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4. Communicating and engaging The leader plays his or her role in communicating direction, giving it meaning, being clear about timescale and letting people know what part they will be playing. Persuading and engaging, presenting with passion, listening, being assertive, being creative with ways of communicating. Patience, analysis of how to present to different audiences, managing emotions with regard to other people’s resistance, social awareness, adaptability, empathy. 5. Empowering others The leader entrusts those who have been involved in the creation of the new vision with key tasks. Clear target setting, good delegation, managing without micromanaging or abdicating, coaching. Integrity, trust, patience, drive to achieve, steadiness of purpose, empathy. 6. Noticing improvements and energizing The leader stays interested in the process. This involves the ability to juggle lots of different projects and initiatives. Playing the sponsorship role well, walking the talk, rewarding and sharing success, building on new ideas. Steadiness of purpose, organizational and social awareness, empathy, managing emotions, drive to achieve. 7. Consolidating The leader encourages people to take stock of where they are, and reflect on how much has been achieved. Reviewing objectively, celebrating success, giving positive feedback before moving on to what’s next. Social awareness, empathy, drive to achieve, taking time to reflect, steadiness of purpose.

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Kotter: the importance of getting the early steps right

Kotter’s eight steps to transforming your organization (see Chapter 3) form a comprehensive guide to tackling the process of change. Kotter says that good leaders must get all eight steps right. However, he predicts that the process will be a great deal easier if groundwork is done well.

In Leading Change (1996), Kotter describes some of the actions a leader needs to take during all eight steps. In Table 4.7 we give some of Kotter’s suggestions for the first four steps, as they seem to necessitate the most direct action from the leader.

Table 4.7 Kotter’s recommended actions for the first four change steps

Kotter’s step Recommended actions

1. Establishing a sense of urgency

Push up the urgency level. Create a crisis by exposing issues rather than protecting people from them. Send more data to people about customer satisfaction, especially where weaknesses are demonstrated. Encourage more honest discussion of these issues.

2. Creating the guiding coalition

Include enough main line managers, enough relevant expertise, enough people with good credibility and reputation in the organization and enough ability to lead. Avoid big egos and snakes (who engender distrust). Talk a lot together, build trust and build a common goal.

3. Developing a vision and strategy

Vision building is a messy, difficult and sometimes emotionally charged exercise. Take time to do the process properly and expect it to take months. It is never achieved in a single meeting.

4. Communicating the change vision

Keep the communication simple and use metaphor and analogy. Creativity is necessary to ensure that many different forms of communication are used to repeat the message, including leading by example. Use two-way discussions and listen to the feedback.

Rosabeth Moss Kanter: learning how to persevere

Rosabeth Moss Kanter (2002) highlights the need for keeping going in the change process, even when it gets tough. She says that too often

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executives announce a plan, launch a task force and then simply hope that people find the answers. Kanter’s emphasis is different from Kotter’s. She says the difficulties will come after the change is begun.

Kanter says that leaders need to employ the following strategies to ensure that a change process is sustained beyond the first flourish:

1. Tune into the environment. Create a network of listening posts to listen and learn from customers.

2. Challenge the prevailing organizational wisdom. Promote kaleidoscopic thinking. Send people far afield, rotate jobs and create interdisciplinary project teams to get people to question their assumptions.

3. Communicate a compelling aspiration. This is not just about communicating a picture of what could be; it is an appeal to better ourselves and become something more. The aspiration needs to be compelling as there are so many sources of resistance to overcome.

4. Build coalitions. Kanter says that the coalition-building step, though obvious, is one of the most neglected steps in the change process. She says that change leaders need the involvement of people who have the resources, the knowledge and the political clout to make things happen.

5. Transfer ownership to a working team. Once a coalition is formed, others should be brought on board to focus on implementation. Leaders need to stay involved to guarantee time and resources for implementers. The implementation team can then build its own identity and concentrate on the task.

6. Learn to persevere. Kanter says that everything can look like a failure in the middle. If you stick with the process through the difficult times (see box overleaf), good things may emerge. The beginning is exciting and the end satisfying. It is the hard work in the middle that necessitates the leader’s perseverance.

7. Make everyone a hero. Leaders need to remember to reward and recognize achievements. This skill is often underused in organizations, and it is often free! This part of the cycle is important to motivate people to give them the energy to tackle the next change process.

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STICKY MOMENTS IN THE MIDDLE OF CHANGE AND HOW TO GET UNSTUCK

• Forecasts fall short. Change leaders must be prepared to accept serious departures from plans, especially when they are doing something new and different.

• Roads curve. Expect the unexpected. Do not panic when the path of change takes a twist or a turn. • Momentum slows. When the going gets tough it is important to review what has been achieved and what

remains – and to revisit the mission. • Critics emerge. Critics will emerge in the middle when they begin to realize the impact of proposed

changes. Change leaders should respond to this, remove obstacles and move forward.

