Literature of Leadership: Change Intelligence by Barbara A. Trautlein Ph.D.
Change Intelligence: Use the Power of CQ to Lead Change That Sticks. Barbara A. Trautlein Ph.D. (2013, Kindle Edition)
Leading change is hard and complex work. A plethora of books have been written on how to manage change. Yet, research suggests that most change initiatives fall short of desired results. Why? According to book author, Barbara Trautlein, a major contributing factor is that change leaders often lack awareness of their change leadership style and the impact it has on others. In this book, Trautlein introduces a new concept to the leadership lexicon—Change Intelligence, or CQ—which she defines as “the awareness of one’s own change leadership style and the ability to adapt one’s style to be optimally effective in leading change across a variety of situations.”
Change Intelligence provides a simple framework to equip leaders with the skills needed to spearhead complex change. The book is organized into three parts. Part I (the core of the book) includes:
An introduction to the CQ concept, its importance, and the empirically-grounded CQ System for diagnosing one’s change intelligence (i.e., tendency to emotionally connect with people from the “Heart”, versus cognitively from the “Head”, versus behaviorally from the “Hands”, or some combination of the three),
Real life case studies in its application for three levels of change leaders (i.e., supervisor, project manager, executive), and
Instructions for accessing the online self-assessment tool to obtain a personal CQ assessment.
Part II provides a deeper dive into the Head/Heart/Hands framework and associated change leader styles. Each chapter is devoted to one of seven styles and includes targeted and practical developmental strategies which can be actioned immediately depending on one’s assessed CQ style—i.e., whether one tends to be a Coach (Heart), A Visionary (Head), an Executor (Hands), a Champion (Heart + Head), a Driver (Head + Hands), a Facilitator (Heart + Hands), or an Adapter (Heart + Head + Hands).
In Part III, the focus shifts to the application of CQ in broader contexts working with teams, across organizational levels, and in navigating the stages of the change lifecycle and the human dimension of change.
Change Intelligence is of vital importance to the work of leaders and, as such, the CQ model has been integrated into the Chair Academy’s leadership program curriculum. A highly recommended read!
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