The Changemaking Checklists: A Toolkit for Planning, Leading, and Sustaining Change Paperback – January 6, 2015

Provided helpful reference material for some change management work I recently had with my department.

A clear concise book which summarises a lifetime's experience and wisdom. Invaluable.

For those who have spent time in the trenches of management and have not read this book, be prepared to kick yourself many times during the read, as you will see repeated illustrations showing you what you did wrong and how you could have done better. The book shows readers what not to do. The converse is that the book is full of examples of effective managing of change, which unfortunately recognizes that the ideal vision of the founder/president/CEO is not automatically accepted by line employees, and absent buy-in, one will see any number of responses, ranging from outright quitting, to passive resistance.If you think about it, any dynamic business has change as a major theme; change in protocols, in product or services, in client mix, in culture and more. Nimble companies that have learned to accept the inevitability of change and embrace it as a desired value have a major edge over those that resist and deny. While the title focuses on change, the book is much richer and addresses essential leadership skills and attributes. The book is a great read for the novice manager or a set of rich reminders for the seasoned executive, who in turn may want to buy multiple copies to share in their organization.

To paraphrase an old saying, “Don’t judge a book by (the catchy title on) its cover”. This comprehensive resource from Richard Bevan (author of Changemaking) offers far more than just checklists. It’s chock full of wisdom on all aspects of change management, with practical tools, advice and strategies that can help business leaders to tackle this complex subject with confidence.The Reference Guides on common pitfalls and related avoidance tactics are refreshingly pragmatic, as are the step-by-step Process Guides and Talking Points. There’s a bonus chapter on combining social media with face-to-face meetings and web-based technology to facilitate collaboration and peer-to-peer interaction. Beyond the printed text, the author offers access to a handy collection of free downloadable tools, templates, articles, FAQs, and other useful resources.Change doesn’t always have to be chaotic. As a victim (and occasional perpetrator) of far too many poorly executed reorgs, RIFs, M&As, leadership transitions, and other organizational “improvements”, I wonder how many crises might have been averted over the years if my colleagues and I had The Changemaking Checklists as our guide.(NB: I was one of a handful of volunteers who received a draft of this book and provided feedback to the author.)

As an advisor to mostly large companies on the subject of organization change and performance, I welcomed Richard Bevan’s first book, Changemaking. After all these years someone had handed me a toolbox of tactics and resources that would continue to help me help my clients make smarter decisions about mergers and acquisitions, large scale culture change and implementing continuous improvement processes associated with lean six sigma.In one compact user’s manual, if you will, Changemaking was the best compilation I’ve seen of what it takes to avoid doing stupid things that others have done before you. It’s impeccably laid out in easy-to-read, easy-to-understand processes, pitfalls, gentle warnings and case studies that experienced and inexperienced change makers can easily follow.And now comes Bevan’s powerful companion, The Changemaking Checklists. If Changemaking is the equivalent of attending the Culinary Institute of America to learn how to become a great chef, The Changemaking Checklists is equivalent of the recipe that prevents you from leaving out the eggs.Bevan’s two books work together beautifully. One is about the fundamentals. The other eliminates the “Oops, I forgot the eggs!”

Kudos to Richard Bevan for the easy-to-review and easy-to-use toolkit of checklists. They're practical, especially with all of the tips on how to avoid common pitfalls. It's refreshing to see this "how-to" book that is short on stand-alone theory and full of resources that you act on immediately.In the interest of full disclosure, I shared some of my content for the book's Section 9: "Making change--peer-by-peer." I'm a big proponent of using forms of smart-mob organizing for tapping into peers to help organizations transform. With colleagues often more trustworthy than leaders, it's effective to involve employees in meaningful ways, especially around behavior change. I'm honored that Richard agrees with me and decided to feature this in his book.

Hooray again for Richard Bevan's second book, The Changemaking Checklists, which is a great companion to his first book, Changemaking. The checklists provide the perfect "how to" for executing his seven success factors. It is a practical, step-by-step guide to planning, implementing, and measuring the results of change initiatives. The content comes from decades of hands-on experience with organizational change, so it provides the real-world perspective. Richard has thought of change from virtually every angle, so if you adapt his roadmap of activities to your change initiative, you'll be well on your way to success.

For anyone attempting to lead change through any organization, large or small, Changemaking Checklists will be your loyal friend. It is impossibly easy to overlook simple steps that every change leader should accomplish. Checklists help you stay on track. More than a complement to the author's original Changemaking, this volume of lists and resources is a hands-on tool. I keep it on my desktop, always at arm's reach.