Too little liberty brings stagnation and too much brings chaos. —Bertrand Russell

In an earlier series, I shared some thoughts on the importance of both the art and science of our craft. As professional change facilitators, we must rely on both to give clients what was promised. Each must be integrated and balanced with the other, yet most sponsors are more attracted to the science aspect. That is, they consider methodology and deliverables more tangible and therefore easier to grasp and justify investing in. Don’t get me wrong—they want us to display the “art,” side of our craft, too, but they are generally drawn much more to the part of what we do that they can see and more easily understand.

Sometimes sponsors want to impose methodology concepts and tools on the organization, rather than give guidance about how and when to use them (as well as give a little leeway about their actual deployment). Practitioners, too, can become so enamored with the mechanisms we provide that we give the impression that it’s “the only way.”

It’s rarely in a client’s best interest for the people applying implementation methodologies to simply comply with their use. more