Informal Coalitions - The book

For businesses and not-for-profit organisations alike, dealing successfully with organisational change is one of the main leadership challenges of the 21st century. And yet, research consistently shows that around two-thirds of all change efforts fail to deliver the desired results.

Informal Coalitions argues that, by ignoring the hidden, messy and informal aspects of organisations, most formal change programmes inevitably contain the seeds of their own downfall.

According to conventional wisdom, change is brought about through formal, rational analysis of 'the facts' and step-by-step decision-making by people whose agendas are fully aligned. Informal Coalitions exposes this as a fiction. It shows how outcomes arise instead from informal interactions, joint sensemaking and political accommodations, made by people who are trying to make a difference in the complex, uncertain and ambiguous conditions of everyday organisational life.

The book makes it clear that the only meaningful choice leaders have is whether or not to engage with these dynamics in a deliberate and informed way.

For those who choose to do so, Informal Coalitions offers new insights and practical ways of addressing these powerful influencers of organisational change and performance. Using straightforward language throughout, Informal Coalitions presents a provocative but compelling argument for change leaders and other practitioners to embrace this new agenda and master its challenges.

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