Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this eARC.

Neuroscience for Change at Work: Practical Insights to Overcome Workforce Resistance to Organizational Change by Tibisay Vera and Melanie Franklin is a groundbreaking guide that merges the fields of neuroscience and organizational change management. This book is a must-read for leaders, HR professionals, and change practitioners looking to understand and mitigate resistance to change within their organizations.
This model forms the backbone of the book, providing a structured approach to addressing the psychological and emotional barriers that often hinder successful change initiatives. By leveraging insights from neuroscience, Vera and Franklin offer practical strategies to foster a supportive environment where employees feel safe, motivated, and engaged during times of transition.

Each chapter is filled with real-world examples, case studies, and exercises that illustrate how to implement the PEPE© model in various organizational contexts. This hands-on approach ensures that readers can immediately start applying what they learn to their own change initiatives.

Vera and Franklin’s writing is engaging and informative, striking a perfect balance between theory and practice.  Their insights into the neurobiological underpinnings of behavior offer a fresh perspective on why people resist change and how leaders can effectively address these challenges.

The book also delves into the broader implications of neuroscience for organizational culture and leadership. This holistic approach ensures that readers understand the interconnectedness of individual and organizational change, providing a comprehensive framework for driving sustainable transformation.

Neuroscience for Change at Work: Practical Insights to Overcome Workforce Resistance to Organizational Change is an essential resource for anyone involved in leading or managing change. Tibisay Vera and Melanie Franklin have crafted a compelling and practical guide that bridges the gap between neuroscience and organizational development. With its actionable strategies, real-world examples, and insightful analysis, this book is sure to become a go-to reference for change practitioners seeking to harness the power of neuroscience to drive successful change initiatives. Whether you’re a seasoned leader or new to the field, Neuroscience for Change at Work offers valuable tools and perspectives to help you navigate the complexities of organizational change.

This book covers an area which needs more attention. With the advances in neuroscience, factors which affect our behaviours are now better known. This knowledge should lead to improved practices in the workplace as well as our personal lives. Managing change is a critical aspect in companies and hence an important topic.

The coverage of the book includes a brief introduction to how our brains function, the challenges change acceptance faces in organizations and why there is resistance, ways to make change management successful. Simplistically, our brains work to maximize our survival potential and propagate our genes, but it is a complex mechanism with interaction with all parts of the body. Our brains have struggled to keep pace with the changes in the environment. There is an outline of the change life cycle - Finding out about the change, Feeling motivated to change, Getting involved, Learning new ways of working, Making changes & Celebrating changes. Similar steps are common in all change management books. The book then moves on to the PEPE Model (copyright with Sparkling Performance Ltd) which has four categories addressing change (each with 2 dimensions each) - Resistance to change as a result of pain, energy, peaks and valleys, and error detection. Each of these is covered in detail.

There are many related aspects which are included and would be probably known to most – Growth mindset vs fixed mindset, providing a sense of purpose, feeling valued, building leisure time and practising mindfulness among others, all of which is good advice. A lot of information covered is not very new though and I had expected more depth to the neuroscience background as well as the change management approach with better examples. This book packs good information, and this is an area I expect will gain shortly in organizations.

My rating: 3.75 / 5.

Great book, provides exactly what it says on the tin! Based on the PEPE model it works through some great evidence based practical tips and processes for effective change. Recommended, thank you author. Thanks to #netgalley and the publisher for an ARC.

I have mixed feelings about this title.
It is excellently structured/organised, the topic is a much-needed conversation.
The approach and the tips are practical. I highly appreciate the authors' expertise and knowledge.
The main proposed framework in this book is Vera's concept of PEPE (this is explained in the detail in the book).
About until midway through the book, I was reading it with a wide grin on my face and its reflection of fascination in my brain.
The book/authors does/do a great job at explaining the approach step by step. The visual aid as to where we are in the framework of PEPE was very helpful. Though, after roughly the middle of the book, I started to find the repetition a bit tedious and kept wondering if the information could be delivered in a more concise way.
Excellent idea, expertise, and insights that are useful across many industries, disciplines and aspects of life, though the execution was not 100% for me.