Imagine a group of managers and employees of an organization engaged in a simple experiential exercise designed to demonstrate barriers to change [1]. One of the participants plays the role of chief executive officer (CEO), a subset play managers, and the remainder are workers. Both groups, and each individual, have different motivations to change. While the managers huddle with the CEO to determine a course of action to get the workers to change, the workers wait and speculate. Each participant is thinking about the present as if it were the past, and makes assumptions about what to do. But what if they are wrong [2]? No change happens.

How can you identify and test assumptions? If it were matters of the heart, you might play a game of effeuiller la marguerite (He loves me, he loves me not; She loves me, she loves me not), or take a Love Scale assessment [3]. In terms of change management, you just have to read this book.

Reconsidering change management is the 16th and newest volume in the “Routledge Series in Organizational Change and Development.” It consists of eight chapters that critically examine 18 leading assumptions in change practice. A premier team of scholar-practitioners apply a systematic and rigorous methodology based upon the principles of evidence-based management [4] to each, and assess the likelihood of each assumption being true or not. Chapter 3 lists and describes the 18 assumptions. Chapter 4 describes the methodology. Chapters 5, 6, and 7 dissect a subset of assumptions in three parts as stories of change. I found this to be a practical, tractable, and engaging approach.

Some of the leading assumptions about change examined include: 70 percent of all change initiatives fail (#1); organizational change requires leaders with strong emotional intelligence (#6); participation is key to successful change (#10); and changing organizational culture is time-consuming and difficult (#13). See pages 72, 96, 120, and 144 to find out if the authors believe these assumptions are likely or unlikely to be true.

Reconsidering change management is an essential book for organizational change managers (OCMs), managers, and executives who want to utilize the latest research to guide, improve, and innovate their change practice.