears are gracefully exposed, they can be confronted by the individual, and their feelings defused.

After the twelve principles are discussed, Making Change Stick concludes with a couple of beneficial chapters. One outlines how to create a culture that sustains change. Reale is a strong proponent of establishing a guidance team or transformation management group to facilitate this need. The final chapter offers sage advice to organizational leaders, and encourages them to use their emotional intelligence to relinquish control throughout the organization to committed and competent followers. Each chapter ends with some questions to ponder and practical ways to put each principle into practice. Reale also spices the book with his personal experiences, quotations and charts to develop his major points.

Making Change Stick is a practical primer for anyone involved in the change process within an organization. It provides many valuable points that together show how connected the entire company must be for change to be lasting and successful. It reinforces why change is both a technical and people oriented process. If you are personally involved in any change process, this book will help it to all make sense and help you to be a productive part of the process.

weLEAD rating – highly recommended

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