Change is People: The forces of WIFM and WITHM

Organizations will never be stable; they will always have to develop and change (Preskill and
Torress, 1999). Development and change are synonymous in organizations as such—they both
rely on people and can’t be accomplished without people. Yet historical recommendations and
frameworks orient organizational development and change heavily as process rather than
actualities of people. Organizations however are people and people are organizations. As a
collective people organize in organizations as leaders and members. Both roles are pivotal to
development and change initiatives whereby success driven by singularity is often
insurmountable. Yet, dearth in consideration is an appreciated perspective that captures how
these two positional hierarchies can work together and progress change and development
productively considering modern-day complexity. The aim of this presentation is to present a
viewpoint that considers organizational underachievement may occur in development and change
initiatives when forces that move the leader and the forces that move the members are not
considered as necessary synergistic interactions.