Strategies for Managing Change - EZINE - Poor Leadership

7/29/2019 Strategies for Managing Change - EZINE - Poor Leadership

1/13

Stephen Warrilow Lynton Glenthorne Ltd www.strategies-for-managing-change.com

Strategies For Managing Change - EZINE

Poor leadership remains a major factor inchange failure

Firstly a few brief updates:

(1) Facebook

I have launched a business-specific Facebook page for this site so that

visitors and Ezine subscribers who use Facebook can stay connected. I

have posted a number of videos and links to key areas of the site, and Iintend to use this Facebook page for brief updates re new articles, videos,

resources and other sites of interest, updating you on new articles andmaterials on my site as and when I post them, and anything else that may

be of interest to you.

Strategies For Managing Change Facebook page is here:http://tinyurl.com/2g42bu8 (Click on the Like icon to receive updates)

(2) Twitter

For some months now I have been running a Twitter campaign with 2 or3 daily tweets. These include very brief updates but mainly consist of

short, change management related, sound-bites all based aroundPractitioners Masterclass material. So theoretically, you could get the

core of the Masterclass materials in about 500 tweets! If this media rocksyour boat then check it out here:

http://www.twitter.com/How2LeadChange


2/13


(3) Contacting Me

With 400 + subscribers joining us every month from 137 differentcountries it is inevitable that people will want to contact me personally.

My personal email address, phone number and mobile number arepublicly available via the site and I welcome this. It is always good tohear from you and I am always happy to attempt to answer changemanagement specific questions.

However, I am getting an increasing number of people contacting me

with questions about their coursework, homework and research projects

and to put it bluntly asking me to do their academic work for them!

Please dont!

Talk to your tutors and course leaders and please do not ask me

anything except direct questions about materials on the site and/or

specific questions re change management.

Thank you for your co-operation!

Your boss has had a big idea and expects you toimplement it

Traditionally, change management books and courses are written fromthe perspective of someone who has the power and influence to initiate

and implement.

This is understandable, but the reality is that approximately 80% of you

who are reading this right now have limited power in your organisation or

in many cases you do not have much, if any, formal power or influence.

So it is highly probable that a majority of us have change imposed upon

us, by CEOs and senior management who neither understand nor applychange processes that work for people.

If this rings true then the following scenario and strategy is for you!


3/13


Change Management for Supervisors and First Line Management

Your organisations CEO and senior management have had a big ideaor your organisation is facing major external challenges

It is fairly obvious to you that the size, scope and complexity, priority,timescale and strategic importance of the proposed change is such that itis likely to have a big impact on your people, that it will probably disruptyour day-to-day running of your team.

Lets proceed on the fairly safe assumption that your boss has a limited

understanding of how to successfully lead and manage a step change. We

are also going to assume that your boss is focused on achieving thebenefits of the change as quickly as possible and mistakenly assumes that

everyone can be managed through the change.

Were also going to assume that your boss also believes that the changecan be handled within business as usual and under-estimates the scope

and scale of what will be involved.

This may all sound cynical but it is very typical. We are making these

assumptions, as unfortunately these are the most common scenarios.

As a first line manager or supervisor, you are in the firing line. It will bedown to you to implement their ideas.

Critical Action Points

In order of priority and sequence you have 4 critical actions.

The basis on which you proceed with your involvement in the

implementation of this change initiative will be shaped by the outcome ofthe following steps:

(1) Your first and most urgent and important task is to meet with yourboss probably more than once and to seek clarification on these

key questions:

# The organisational need for the change

# The specifics of what will change# The benefits of the change

# The impacts of the change


4/13


(2) You need to reach clarity and agreement with your boss on how you

proceed in implementing the changes.

(3) Having completed your discussions with your boss, and beforeinstigating any action, and in addition to discussing this with your other

supervisory/management colleagues, hold informal talks as soon as

possible with a small group drawn from your wider team.

(4) Outline the challenges, give them the background and the reasons forthe potential change and invite their views and feedback on how to

implement and listen.

Stalling Points

Heres where it usually goes wrong:

(1) Failing to ask your boss questions

Failing to appreciate that you may be helping your boss by asking

questions, as chances are he wont know all the answers and you are

giving him the information he needs to seek clarification from, andmanage, his boss.