Source: Kanter (2002)

Bridges: leading people through transition

William Bridges (1991) has very clear ideas about what leaders need to do to make change work. Bridges says that what often stops people from making new beginnings in a change process is that they have not yet let go of the past. He sees the leader as the person who helps to manage that transition. We see this as a particularly useful frame of thinking when an inevitable change such as a merger, acquisition, reorganization or site closure is under way. In Chapter 3 we referred to his three phases of transition: ending, neutral zone and new beginning.

Leadership for the ending

Here is Bridges’ advice for how to manage the ending phase (or how to get them to let go):

• Study the change carefully and identify who is likely to lose what. • Acknowledge these losses openly – it is not stirring up trouble. Sweeping losses under the

carpet stirs up trouble. • Allow people to grieve and publicly express your own sense of loss. • Compensate people for their losses. This does not mean handouts! Compensate losses of status

with a new type of status. Compensate loss of core competence with training in new areas.

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Give people accurate information again and again. • Define what is over and what is not. • Find ways to ‘mark the ending’ (see box below). • Honour rather than denigrate the past.

MARKING THE END When a large publicly owned utility company in the UK split up into a myriad of small privatized units, there was a great sense of loss. Old teams and old friendships were breaking up. It was the end of an era. The organization held a wake, at which everyone moaned and complained and generally got things off their chest. There was much talk late into the night. The transition moved more smoothly after that event as people began to accept the reality and inevitability of the ending.

Leadership for the neutral zone

The neutral zone is an uncomfortable place to be. This is the time when, for instance, the reorganization has been announced but the new organization is not in place, or understood, or working. Anxiety levels go up and motivation goes down, and discord among the team can rise. This phase needs to be managed well, or it can lead to chaos. A selection of Bridges’ tips for this phase are listed below (he itemizes 21 in his book):

• Explain the neutral zone as an uncomfortable time which, with careful attention, can be turned to everyone’s advantage.

• Choose a new and more affirmative metaphor with which to describe it. • Reinforce the metaphor with training programmes, policy changes and financial rewards for

people to keep doing their jobs during the neutral zone. • Create temporary policies, procedures, roles and reporting relationships to get you through the

neutral zone. • Set short-range goals and checkpoints.

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Set up a transition monitoring team to keep realistic feedback flowing upward during the time in the neutral zone.

• Encourage experimentation and risk taking. Be careful not to punish all failures. • Encourage people to brainstorm many answers to the old problems – the ones that people say

you just have to live with. Do this for your own problems too.

Leadership for the new beginning

Here are some of Bridges’ ideas for this phase:

• Distinguish in your own mind the difference between the start, which can happen on a planned schedule, and the beginning, which will not.

• Communicate the purpose of the change. • Create an effective picture of the change and communicate it effectively. • Create a plan for bringing people through the three phases of transition, and distinguish it from

the change management plan. • Help people to discover the part they will play in the new system. • Build some occasions for quick success. • Celebrate the new beginning and the conclusion of the time of transition.

STOP AND THINK!

Q 4.7 Reflect on an organizational change in which you were involved. Did the ‘sticky moments’ suggested by Rosabeth Moss Kanter arise, and how were they dealt with? What could have been done differently by those leading the change?

Q 4.8 Imagine that the organization you work for as a line manager is about to be taken over by one of your key competitors. You have been told that everyone in your area will still have a job, but you will have to learn about the other organization’s way of doing business and drop many of

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the products and services you deliver now. Use the William Bridges’ tips to list some of the things you would need to start doing to enable the transition.

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THE IMPORTANCE OF SELF-KNOWLEDGE AND INNER RESOURCES

Much is expected of a leader throughout a change process. It takes courage, a sense of purpose, the ability to manage your emotions, high integrity and a wide range of skills to lead change well. A great deal has been written about skills development, but what about self-knowledge and inner resources? How great a part does the inner life of the leader play in his or her ability to lead change, and how can this capacity be developed or improved?

We believe that this is the key to successful leadership; so does Daniel Goleman. See earlier in this chapter to read about his research into leadership success, which indicates that self-awareness forms the bedrock of the emotionally intelligent leader.

Bennis: the role of self-knowledge

Warren Bennis (1994) emphasizes the need to know yourself in order to become a good leader. He says that leaders must have self-knowledge if they want to be freed up sufficiently to think in new ways. Bennis claims that you make your life your own by understanding it, and become your own designer rather than being designed by your own experience. He itemizes four lessons of self- knowledge. These are:

• One: be your own teacher. Leaders assume responsibility for their own learning, and treat it as a route to self-knowledge and self-expression. No one can teach them the lessons they need to learn. Stumbling blocks can be denial and blame.

• Two: accept responsibility and blame no one. Do not expect other people to take charge or do things for you.

• Three: you can learn anything you want to learn. Leadership involves a kind of fearlessness, an optimism and a confidence.

