Stuck: How to WIN at Work by Understanding LOSS

About the Author\nDr. Victoria Grady is an Associate Professor of Organizational Behavior/Management and the Academic Director of the MSM Graduate Program in the School of Business at George Mason University. Victoria also recently joined Dixon Huges Goodman (DHG) based out of Charlotte, NC as the Professor in Residence for the Healthcare People and Change Practice. Victoria's research consulting focuses on the behavioral implications of organizations introducing and implementing organizational change—her unique emphasis is the role of Attachment Behavior and Transitional Objects within the change process. Victoria is a founding member of the Association for Change Management Professionals (ACMP).\nPatrick McCreesh, Ph.D. is the Managing Principal of Simatree, a Strategy, Analytics, and Technology consultancy. Patrick is a visionary in analytics and change management who passionately leads teams to build data-driven cultures. With 20 years of advisory experience, Patrick successfully leads teams through digital transformations and the development of analytics programs across the public sector and Fortune 500 clients. Patrick serves as adjunct faculty at Georgetown University and George Mason University Business School. Patrick is also a leader in the global change management community through the Association of Change Management Professionals (ACMP). He founded and served as the President of ACMP DC before serving on the ACMP Global Board of Directors.\nRecent research publications from one or both authors can be found in Harvard Business Review, Washington Business Journal, Bloomberg News, The Journal of Change Management, and The Public Manager. Victoria is co-author of The Pivot Point: Success in Organizational Change, Morgan-James Publishing, 2013 and of Family Capitalism: Best Practices in Ownership and Leadership, Routledge (Gower) Publishing, 2017. Patrick and Victoria are co-authors of Workplace Attachment: Managing Beneath the Surface (Routledge, Taylor Francis 2020).\nOur work life is changing. Every day new companies, technologies, and ideas emerge that impact how, where, and most importantly, why we work. Despite this exciting evolution, people remain the heart of change. People are tricky. People don’t seem to evolve as fast as global trends. People get Stuck. Teams have people moving at different speeds with different levels of adoption in our evolving workplace. Some evolve and some don’t. Teams get Stuck. Leaders, managers, and teammates struggle with this resistance and get frustrated. Frustrated people impact the performance of every organization. Organizations get Stuck.
Why? The answer is deeply human and biological, rooted in the way our brain interacts with everything in the world, even work. When people feel they are losing something, they react by getting Stuck. Stuck connects over 20 years of research on our brain’s reaction to the evolving workplace with real stories of people journeying through the challenge of being Stuck. The organizations, leaders, and managers who understand these concepts will evolve with the future. Those organizations will understand LOSS as a tool to achieve business WINs.
This book addresses a critical concept that closes a gap in other popular business publications. Many books tell leaders and managers the process of how to change their organizations. However, many of these books lack a key mechanism for understanding human interactions. The mechanism is a biological function developed through evolution called attachment – the human need to connect to different tangible and intangible objects for support. Attachment is the reason that people connect with leaders and corporate culture, but also what creates a deep sense of loss during even the smallest changes. Stuck offers a complete understanding of attachment and how it impacts individuals, relationships, and organizations.
The root of the challenge is the human need to connect to different tangible a