Jake Jacobs is a wonderful friend and one of the most talented and leading organization change thinkers out there today. A pioneer in the area of large-scale real-time strategic change, Jake is the go to person if you’re at all interested in assuring the strategic success of your organization, no matter what size, in these times of unprecedented white-water change.

Jake teamed up with Dick and Emily Exelrod, and Julie Beedon to write a short powerful book, ‘You Don’t Have to Do It Alone: How to Involve Others To Get Things Done’. This book is a must for any executive serious about the success of their organization’s future bottom and top lines. The New York Times claims that it is “The best of the current crop of books on this topic…a complete blueprint for involving others.”

Berret Koehler, the publisher, summarizes it beautifully by declaring:

“You Don’t Have to Do It Alone: How to Involve Others to Get Things Done” provides a simple, straightforward approach, known as “Pragmatic Involvement,” in order to bring people together to get big things done. Most people in organizations tend to manage projects either as “Realists” or “Humanists.” Realists focus on getting things done. They pride themselves on their no-nonsense attitude. However, they often ignore the human factors that profoundly affect the success of a project. On the other hand, humanists are concerned about people. They care about others and their feelings. Unfortunately, they often overlook practical considerations, such as deadlines and budgets.

You Don’t Have to Do It Alone brings together the practical view of the realist and the people oriented view of the humanist, combining the best of both approaches into one role—the “Pragmatic Involver.” As the authors note, “The question is not ‘whether to involve or not to involve.’ The question is how to do it well.” This book will show you how to avoid wasting valuable time and talents in order to truly work with others to get things done.

You Don’t Have to Do It Alone is organized around a series of five questions that are asked by Pragmatic Involvers whenever they tackle a new challenge:

• What Kind of Involvement Is Needed?
• How Do I Know Who to Include?
• How Do I Invite People to Become Involved?
• How Do I Keep People Involved?
• How Do I Finish the Job?

This book is the Swiss Army Knife of involvement—a set of tools that can be used in any setting to get you the help you need. You will learn to involve others in a way that will actually make your work easier, that will result in less stress, better ideas, and more successful outcomes. The lessons that you learn will apply whether you are working at a multinational corporation, an inner-city hospital, or at the community bake sale.

Check out Jake, Dick and Emily discussing their book and its potential on Youtube. Jake Jacobs is President of Robert W. Jacobs Consulting, Inc., and the author of Real Time Strategic Change and was a contributor to The Change Handbook and The Conscious Consultant. His clients include Marriott, The Home Depot, and the City of New York. Go to Jake’s Winds of Change Group website if you are interested in exploring the creation of more potential for your organization’s future strategic success. 

If you have read this book, I would enjoy hearing what you thought and felt about it. Just go to the comments below and, as Larry the Cable Guy would say, ‘Gitt’er Done!’.

I’m quite excited to share a recent newletter created by Jake Jacobs, a global leader in the field of organization development, specifically in the area of large-scale, real-time system change. It’s a pleasure to share with you his comments on ‘Collaborating to Create More Value: Leadership Coaching and Large Scale Change’. Enjoy!

“Given my focus on collaboration, I wanted to share with you one way in which my clients and I have benefited from partnering with others. I have known Bob Benwick for 15 years. We first worked together on a Real Time Strategic Change effort at a bank where he was the senior HR executive. Now he and his wife Bev have a global corporate coaching practice based out of Vancouver.

I recently had the opportunity to sit down with Bob and Bev to talk about synergies between their coaching practice and my large-scale change work.  Bob, Bev and I share the same goal: people and organizations achieving their full potential. The difference is in how we do it.  Bob and Bev (and other coaches) focus on individual leaders’ development. I (and other large-scale change consultants) focus on the overall organization’s development. When we partner, our clients get the best of both worlds.

Bob explains, “I had exposure to the RTSC approach many years ago. It helps businesses that need to turn on a dime (competitively) like the bank I worked at. It is absolutely crystal clear to me how much coaching and large-scale change complement each other.”

Bev continues, “A goal of our coaching is for leaders to bring greater depth to their relationships. Organizations that use us a lot want to make big changes and make them fast. We often get asked to help leaders work together across departments.”

It’s tough to tell whether Bev is talking about her coaching practice or my large-scale change work.

Bob adds, “We contract with leaders for a minimum of six months. There has to be serious commitment or it won’t work. Leaders (and all of us) have taken years to develop our current habits. It will take time to change them. The more people change, the easier and faster it is for the system they work in to change.”

My take on Bob’s comment: the more the system changes, the easier and faster it is for the people in it to change.

Putting leadership coaching and large-scale change together is a “win-win-win.” Leaders can make big changes happen faster – and sustain them over time. And we do a better job for them than either of us could do  alone. “

Jake Jacobs is co-founder and partner of Winds of Change Group — a consulting firm specializing in fast and lasting change.

What are your feelings about change and coaching? What intrigues you the most about Jake’s comments?  What are the possibilities?