More Fearless Change

63 New and Updated Patterns for Driving and Sustaining Change

“The hard part of change is enlisting the support of other people. Whether a top manager interested in improving your organization’s results or a lone developer promoting a better way of working, this book will give you tools and ideas to help accomplish your goal.”

–George Dinwiddie, independent coach and consultant, iDIA Computing, LLC

“Keep the patterns in this book and Fearless Change handy. … These patterns transformed me from an ineffective ‘voice in the wilderness’ to a valued collaborator.”

–Lisa Crispin, co-author (with Janet Gregory) of Agile Testing and More Agile Testing

In their classic work, Fearless Change, Mary Lynn Manns and Linda Rising interviewed successful leaders of change, identified 48 patterns for implementing change in teams of all sizes, and demonstrated how to use these techniques effectively. Now, in More Fearless Change the authors reflect on all they’ve learned about their original patterns in the past decade, and introduce 15 powerful, new techniques–all extensively validated by change leaders worldwide. Manns and Rising teach strategies that appeal to each individual’s logic (head), feelings (heart), and desire to contribute (hands)–the best way to motivate real change and sustain it for the long haul.

Learn how to

• Focus on the best things you can achieve with limited resources
• Strategize to build flexible plans and go after low-hanging fruit
• Get help from the right people in the right ways
• Establish emotional connections that inspire motivation and imagination
• Create an “elevator pitch” that keeps everyone focused on what truly matters
• Build bridges, work with skeptics, soften resistance, and open minds
• Uncover easier paths towards change, and build on what already works
• Sustain momentum, provide time for reflection, and celebrate small successes

More Fearless Change reflects a profound understanding of how real change happens: not instantaneously in response to top-down plans and demands, but iteratively, through small steps that teach from experience. Best of all, as thousands of change agents have already discovered, its patterns are easy to use–and they work.

Mary Lynn Manns is a management professor at University of North Carolina–Asheville, where she was recently awarded Distinguished Professor of Social Relations for her work in change leadership. She has a Ph.D. from De Montfort University in Leicester, United Kingdom, where her thesis focused on the introduction of patterns into organizations. She has continued her work with numerous presentations at a variety of conferences and in organizations that include Microsoft, amazon.com, Avon, and Proctor & Gamble. Her publications include Fearless Change: Patterns for Introducing New Ideas, co-authored with Linda Rising. At her university, she guides students of all ages in learning the tools (patterns) for leading change and competing as social entrepreneurs. In 2013, Mary Lynn was the commencement speaker who transformed the typical model of speeches by encouraging the graduates to take the first steps toward changing the world as they got off their seats to dance. In her spare time, Mary Lynn helps individuals make personal change by leading “Zumba for People with Two Left Feet” workouts.

Linda Rising is an independent consultant based in Mt. Juliet, Tennessee (just east of Nashville). She has a Ph.D. from Arizona State University in the field of object-based design metrics and a background that includes university teaching and industry work in telecommunications, avionics, and tactical weapons systems. An internationally known presenter on topics related to patterns, retrospectives, the change process, and how your brain works, Linda is the author of a number of publications and four books: Design Patterns in Communications; The Pattern Almanac 2000; A Patterns Handbook; and, co-authored with Mary Lynn Manns, Fearless Change: Patterns for Introducing New Ideas. Linda has been an amateur recorder player for more than 50 years. She and her husband, Karl Rehmer, are part of three performing groups. They also enjoy bike riding, even when the hills in Tennessee are pretty steep. They also serve as board members for Habitat for Humanity of Wilson County. Find more information about Linda at lindarising.org.