It is all too easy to take the line of least resistance. It is too easy to go

along with whatever it is you have been asked to implement, withoutinitiating an informed discussion with your boss about the implications of

what has been proposed, and (based on your knowledge) an informedrecommendation as to how to proceed in a way that is most likely tosucceed.

(2) Failing to understand the role and critical importance of involving

your people in this change process.

Failing to understand that your peoples active involvement and support

is critical to the success or failing of your efforts to implement the changeinitiative. To succeed with any change initiative you need the

involvement and support of your people from the outset.

(3) Failing to understand that your people will need coaching and

guiding, as well as managing, through the change.

Failing to appreciate that for any major change initiative to succeed yourrole is to provide the people for whom you have formal responsibility


5/13


with facilitative leadership. This means that you have to help them to

make it happen.

Facilitative leadership will require from you: communication skills, socialskills and a supportive approach.

In order to deliver this level of support, you need information, and it is orprimary importance that you ask your boss the right questions in order tounderstand and communicate this to your people.

Whilst your formal power - via the command-control hierarchy - remainsintact, the power needed to drive this change initiative is based on

collaboration and support.

For more on this see:

http://www.strategies-for-managing-change.com/change-management-templates.html

Poor leadership remains a major factor in change

failure a new report reveals

According to a recent study, c90% of businesses have experienced changeover the last two years but less than 9% said that they had been truly

successful at managing that change.

The report by organisational performance, leadership development and

executive coaching consultancy, Lane4, entitledEmerging Stronger:

Strategic Insights for Leading in Tough Times revealed that 51% of

companies had experienced some success, leaving 40% whose change

initiatives had failed to achieve their intended objectives.

And of the diverse barriers that stifled change in these organisations,people factors and leadership ability were the most significant.

Senior managers, CEOs, directors and partners from organisationsranging from small businesses to large corporations across the globe were


6/13


asked what were the most challenging barriers to change. These included

people factors (36%), leadership factors (34%), practical factors (25%)and external factors (5%).

Katie Warriner, research consultant at Lane4:

To succeed at the change game, leaders must manage a multitude ofchallenging barriers.

Our survey findings indicate that people factors require the most

attention. This is critical because successful change is virtually

impossible without people engagement.

Successful leaders through change consider engagement as a

mindset rather than a stage on a project plan.

By developing and communicating a compelling story for change,

shaping an effective process and enabling the people, leaders can ensurethat people understand the reasons for change, care about initiatives

being a success and are equipped to make it a success."

Respondents said that leaders lacked the knowledge and skill to leadchange effectively, 30% said messages were unclear and communicated

too formally, preventing employees from really understanding what thechange was about, 14% said that change was too top-down and thatleaders failed to involve the people who would be impacted by the change

and an overall lack of vision and alignment contributed to the failure.

Summary results are as follows

People factors:

Employee resistance accounted for 53% of the barriers that related

to people factors. Respondents talked about uncooperative staffwho were hostile to change.

People-related cultural constraints - 22% talked about a culture of

caution and bureaucracy. Lack of necessary skills accounted for 15% of the people barriers. Lack of engagement accounted for the final 10% of the people

component.


7/13


Leadership factors:

Leadership accounted for 32% of the leadership barriers. Respondents said that leaders lacked the knowledge and skill to

lead change effectively.

Inadequate communication - 30% said messages were unclear and

communicated too formally, preventing employees from reallyunderstanding what the change was about.

Lack of consultation - 14% said that change was too top-down andthat leaders failed to involve the people who would be impacted by

the change. Other leadership barriers included lack of vision and lack of

alignment.

Practical factors:

Change is too rapid explained 23% of the practical barriers. Thesense that there will be another change along in a minute meant

that initiatives were rarely embedded before the next one waslaunched.

Too much change - 21% talked about the amount of change asoverwhelming.

Lack of time to implement change properly accounted for 16% of

responses. Other practical concerns related to the size and structure of the

organisation, lack of money and ineffective processes for change.

External barriers to change:

Finally, 5% of the barriers to change related to external factors and the

economy. Respondents said that turbulent market conditions made it

difficult to commit to change initiatives and to find the necessary funds toinvest in them properly.

You can download the full report at the link at the bottom of this

page:

http://www.lane4performance.com/Lane4-research-shows-only-9percent-

of-businesses-truly-successful-at-managing-change.html


8/13


Leading organisational change is inseparable frommanaging personal change

John Kotter has said that the scale and pace of change that is impacting

organisations now is such that it cannot often be planned for and it

increasingly pushes leaders (and followers) beyond their own capacity tohandle it.

