Questions

Introduction One of the most important topics in leadership research today is the topic of organizational change and vision-casting (Bourne, 2009). Whether business leaders like it or not, change has become commonplace in the modern global economic setting. Such change can come from external forces such as market downturns, natural disasters, or competitors (Collins & Hansen, 2011), but many times, change is a result of internal initiatives planned by organizational leaders (Bourne, 2009). Change has always been important in allowing a business to adapt and survive, but it is becoming even more so in today's world (Lewis, 2000, p. 128). In previous generations, such change may have happened slowly and methodically; however, in today's world, many organizations have dozens of change initiatives going on at any one time (Bourne, 2009, p. 37). An American Management Association study in 2006 found that 82% of participants said the rate of change in the organization had increased measurably in the last five years, with 69% stating that their organization had gone through at least one change in the last year (p. 37). As one author put it: "Yesterday's mantra of 'Change or die' will evolve into a new mantra for the future: 'Live to change'" (Fleming, 2001, 34). However, while change is becoming commonplace in the marketplace, the unfortunate reality is that not all change is good and necessary. In fact, studies show that up to 70% of change initiatives fail (Bourne, 2009, p. 39). This sobering statistic shows a great need in the business world for learning how to effectively enact successful change initiatives. While change initiatives may fail for a multitude of reasons, scholars suggest that one of the most important determinants for the success or failure of a change initiative revolves around how that initiative is communicated to followers (Bourne, 2009, p. 37; Lewis, 2000, p. 142). Thus, one of the most important skills for business leaders of the future to learn is how to effectively communicate a compelling vision for change. Leading Change One of the difficulties in persuading people to change is that people naturally gravitate towards the status quo, even if it is less than the best. The status quo feels comfortable, and at the very least, people know what to expect. But this status quo can leave much to be desired, and so, it is the job of the leader to help followers see the need for change. John Kotter (1996), in his book, Leading Change, espoused an eight-stage model of change that can help leaders persuade their people to make a change. In his estimation, leaders must first "defrost the hardened status quo" (the first four stages) in order to then make the change and establish it as an organizational norm (the last four stages) (p. 2). His stages are as follows: 1) Establish a Sense of Urgency; 2) Create a Guiding Coalition; 3) Develop a Vision and Strategy; 4) Communicate the Change Vision; 5) Empower Employees; 6) Generate Short-Term Wins; 7) Consolidate Gains & Produce More Change; 8) Anchor New Approaches in the Culture (pp. 4-5). For purposes of our lecture today, we will focus on #1 and #4 above.

Establishing a sense of urgency at the outset of a change initiative can be vital to the success of the proposed plan. Whether the leader points to outside forces that are creeping in or internal sources of decay, there must be some measureable reason for people to want to leave their comfortable status quo. Just convincing them on this point can take years, but the successful change leader will not stop there. As Kotter pointed out, the leader must then create a guiding coalition, develop the vision/strategy, and communicate it well. In discussing change communication, he provides the following tips which are important both before and after the change effort begins: 1) Keep it simple; 2) Use metaphors, analogies, examples; 3) Use many different forms; 3) Repeat, repeat, repeat; 4) Walk the talk/lead by example; 5) Explicitly address seeming inconsistencies; 6) Listen and be listened to (pp. 89-99). Case Study #1: Martin Luther The principles above can seem quite nebulous unless one actually looks at how they are utilized in a real-life situation. Thus, we will spend the next few pages examining a case study of a leader who very successfully persuaded followers to enact big changes: Martin Luther. Luther was incredibly successful at creating revolutionary change, and my hope is that we can apply some of the lessons from his leadership to our less revolutionary, day-to-day problems, as well. Martin Luther's leadership came in the form of leading the Protestant Reformation, or, as some label it, the Protestant Revolution. His job was no small task: to persuade the people of Germany (and eventually most of Europe) to leave the established, but corrupt, Catholic Church to form churches that looked to Scripture alone as the source of truth. As Becker, Pfaff, and Rubin (2016) note, there had been a number of reform movements that had been squelched before Luther's successful attempt. Many people inherently understood that the vast corruption of the church was immoral and unscriptural, and thus, as Becker, Pffaf, and Rubin put it, the demand was there for a revolution. But what Luther had to do was supply a compelling alternative and create a sense of urgency for reform. In establishing this sense of urgency, Luther used the power of the pen. He drafted his famous 95 Theses, which were essentially a laundry list of corrupt practices in the church that needed to be reformed, and then nailed this document to the church door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg. Within weeks, this bold document had been mass printed and sold across Germany by printers who were eager to make a profit off a good controversy. The debates, meetings, and councils that followed made Luther immediately newsworthy, as people across Germany started to read his literature. In these early years, as he was trying to create a sense of urgency, he wrote two additional works which helped to create urgency in different arenas. First, he wrote On the Babylonian Captivity of the Church, which provided a more thorough explanation of his theological reasons for reforming the church. This document was read widely and helped Germans understand the need for reform on a deeper level. Second, he drafted a book titled To the Christian Nobility of the German Nation, in which he exhorted the princes and political leaders in Germany to join with the commoners in seeing the need for sweeping change and

