Senior managers continue to provide leadership in the form of solutions, instead of working to improve the organization’s capacity to adapt. This improved adaptability can only be achieved if the leaders change themselves before seeking to change the rest of the organization.

By and large the planners of the change programme (typically senior management assisted by consultants) have the best of intentions when they insist that people implement their plan without modification. The implementers, on the other hand, usually want to adapt the plan to fit their individual situations. This can lead to an escalating pattern where the more the planners seek compliance, the more the implementers do their own thing, or do nothing – ultimately resulting in the failure of the programme.

Fearing the unpredictable, chaotic nature of change and the threat of its unwanted consequences, managers employ pseudoscientific change management techniques in a vain attempt to control the process and create predictable and measurable outcomes. But although managers can control micro-level changes, such as introducing new corporate stationery, at the macro level too many of the variables are beyond human control. Major change can no more be managed than the weather can be managed. Indeed, many major change programmes are little more than ritual rain dances that satisfy man’s compelling need to take action in the face of a crisis. But whereas rain dances are harmless, many conventional change programmes have failure designed into them as they make no allowances for unanticipated developments.

Planners of conventional change programmes generally exclude the vast majority of internal stakeholders from the planning process. Also, they tend to ignore important external stakeholder groups such as suppliers, customers and the local community. The opportunity to create a more widely-shared vision of the future is therefore lost, and key stakeholders may fail to provide vitally-needed support.

As a consequence of failing to involve from the outset everyone who will be affected by the change, a dangerously incomplete picture of current reality is created. This is compounded by the fact that certain issues will be considered taboo and therefore undiscussable. Wise strategic decisions are unlikely to be made when informed by such a limited information base.

Many models of organizational change are based on an elaboration of the problem solving model. Problem solving is about fixing things that have gone wrong, and the results tend to be incremental improvements rather than “order of magnitude” changes. Even if an organisation were to nail every one of its problems, this would not be enough for it to achieve its strategic objectives.

The boss outlines his or her vision through a presentation. ("I have shared my vision, so now we have a shared vision.") Employees may buy into the vision but, after giving it more consideration, experience buyer’s remorse and as a consequence withdraw their support.

Linear thinking usually leads to ineffective change strategies, for two reasons. First, it produces a programme with a predetermined sequence of steps leading the organization towards a fixed goal. Rarely are there any opportunities for the goal to be reviewed and, if necessary, redefined. However, in reality, changes in the internal and external operating environments may quickly render the original goal obsolete. The second reason is that the issue is not viewed in a broad enough context. If the complex web of causes and effects is not properly understood and delayed reactions are not taken into account, then there is a strong likelihood that the change programme will fail to achieve its objectives. In some cases it may set the organization back even further.

The communication method is one where messages are transmitted from the bosses to "the troops".The consequences are low commitment and missed opportunities.

Conventional strategic planning (plan then implement) requires the world to stand still while the planners do their work. Unfortunately the world keeps on turning and the planners never quite catch up.

The time has come for some new thinking. Organisations need planning meetings and conferences that will produce outstanding results consistently. Results such as a compelling vision of the future that everyone owns, action plans that people are wholeheartedly committed to implementing, decisions that have widespread acceptance, and learning’s that will enable the organisation to survive and prosper in this time of relentless and ever-accelerating change.