It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change. Charles Darwin
Reviewing the research into the field of organizational change there appears to be a preoccupation with trying to understand the culture and context of an organization relative to the external and internal forces that drive it to change. This research dates back to the not too distant past where change was happening rather quickly and organizations had the perspective that while they needed to adapt, they had significant time to do so. Today – organizations and most importantly the leaders at the helms are experiencing unprecedented levels of turbulence in their environments which has forced them to continually transform themselves to grow, just sustain or potentially collapse. We have seen the near collapse of large banks and investment firms and of the US auto manufacturers. It has been argued that as the world changed around them the “Big 3” continued to operate under the rules from the past.
A verse from Lewis Carroll’s “Through the Looking Glass” comes to mind…
‘Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?’
‘That depends a good deal on where you want to get to,’ said the Cat.
‘I don’t much care where – ‘ said Alice.
‘Then it doesn’t matter which way you go,’ said the Cat.
‘ – so long as I get somewhere,’ Alice added as an explanation.
‘Oh, you’re sure to do that,’ said the Cat, ‘if you only walk long enough.’
It is an understatement today to say that the future of an organization can no longer be based on the past way of doing things or for leaders – on using the same leadership approaches, skills or competencies that may have worked in the past. Leaders who simply trust their past experiences and base decisions and actions on what they are comfortable or familiar with, may unavoidably fail their organizations and their people. As Stephen Colbert of Comedy Central says: “I’m not a fan of facts. You see, the facts can change but my opinion will never change, no matter what the facts or situations are.”
So as our organizations are forced to evolve and adapt, we as leaders must acquire new skills and competencies to ensure competitiveness and survival in a changing environment. But don’t we as leaders often think that it is the “others” who need the training. We think our peers, our employees even our bosses are the ones who need development and continual learning. Looking at ourselves and seeing ourselves as others see us with all our strengths and gaps – this is risky, takes courage, time and commitment. Asking for feedback with genuine desire to identify ways to improve is one of the competencies of self awareness that great leaders exhibit. How do we get feedback? Are we willing to do a 360 feedback process to understand the perspectives of others of our leadership ability? I find myself feeling both anxious and excited about reading the feedback from the circle of those around me. But it is definitely enlightening.
What is the risk of not asking for feedback? Of not changing and growing as the organization and the environment requires of us? Some may argue that things always come full circle and if I just wait long enough my style of managing others will come back into play. I would point out that in this global environment with multi cultural work forces and customers, with technology driving the way we communicate and changing almost daily, that the old way may never circle back around. In a story in Sports Illustrated they commented on the process in the NFL to build a team for the future based on using stats for players from their past performance and used a recent draft as an example. In the NFC North region there were 30 players taken by four teams including the Detroit Lions, Vikings, Bears and Packers. Three years later, of the 30 who were picked based on past performance, only three remained on the active rosters of the team that picked them. I, as a leader, want to be ready to lead and manage in a most self aware, self confident, way to guide the organization moving forward not looking back. Ongoing leadership development for ourselves and for the leaders in our organizations I believe is critical to meeting the future head-on. A focus on emotional and social intelligence to manage the key relationships and on leading through change and transformation are critical leadership competencies no matter what type of organization you are leading.
Knowing others is intelligence; knowing yourself is true wisdom. Mastering others is strength; mastering yourself is true power.” Tao Te Ching
So let’s hear… what say you on the subject?
As always, Let’s Keep the Conversation Going….
Best regards,
Sandi
Sandi,
In addition to agreeing with your comments Sandi I would add this. As a leader rises towards the top of an organization and his/her responsibilities increase – their critical competency for leading change and transformation exponentially increases. As one becomes a strategic leader, spending 90% of their working-week in the strategic realm, this competency becomes a primary responsibility, no longer just another component of their skill set. In fact, leaders at the strategic level must acknowledge their primary role is to lead change and transformation in their organization, it is not enough to merely apply this capability episodically. Far too many strategic leaders fall victim to their previous comfort-zones and relegate themselves back to operational issues, challenges and actions. Leading change and transformation is the primacy work of strategic leaders. One of the better texts I have read on this issue and an author I even quote in my own book is Sullivan & Harper’s, Hope Is Not A Method.