• Four: true understanding comes from reflecting on your experience. Leaders make reflection part of their daily life. An honest look at the past prepares you for the future.

Bennis also notes the potential benefits of leaders recalling their childhoods honestly, reflecting on them, understanding them, and thereby overcoming the influence that childhood has on them. He qu/ tes Erikson,

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the famed psychoanalyst, who says that there are eight stages of life, each with an accompanying crisis (see Table 4.8). Erikson claims that the way in which we resolve the eight crises determines who we will be. He also notes that we may get stuck at a particular stage if we do not manage to solve the crisis satisfactorily. For instance, many of us never overcome the inner struggle between initiative and guilt, and so we lack purpose.

Table 4.8 Development stages and their challenges

Stage Crisis Resolution Conditions for optimal development

Infancy (0–18 months)

Trust vs mistrust Hope or withdrawal Mirroring Acceptance

Early childhood (18 months–3 years)

Autonomy vs shame and doubt Will or compulsion Security (routines and rituals)

Play age (3–5 years)

Initiative vs guilt Purpose or inhibition Clear boundaries Vision setting

School age (8–12 years)

Industry vs inferiority Competence or inertia Spectators Discipline

Adolesence (12–28 years)

Identity vs identity confusion Fidelity or repudiation Sampling Modelling

Young adulthood (28–40 years)

Intimacy vs isolation Love or exclusivity Maturity Identity

Adulthood (40–55 years)

Generativity vs stagnation Care or rejectivity Balance Mastery

Maturity (55+)

Integrity vs despair Wisdom or disdain Support Forgiveness

Source: adapted from Erik Erikson, in Bennis (1994)

As a leader you may need to overcome some of the habits you developed at an early age, which will be challenging but rewarding. Usually this process is accomplished via coaching, counselling or therapy depending on how deep you want or need to go.

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Covey: the need for principle-centred leadership

Steve Covey is a writer and teacher who has had a tremendous effect on the psyche of UK and US managers. His book, Principle-centred Leadership (1992) was a New York Times bestseller for 220 weeks. His eight characteristics of principle-centred leaders (see box) and his seven habits (see below) are much quoted in management and leadership training courses. Again, his focus is on inner leadership; that is, on how to be rather than on what to do.

EIGHT CHARACTERISTICS OF PRINCIPLE-CENTRED LEADERS

1. They are continually learning. 2. They are service-oriented. 3. They radiate positive energy. 4. They believe in other people. 5. They lead balanced lives. 6. They see life as an adventure. 7. They are synergistic. 8. They exercise for renewal on all four dimensions of human personality – physical, mental,

emotional and spiritual.

Source: Covey (1992)

Covey’s organization runs workshops and programmes underpinned by a humanistic self- development approach. Unlike Bennis, he does not advocate revisiting your childhood to overcome difficulties, but encourages us to focus on visualizing a positive outcome and working with energy and enthusiasm towards it.

Covey’s seven habits (Covey, 1989) connect the leader’s outer habits with the inner capability, which he labels ‘endowments’:

Habit 1: Be proactive. Know what needs to be done and decide to do it. Do not be driven by circumstances. (Needs self-awareness and self-knowledge.)

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Habit 2: Begin with the end in mind. Have a clear sense of what you are trying to achieve in each year, month, day, moment. (Needs imagination and conscience.)

Habit 3: Put first things first. This is about organizing how you spend your time in line with Habit 2. He talks about looking at level of urgency and level of importance of activities, and comments that we spend too much time responding to urgent issues. (Needs willpower.)

Habit 4: Think win-win. Manage all interactions with the assumption that mutually beneficial solutions are possible. (Needs an abundance mentality.)

Habit 5: Seek first to understand, then to be understood. Be prepared to clarify what other people are getting at before you put your point across. (Needs courage balanced with consideration.)

Habit 6: Synergize. Value differences in people and work with others to create a sum that is greater than the parts. (Needs creativity.)

Habit 7: Sharpen the saw. Avoid the futility of endless ‘busyness’. Make time to renew. Covey says: ‘Without this discipline, the body becomes weak, the mind mechanical, the emotions raw, the spirit insensitive, and the person selfish.’ (Needs continuous improvement or self-renewal.)

STOP AND THINK!

Q 4.9 Identify the top five inner leadership strengths that you believe the headmaster or headmistress of an underperforming school needs to have. Use the ideas of Bennis and Covey in the section above, and consider also Goleman’s emotional competencies. Justify your choices. How could these areas be developed if they were lacking?

Q 4.10 Reflect on your own leadership using Covey’s seven habits. What are your strengths and weak areas?

Q 4.11 Imagine you have just been asked to lead a cultural change programme in a 10,000-strong organization based throughout Europe and the United States. The organization is a microelectronics company that has grown through acquisition and now wants to strengthen its unique culture as one organization emphasizing commercial applications, customer service

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and innovation. Using the ideas presented in this chapter, describe the approach you would take to leading this initiative and explain why.

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