Leading Through Change: Getting Your Organization into Shape

By Lin Grensing-Pophal

A paradox for business leaders is that they need to have a clearly articulated vision, but they also need to be prepared to react quickly to changing environmental impacts.

What are the keys to promoting a culture that supports change?

1. Having a vision. "If you don't know where you're going, any map will take you there" goes a popular aphorism—and the logic is sound. A vision helps you guide the organization and provides your staff members with a clear idea of where you—and they—are headed.

2. Hiring and retaining those individuals who are change-resilient. Some people embrace change; others avoid it. If you want to have a nimble organization, you need to make sure your staff is made up of the former, not the latter.

3. Energizing the staff. Once staff members understand the vision and have the capacity and the enthusiasm to navigate whatever change you're embarking on, it's time to get out of the way and let them do their jobs. And, when they do, it's important to recognize and reward their efforts. A change process is difficult to sustain if those involved aren't provided with cues along the way that they are headed in the right direction. Those cues include feedback and, sometimes, celebration.

4. Constantly communicating the vision and reinforcing the culture. Jack Welch, former CEO of GE, speaks of the "relentless drum beat." The need to continually speak of your vision and to ensure that it is reinforced in everything you say, do and believe. Talk about it. Talk about it. Talk about it.

Why Change Efforts Fail
These tactics seem very straightforward. Why is it, then, that so many organizations fail in their change efforts? Certainly, one problem can be not having the right people in your organization. If the majority of your staff attempts to cling to the past and is resistant to change, obviously you'll have a tough time moving forward.

Another common problem, though, is attempting to change too much, too quickly.
You can't implement every good idea and you shouldn't change direction with every new management fad you read about.

A Personal Change Perspective
Consider two types of change: personal and organizational. First, a very commonly experienced personal change process—going on a diet. Second, an equally common professional experience—learning to use a new software program. What does it require for an individual to achieve success with these changes?

A Clear Vision
When you go on a diet you probably have a good idea, in your mind's eye, of what the end result of that diet will be. You can picture yourself being a different size, perhaps different proportions—you know, specifically, where you're headed.

What about when you're learning a new software program? Your vision might be of yourself successfully mastering the program and using it to do some task that will help you be more efficient, productive and effective.

For business leaders, that vision might be personalized service, on demand, electronically, any time of night or day, provided by a fully trained and highly committed staff, and differentiated from competitors in such a way that your business will be the supplier of choice.

A Reason to Believe
Diets tend to become fads because one individual's positive experience leads to another's adoption of the techniques used to achieve the positive change. You are unlikely to go on a diet without some evidence that it "works." That "reason to believe" is an important part of making the decision to embark on any change process.

The same is true of learning a new software program. Without evidence that, once the program is mastered, you will be more efficient at your job, there is little reason to change your work habits.

The challenge for business leaders is providing employees with a "reason to believe" when, in many cases, you may be exploring new, uncharted, territory. Your vision may be so forward-looking that there is not a great deal of tangible evidence to provide employees to convince them that they should follow you.

A Plan
The "protein diet" has become popular in recent months. But to achieve success with this diet requires more than general knowledge that you should increase your intake of protein and decrease your intake of carbohydrates. To be successful, you need some sort of plan—in this case a diet plan—to guide you along the path to success.

Knowing that you need to learn a new software program doesn't do much to help you make this professional change. You need a good idea of how this transition will occur. You need a plan.

As a business leader, it's not enough to say "This is my vision—this is where we're headed." Your staff wants to know, "How do we get from here to there?" And, very often, they want to know specifically. You may not know the answers to these questions. But, the more guidance you can provide, the more clearly you are able to outline your plan, the more committed your staff will be.

Observable Results
How long would you maintain a change in your eating habits without some evidence that your efforts were paying off? Probably not very long. A diet, like any change, requires certain sacrifices and results in certain discomforts. Change isn't easy. It takes effort. Individuals are not likely to put forth effort over an extended period of time without some evidence that their personal sacrifice is having a positive impact.

Similarly, when learning a new software program, if, upon using the new program, you discovered that it was more difficult to use and took more time to accomplish the same goals, how long (given a choice) would you maintain that change?

And, how long after a downsizing, reorganization, restructuring or introduction of a new product, will employees remain committed without evidence of success?

What determines whether you will stay on your diet? Early success—seeing those first pounds slip off and noticing the difference in the way your clothes fit and the way you look. Positive reinforcement—receiving compliments and encouragement from friends. A personal sense of accomplishment—that good feeling that comes from knowing you've been successful at a goal you've established for yourself. The same elements apply to any type of change.

©2003 Lin Grensing-Pophal

If you would like to learn more about this topic, consider these AMA seminars:

• Planning and Managing Organizational Change
  
• The Resilient Manager: How to Bounce Back in Times of Change
  

Author Bio: Lin Grensing-Pophal is a communication consultant and the author of several books and articles on human resource management and employee relations including Human Resource Essentials (Society for Human Resource Management, 2002) and Motivating Today's Employees (Self-Counsel Press, 2002). She can be reached at llpophal@charter.net