The change is not only driven by environmental factors. There is a huge shift occuring within our talent pools. According to T&D magazine we’re dealing with the smartest generation ever and they’re approaching work in new ways. Management models are changing and so are learning models. There’s a war for talent being driven by people, technology AND economics. So…employee expectations are changing and they’re impacting the role of training and development more than ever before. Are you prepared? Training and development for work teams is the oil for the wheel of business success. But ONLY if training and development meets the NEW demands of a NEW talent pool. Avoid swimming upstream. Learn to adapt to the positive aspects of your brilliant new talent pool.
Sandi
There is more than enough past practice experience to show that the traditional methods of culture consideration in change managment does work. You use the Big 3 as an example of where did not work. I would contend that the big 3 were in an environment that the need for change at first seemed to be slow enoough for traditional methods to work but was actually escalating due to truly environmental factors beyond their control. Their inability to recognize this led to their failure. What about the case where an organization is not in jeopardy, where contiuous self inspection and improvement are part of the culture, I would suggest that staying with the tried a true is the best chance for change to stick. We have all seen examples of failed change efforts and I can see no substitute for planning and consideration for the culture when time permits. The real secret is knowing when to do which. When do you need to move fast vs when you can be deliberate. Can you shed light on this aspect.
Rich,
Thanks for your perspective. I think we may be sayign the ame thing. I agree that change for change sake often makes no sense and the “change” does not stick as people will fall back to the ways they are comfortable with doing things. And I would argue that if an organization truly has a culture that is always focused on how to do things better, continually improving and changing to meet customer and stakeholder needs – that is a organization that is not staying with the tried and true. They keep what is working currently but are willing to let go. Letting go is the big piece of the successful strategy and knowing when to do it. Leaders especially senior leaders have a key role in being able to do constant scans of the environment in their industry – looking always for what is coming ahead (not looking backwards) at things that may impact their products, services and operations and ways of doing business. They keep the 10th floor view being able to see all the possible puzzle pieces and how they might fit together and what needs to change in their organization to make that happen. They allow their leaders and employees to have the appropriate views of the business from the lower floors – manaing the day to day , short term environment while they lead them in the longer term directions. Does that make sense?
One of the challenges I see today is how people receive change around them. A leader learns a new way of leading and the people around them don’t like the changes. Employees are invited, even encouraged, to think outside the box but leaders dismiss that way of thinking as too risky. We are all victims of this fast moving and ever changing culture and its varied forms of transmitting information. Until we are willing to be active in our listening, realistic in our expectations and willing to fail we won’t experience the powers of change. In mainline Christian denominations there has been a measurable decrease in membership. Is it the lack of change by leaders or the lack of vision by current members OR have we lost the ability to actively listen to one another… instead talking past one another until everyone is frustrated? I doubt the big 3 automakers weren’t being told by dealers and consumers what they needed and wanted in the showroom. I doubt the CEO’s and managers were left in the dark while customers were asking for product. Until change becomes the norm we will continue to fight it… and lose. Ah, the risks… those will continue to drag us down. But where have we seen the benefit without the risk? Sometimes the price for the free lunch is quite high and not worth the cost to us. But we owe it to ourselves and one another to at least listen. That converation may just lead us to a new mouse trap, or better yet, change that works. Thanks Sandi for this forum!
Bill,
Your thoughtful post raises some solid questions for leaders and it doesn’t matter what industry you’re in or what you do for a living. So much of what you are referring to relative to a leaders real fear of change seems to be based on a leader’s lack of emotinal and social intelligence competencies. Self awareness, self confidence, inspirational leadership, development of others, empathy, championing change, conflict management, etc. – all competencies that provide a leader with the ability to lead and encourage their people through the myriad of changes. A leader that can realize that without conflict you lose the ability to collaborate and find creative synergistic solutions and ideas is one that will move their team successful into the future. calude Monet once said something liek “…without blue there woudl be no orange…” . A leader with the confidence to develop his/her people and to let them soar and succeed and fail is one that knows this results in again innovation and synergy for the organization.
We often get so wrapped up in our own world we fail to see the train coming. Continuous global review against what is going on in our particular industry, what our competators or peers are doing, and of course what our customers need, is critical….inside looking out so to speak. After touring Europe a decade ago and seeing what high gas prices have produced, small efficient vehicles, I was floored when I read an article a 18 months or so ago that GM was going forward with producing large SUV’s because they had invested too much research, money, and time in developing them. I’m not in that business but I thought it was obvious they were going to crash with that mindset. Short sighted or just plain arrogance, you decide.