reform in the church. This document, along with many others, helped Luther gain the political backing of important princes which were vital to the survival of his Reformation movement. Throughout his life, Luther kept communicating not only the need for change, but his vision for how the church should operate. As mentioned above, Kotter (1996) listed seven ways to communicate a vision well, so let's examine some of Luther's communications in light of Kotter's list. First, Kotter argues that a change agent should keep the message simple. For Luther, while his message was extremely deep theologically, he was able to create simple, understandable phrases that people could understand as the basis for his theology. Two of the most important of these were his emphasis on sola fides (justification by faith alone) and sola scriptura (Scripture alone as being authoritative). These concepts, which undergirded the rest of his theology, were able to be understood on a simple level and repeated easily by anyone who could remember those short phrases. Second, Kotter suggested that leaders use metaphors, analogies, and examples to communicate a vision. Luther did this well. For example, the very title of one of his most famous works, The Babylonian Captivity of the Church, provided a clear scriptural image of corruption and captivity that succinctly shared his argument against the modern corruption in the Catholic Church. Likewise, another key element of his theology, the priesthood of all believers, created an easy analogy for the laity of his day. Every man, woman, and child who had attended mass inherently understood what a priest did, and by showing these laypersons that, in the eyes of God, they were like priests themselves, Luther was able to give these commoners a basic understanding of their theological standing before God. Kotter also shared that the vision must be communicated in many different forms and repeated frequently. Luther was also a master of these principles. Not only did he write hundreds of works that were printed and distributed widely, but he also created vehicles for illiterate or minimally-educated laypersons to understand theology. For instance, he believed in the power of music, and thus he wrote and developed hymns and hymn books which would allow all churchgoers to sing along with words that embedded the Reformation's theology into their hearts. These hymns were used over and over, cementing this theology in the laity's minds and hearts. Likewise, Luther translated the Bible into the Germany language for the first time and espoused the need for cities to create public schools that could teach commoners to read the Bible. In this way, he hoped that they, too, would be able to understand how important Scripture was for their own daily lives. By giving them the means to read the Bible for themselves daily, he was able to instill his vision of sola scriptura in a very definitive way. As Kotter suggested, Luther also led by example and addressed seeming inconsistencies in his message. Throughout his life, he was active in helping local communities create laws that codified church liturgy, helped the poor, and set standards for moral activity (Berman, 2003). He was also instrumental in training the next generation of Lutheran pastors and creating hymns and other resources for them to use in their services. In breaking with the Catholic tradition of celibacy, his own marriage provided an example of how a minister could live in faithful union

with a wife. Of course, he was not perfect by any stretch of the imagination. Luther was, many times, too dogmatic and unyielding. He is known to have been a brute at times and even harbored anti-Semitic beliefs, especially later in life. But on the whole, his life provided a good example to other ministers of how to tend their flocks and teach the common people what it meant to live in communion with God. Finally, Luther exhibited Kotter's admonition to listen and be listened to by followers. Clearly his followers listened, as thousands followed him in open rebellion against the Catholic Church. But Luther was not a man set apart from the rest who did not listen to the needs of these followers. Throughout his life, he preached an average of five times per week and travelled widely around Germany to both share his message and help the people. He hosted visitors from across Europe in his home, listening to the challenges they faced in their countries and providing insights on how they could implement reform in their own locales. In all, he spent a great deal of time among his followers in order to help them enact the reform they had come to see as vital. Conclusion While no example is perfect, I hope that the short case study of Martin Luther above provided you with some insights into how leaders can use persuasion to help followers see the need for change. As we move from the lecture portion of our session into the Group Exercise, I challenge you to think about how you can apply these principles to your own vocational context.