Change Management for Organisational Leaders - Starting Out

You have an idea, you have a vision for a significant visionary change, and/or 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 it is a step change, and as such should not be introduced as part of "Business As Usual" as it would disrupt the day-to-day running of your organisation.

It is also apparent that if this potential change initiative is to proceed, it needs to be regarded and handled as a specific initiative and will require some form of change management process.

Typical Stalling Points

(1) Failure to understand your role

Failure to appreciate that for any major change initiative to succeed your role is to provide facilitative leadership, that is, to ensure the wider involvement of people at all levels - especially in the informal networks

Facilitative leadership will require from you: communication skills, social skills and a collaborative approach

Whilst your command-control hierarchy remains intact - and it needs to for the exercising of legal authority to ratify decisions - the power needed to drive this change initiative is based on synergy and mutuality and is multi-directional

(2) Failure to understand what has and hasn't worked before

So many companies - especially in North America - just rush into the next change initiative without debriefing and assessing what did and didn't work last time, and why.

You need to get that knowledge and insight now, right up front as it can help you repeating past mistakes and failing with this initiative.

Your organisations' "transition readiness" is best indicated by your organisations' legacy of change initiatives (both those that worked and those that didn't work) as it provides an important early indicator of what lies ahead.

You also need to look at the scars left by successful as well as unsuccessful initiatives as it is crucial to understand and address the scar tissue left by previous initiatives.

(3) Failure to understand the role and critical importance of your informal networks

Failing to understand that your informal networks are critical to the success or failure of your change initiative

To succeed with any change initiative you need the involvement and support of your informal networks - from the outset

Your informal networks are the source of most of your potential resistance and the source of most of your solutions

Critical Action Point

Before instigating any action, and in addition to discussing this with your senior management team, hold informal talks as soon as possible with a small group drawn from the informal networks within your organisation.

Outline the challenges, give them the background and the reasons for the potential change and invite their views and feedback on how to proceed - and listen.

To find out more about "Change Processes That Work For People" please see: Change Management Templates.

Equip yourself to avoid the 70% failure rate of all change initiatives with this FREE download: Starting the Change Process