Author Description

This book is about effective change. It describes methods for changing ''whole systems,'' that is, change based on two powerful foundation assumptions: high involvement and a systemic approach to improvement. High involvement means engaging the people in changing their own system. It is systemic because there is a conscious choice to include the people, functions, and ideas that can affect or be affected by the work. Whole system change methods help you initiate high-leverage, sustainable improvements in organizations or communities. ''High-leverage'' is emphasized because in any improvement effort, we want the highest possible value for the effort invested. We believe that involving people in a systematic way is a key to high leverage and that the methods in this book can provide this leverage for you. You'll need to determine the one(s) best suited to moving your organization or community to the culture you want. We wrote this book to support your efforts. The book is intended to answer questions such as: What methods are available that have proven successful in addressing today's needs for organizational or community change? What are the key distinctions among these methods? How do I know if a method would be a good fit for my organization or community? How do I get started after I select one or more methods? To make a good choice, you'll need some basic information. Rather than provide details of how to do each method, we give you an overview of what's available and some tools to help focus your exploration.