When People Throw Wrenches

Navigating the Emotions, Politics, and Power Plays of High-Stakes Change

Keep high-stakes change on track when human behavior throws a wrench into your plans.

Change initiatives rarely fail because of strategy. They fail because of human behavior: what people do when they feel threatened or at risk of losing status, control, or relevance. In When People Throw Wrenches, award-winning author Phil Buckley draws on more than thirty-five years of experience managing thirty-two large-scale change programs to show you the ways people inevitably react to changes, and how you can anticipate and respond to these behaviors to ensure your initiative will succeed.

Rather than assuming alignment, goodwill, or shared priorities, Buckley starts with a more realistic premise: When people are threatened by change, they protect themselves and their own interests, even when it undermines an initiative’s success. In ten clear, incisive chapters, with quick reference charts for managing emerging situations, Buckley shows you the following:

• The four reasons people throw wrenches into the works of change
• The five negative emotions that trigger self-interested behavior
• The ten most common political maneuvers and power plays that people use
• The four-step response process to neutralize disruption and restore momentum

When People Throw Wrenches is an essential resource for leaders, change practitioners, and project managers working on high-stakes change initiatives, including operating model redesigns, organizational restructures, mergers and acquisitions, culture resets, and systems implementations. This book will help you spot self-interested behavior early (before it takes hold), decode the emotional drivers that motivate self-protection or gain, and respond in ways that protect credibility, relationships, and results.

If you are accountable for delivering change, When People Throw Wrenches equips you to anticipate political maneuvers and power plays, assess the risks they pose, and respond decisively to neutralize their effects and maintain momentum toward success.

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