Great to see your entry into the blog world, Sandi. It’s good to see the conversation going on the subject of change. The turbulence and rapidity of change is something that is becoming old hat in the last decade. Wasn’t it five years ago “white water change” – and the imagined breathlessness of having to react to new forces that don’t have a clear playbook seems to fuel many journal articles and conference themes? What I’ve appreciated from the coaching world (BCoach/Coach2) is the idea of supporting leaders in slowing down enough to think, listen, reflect as an action step. Sensemaking of the changing forces combined with social and emotional intelligence in leadership development seems to be key to shifting perspective and adjusting vision. Expanding the range of vision for multiple perspectives, including new ways of doing business and being able to make the leap is a part of this – similar to Rich’s comments and John’s. In Good to Great, one level 5 leader profiled exclaimed shutting down the paper mills, leading the shift to a new way of doing business.
An example of this is the following post regarding listening and currently successful change in the music industry, based on commentary by a respected digital and social media strategist: http://kenburbary.posterous.com/listening-is-the-most-advanced-social-media-s Ken cites problems with an a traditional business model. Ken makes these points referencing the twitter following of @chamillionaire. “He and @digijeff are doing it right.”
Using tried and true methods of planning to hear the new information and what works now, and what doesn’t is blending solid strategy & planning methods with listening.
–Deb
Deb,
Thanks for the Ken Burbury link. The article does make a great point of at the least staying current and better yet looking to even new ways to reach your “people” in a way that provides them with exposure to what you have to offer and even better yet… a way for you to hear what they are saying. Thanks so much for your post!
From Ruthann Liagre
Very thought provoking. Honest, well thought out feedback is hard to give and hard to get but is essential to our professional growth and the health of our companies.
From Carol Diroff
I think the key is to make change a habit. I see change efforts, innovative thinking, and desire to adapt methods and processes happen in spurts rather than continuously. Once change becomes a habit, the drive for continuous improvement can be habitual. Companies and managers fail because crisis triggers change and, by the time that crisis occurs, remedies are harder to come by.
One of the processes that I think has not worked or perhaps not worked properly is the 360 degree evaluation. From what I experienced it has become a popularity contest. Employees are reluctant to correctly evaluate their peers or bosses for fear of reprisal action. The whole process then becomes “I’ll pat your back if you pat mine”. If there is a company that is using this technique successfully I would like to know. I think the confidential employee surveys held every year are more meaningful!
Change is perhaps the most fundamental elements of leadership (good and bad). The underlying element of change is choices (decisions). Change for the sake of change can and often leads to failure as well as a loss of trust with leadership. Change for the sake of innovation, market adaptation and long-term sustainability is the difference between those that fight to exist and others that will cease to exist. Change must be cultural, deeply rooted in a strong corporate identity, legacy, and commitment to that corporate identity by those that have come before us as well as those that will follow us. Change is as necessary as breathing is to life, the minute you stop, you’re probably in trouble!
I believe that many organizations have struggled because there is no uniform, cohesive, common thread that ties every individual’s existence and contribution to the overall objective of the organization. Many times within an organization, the level of fragmentation that exists even within departments renders most organizations paralyzed in their own inability to create organizational (and cultural) synergy. This is the synergy by which every individual despite his or her individual responsibilities is aligned with the overarching goal of the organization more than that of an individual interest at the expense of that organization.
Very few leaders recognize and often take for granted the importance of an organization’s legacy/culture toward driving the type of change that is self sustaining as it is limitless.
Change is about making choices, with each choice a decision must be made, with each decision there is an aligned outcome, with each outcome there is a corresponding action, and with each action there is some measurable outcome, and with each outcome there is a resulting level of change.
Leadership – in today’s terms means nothing more than my immediate boss/manager…. where in the past it was more of an attribute or a characteristic of something that was somewhat intangible. Leadership was more of a concept than simply a static title, it was something that was not relegated just to those that were in positions of “power” but rather used interchangeably with all employees regardless of level, title, or status.
Leadership is not something that is given as much as it should represent something that is earned over time (and with historical consistency). Leadership used to be more often referred to in terms of ones own character traits such as: courageous, integrity, ethical, honest, fair/just, un-compromised, dependable, determined, committed, respected, accountable and confident in ones own skin!
The leaders of today need to get back to the basics of truly understanding their people for those leaders that truly take the time and put forth the energy to do so will earn the respect as well as the results that they deserve.
In a way.
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