There is nothing most constant in business than change, and there are few things more challenging. The term change management is commonly used, but not universally understood. An operations person might think about shifts in the reporting structure and how that impacts who does what. An IT person is likely to think about tracking the modifications of code from one version of a software application to the next. An HR person is likely to think about the training and communication tasks that are required to enable the people in that organization to adopt the new processes and procedures for that change. All of these definitions can be useful at different times. Unfortunately, this diversity of meanings can also cause confusion and challenges. For starters, we often find two people may be using change related terms at the same time but not mean the same thing; and they may not even realize it. An example of this would be when the above mentioned HR and IT people talking to each other about the change plan. They may walk away from the conversations with completely different understandings of what was said, and end up taking different actions than the other expected. This can drive frustration and limit communication. Without good communication, we end up with scenarios where the various changes, or even individual parts of a large change, occur in a vacuum. This results in uncoordinated activities. Under the best of circumstances, a lack of coordination will result in duplicated and wasted efforts. In a worst case scenario, the results can mean confusion for employees, conflicting outcomes, and pretty much chaos. The best way to mitigate the risk of these challenges is to evolve how we think about change. Don't just think about change as a set of individual activities. Think about it in terms of the broader journey that the organization is on. Don't just talk about change management approaches that are limited in scope and finite in application, but focus on a holistic Journey Management approach that can address the full continuum of outcomes. At the simplest level, Journey Management is the process of assessing the impacts of major organizational changes, and actively managing those transitions so as to maximize positive results and minimize negative consequences. Journey Management is different from traditional change management is several key ways... While change management tends to be tactical and limited in vision, Journey Management is strategic and considers the whole enterprise While change management is reactive, Journey Management is proactive A guiding principle of Journey Management is to always link change to some desired performance outcomes. If a change can't be linked to some performance outcome then what is the point of doing it? This is not to say that Journey Management is about abandoning the valuable parts of traditional change management. Instead, it is more about expanding and integrating those efforts so that they are coordinated across the enterprise. We do this through five major five major activities: Awareness - Recognizing the need for change Planning - Setting up processes to make it successful Readiness - Preparing the organization, the systems AND the people Coordination - Integrating with other activities Execution - Following the plan, measuring the outcomes and adjusting if necessary By effectively executing these cycles we not only drive positive outcomes of the change at hand, but also instill a culture that allows our organizations to change more effectively over time. In today's ever evolving business environment, the ability to adapt and effectively change is the only truly sustainable strategic advantage.

Similar to works like Good to Great and In Search of Excellence, the book is an effort to express the findings of a rigorous scholarly study that looked at how to address deficiencies in the current strategic planning paradigms by applying a particular kind of strategic thinking known as systems theory to the strategic planning process. It not only describes the theoretical basis for this assertion but also reports real world data that demonstrates that many top performing organizations are already applying these kinds of mental models, even if they do not formally realize it.