Overcoming Barriers to Strategic Change

Program Highlights

• The value of cultivating curiosity and asking genuine questions.
• Why people withhold negative, complex, and controversial news.

Is your organization adapting to the changing environment as quickly as your competitors? The creation of strategic change is one of the most critical challenges that managers face today, and it also proves to be one of the most difficult. Professor Phills draws on examples from his research and consulting experience to illustrate the psychological and organizational barriers that can get in the way. Explaining the need to balance advocacy with inquiry when in the midst of strategic discussions, Phills introduces a framework for surmounting communication breakdowns that otherwise prevent effective decision making and hinder constructive change.

James Phills is director of the Stanford Business School's Center for Social Innovation, and director of the Executive Program for Nonprofit Leaders. Prior to his appointment at Stanford in 1999, he was a Visiting Scholar at Northwestern University and Assistant Professor at Yale University. Phills holds an MA and PhD from Harvard University.