Historical approaches and a vertical perspectives are not working.
The resulting trend is horizontal change management. Horizontal is the positions of equal "rank" within verticals- like VP sales to VP IT. So there are up eight horizontals depending on the size of the organization.
The next trend is to place work in context with the whole. The whole being org. strategy, big picture, end state, direction of growth etc. Once a stakeholder knows how their work fits (which motivates them to participate) then they need to know when and with what effort that participation is needed.
The last, a true status quo breaker, is to place project work under the umbrella of a change process. This gives a longer view to strategic planning with a direct connection to work and results. Instead of a lot of time wasted infighting.
To practitioners this all may seem simplified.
For clients (mine are high level, but I am not sure that makes a difference) the endless pontificating, marketing of steps (8) and approaches and inability to connect people to business objectives is un-productive. They are looking for consultants that can translate the noise of change management into the parts – leadership, stakeholder connection, empowerment etc.
One trend that appeared in the last year or so- a result of the economy and the above paragraph, the need to be collaborative and break verticals/silos is the addition of an internal responsible for change. "Blank" of Change Management (or OE or OD or whatever they are choosing to call it). The problem is most of these are at the Director level, which exacerbates the vertical problem and skips the horizontal (VP’ and SVP’s) who are ultimately responsible for all change. It is also solely internal which leaves out, what I think is (biased yes) a crucial piece, the external influence.
Admittedly, I have seen VP titles so a few organizations understand what we are bantering back and forth.
Any trend that places work in context, communicates time/place and level of effort, encourages collaborative leadership and participation and weaves project management into the process will stand out and quickly go from a trend to accepted practice.