This scale and pace of change requires adaptive solutions.

However, an adaptive response to change is only possible when we haveeither the personal capacity to do this, or have the self-improvement

resources to help us.

The inherent (and flawed) assumption in most training and work-related

attempts at encouraging personal change (in support of organisational

change) is that it is skills based, in other words we can be taught tochange.

Whilst it is true that we can be taught, generally we won't change.

We can't change because of our "immunity to change" or inner resistance.

http://www.strategies-for-managing-change.com/self-improvement-

resources.html


9/13


Resources

Life is not a zero sum game and I have no problem at all in featuring

other change management practitioners' and experts' sites and materials -where I feel they are preaching and practising a similar holistic and

people based approach that I use.

I do not see it as competition but as collaboration in a higher cause.

I have no commercial link or affiliation with anyone featured in this

Ezine unless I specifically and very clearly tell you that is the case.

Holger Nauheimer, CEO Change Facilitation has a fascinating site and

advocates a totally people-centred approach to change. He calls it the

change journey. Have a browse though his site and dont miss the shortvideo (top left of Home Page) and specifically the 2 questions he poses:

http://www.change-facilitation.com/

Here is a resource heavily supported by Holger and colleagues. Its free

to join and packed full of valuable resource:

http://www.change-management-toolbook.com

Martin Rhodes, an independent consultant working in the UK has anexcellent blog and I commend this piece to you: Best Practises inChange Management

http://braincram.wordpress.com/2010/06/12/best-practises-in-change-management/

Martin also runs another site focused on leadership coaching, here is a

thoughtful piece: 7 Reasons Why We Fail to Change our Behaviour

http://capstanblue.wordpress.com/2010/09/04/7-reasons-why-we-fail-to-change-our-behaviour/


10/13


And now for something completely different

I came across this and the work of stone balancing artist Adrian Grayvery recently. To quote one reviewer:

Stone Balancing is pretty much what it says on the tin - balancing of

large stones. But that balancing is actually pretty magical. The stones are

made to sit, perched at vertiginous angles, meeting only at the tiniest

point of contact. Until you see Gray balance the stones, you are merely

struck by the beautiful shapes and interactions of the stones, assuming,given apparent impossibility of the structures, they are constructed with

dowels and pegs and glue. Then he simply lifts one stone off and then

one's sense of reality goes a bit peculiar.

By locating an exact point of gravitational equilibrium, the two stones -

well the only word to describe it is- float. It's impossible, gravity-defying,

against all logic. It works. In seemingly impossible positions. The effect

plays tricks with the mind and you question the laws of nature.

Check his website, the photos are astonishing and breathtaking and theperfect antidote to the stress of change management!

http://www.stonebalancing.com/index.php


11/13


How I can help you

Free services

Website - for information and resources on most

aspects of leading and managing change

http://www.strategies-for-managing-change.com

Ezine (includes additional articles and bonus reports)

http://www.strategies-for-managing-change.com/starting-the-change-process.html

8 Free introductory lessons from the Practitioners

Masterclass

http://www.strategies-for-managing-

change.com/lessons.html

"Ask the expert" - a free email response to a change-specific question

http://www.strategies-for-managing-change.com/ask-the-change-management-expert.html


12/13


Paid for services

The Practitioners Masterclass - E-Course and E-Books

http://www.strategies-for-managing-change.com/practitioners-

masterclass.html

Change Management Templates

"Change Processes That Work For People"

http://www.strategies-for-managing-change.com/change-management-templates.html


13/13


Phone consultation - by arrangement. Email me first at:[email protected]

Personal on-site consultation, mentoring, interim, contract supportEmail me first at: [email protected] - and then we'll arrange

an informal exploratory phone call

Published by

Stephen WarrilowLynton Glenthorne Ltd

2 Beach MewsThe Beach

ClevedonBristol BS21 7QU

UK

+44 1275 349878

+44 7860 215986

Follow Me On Twitterhttp://www.twitter.com/How2LeadChange

Facebook - Strategies for Managing Changehttp://tinyurl.com/2g42bu8

Website - Strategies for Managing Changehttp://www.strategies-for-managing-change.com

Documents

Strategies for Managing Change - EZINE - Poor Leadership