I got a concerned phone call from a customer… “John, Help!” Oh boy, life in the fast lane. The issue was a top tier leader was being criticized in how he was selling or pushing through change initiatives. Hmmm…sound familiar?? We all struggle with this from time to time.
The challenge is that as a leader we must lead change; it is a requirement. Key Point: It does take leadership skills, not our management skills. In this case of my distressed client the change led to a far better performance, everyone got bonuses, and as a team, they were recognized by their peers. So what is the problem? The supervisors and team leaders felt stepped upon, run over, and devalued. Remember, the highest level of leadership is when you help someone else to achieve results that they would be challenged doing it by themselves. Anyone can manage processes and systems when direction is clear and given enough authority. Unfornituately, the latter only produces short term results.
OK, quickly…two thoughts:
High level change management expert, John Kotter, gave us 8 steps to lead change in his famous book entitled Leading Change:
- Establish a sense of urgency
- Create a guiding coalition
- Develop a vision and strategy – what you will bring into existence
- Communicate the changed vision
- Empower Broad Based Actions
- Generate short term wins – (and celebrate the wins)
- Consolidating gains and producing more change
- Anchoring new approaches in the culture
Second thought…Dale Carnegie Training teaches in our Leadership Curses the challenges and solutions why people do not follow our lead.
Challenge Solution
If they don’t
… Know what to do Educate
… know how to do it Train
…believe I can Coach
… Know why Vision
… Want to Motivate
Off to Denver this week serving on a business panel to encourage business profitability. Establishing a sense of urgency should not be the challenge.
Human Relations Principal:
Try honestly to see things from the other person’s point of view.
Dale Carnegie