Tag Archives: Organizational Change

Leading Change – People Matter

Posted on 14 October 2012 by Wendy Mason | Leave a comment

Leading Change – People Matter

This is not a new post but I thought it was worth re-posting because the message holds good for all time

I’ve just seen an advert for a “change management lead” for a multi-national facilities management company – they provide everything from reception services to construction. It asks for Prince2 (project management skills) and Six Sigma (improving the quality of process outputs) certification. It mentions the enterprise management system used by the organisation and says the post-holder would be required to set up and document SLAs and define KPIs. Sadly, beyond asking for the candidate to have strong interpersonal skills, the one thing it doesn’t mention is PEOPLE and leading people – this from a company in the heart of the services sector!

Makes you wonder doesn’t it? If a services organisation doesn’t know enough about change to know that people, and the leadership of people, are at the heart of any change then we really do have a long way to go to spread the message! But something else strikes me as well! If the applicant is required to lead change then this company doesn’t really know much about leadership either and that has much wider implications!

Wendy Mason is a career coach. She helps people reach their goals and aspirations, without sacrificing their home and personal life. Before working as a coach, Wendy had a long career in both the public and private sectors in general management and consultancy as well as spells in HR. She now divides her time between coaching and writing. You can contact Wendy at wendymason@wisewolfcoaching.com and find out more at http://wisewolfcoaching.com

→ Leave a comment

Posted in change, Change Competence, Competencies, Facilities Management, Job Skills, leadership

Tagged business change programmes, Change Management, Competencies, Debate, facilities management, leadership, Management, Organizational Change, Project Management

Leading and Managing Change – It Starts With One

Posted on 12 October 2012 by Wendy Mason | 1 Comment

INSEAD (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Leading and Managing Change – It Starts With One

All kinds of organizations, public and private , large and small, have been searching for decades for the holy grail of organizational change. They want to find the perfect way to motivate employees to change their old ways for what management (or consultants!) deem to be better, new ones.

This is a great video from the INSEAD (the Business School) channel on YouTube on changing the hearts and minds of individuals as a necessary precursor to organizational change. The real engagement of individuals is key to success in organizational change

Hal Gregersen is a Senior Affiliate Professor of Leadership at INSEAD where he pursues his vocation of executive teaching, coaching, consulting, and research by exploring how leaders in business, government, and society discover provocative new ideas, develop the human and organizational capacity to realize those ideas, and ultimately deliver positive, powerful results.

Stewart Black is the INSEAD Affiliate Professor of Organisational Behaviour

You can find out more about INSEAD at this link http://www.insead.edu/home/

<Name Your Link

Managing Change – The Process Of Transition

→ 1 Comment

Posted in change, Change Gurus, Change Management, Leading Change, Management, Managing Change

Tagged business, Business School, Change Management, INSEAD, leadership, Leading Change, Management, Managing Change, Organizational Change, Successful change

THE SIMPLEST MODEL OF CHANGE – LEWIN’S FREEZE PHASES

Posted on 7 September 2012 by Wendy Mason | 3 Comments

THE SIMPLEST MODEL OF CHANGE – LEWIN’S FREEZE PHASES

In the early 20th century, psychologist Kurt Lewin identified three stages of change that are still the basis of many approaches today.

Unfreeze

People like to feel safe, and in control,and their sense of identity is tied into their present environment; particularly if it has been relatively stable for a while! This creates a feeling of comfort and any challenges to it, even those which may offer significant benefit, can cause discomfort. See why change hurts!

Talking about the future is rarely enough to move them from this ‘frozen’ state and significant work is usually required to ‘unfreeze’ them and get them moving. In frustration some managers start using a Push method to get them moving – coercing them into a change. This can create a lot of unhappiness and frustration.

The Pull method of leadership, persuasion and modeling behavior takes longer but has a better long-term effect . The term ‘change ready’ is often used to describe people who are “unfrozen” and ready to take the next step. Some people become ready for change fairly easily, whilst others take a long time to let go of their comfortable current realities.

Transition

For Lewin change is a journey. This journey may not be that simple and the person may need to go through several stages of misunderstanding before they get to the other side.

A classic trap in change is for the leaders to spend months on their own personal journeys and then expect everyone else to cross the chasm in a single bound.

Transition takes time and needs leadership and support! But sometimes transition can also be a pleasant trap – it may feel better to travel hopefully than to arrive – particularly for the team leading the change.

Refreeze

At the other end of the journey, the final goal is to ‘refreeze’, putting down roots again and establishing the new place of stability – embedding new processes and developing a new culture.

In practice, refreezing may be a slow process as transitions seldom stop cleanly, but go more in fits and starts with a long tail of bits and pieces. There are good and bad things about this.

In modern organizations, this stage is often rather tentative as the next change may well be around the next corner. What is often encouraged, then, is more of a state of ‘slushiness’ where freezing is never really achieved (theoretically making the next unfreezing easier). The danger with this that many organizations have found is that people fall into a state of change shock, where they work at a low level of efficiency and effectiveness as they await the next change.

If you are serious about being a better leader and doing your best in your career while having a good life at home, I think you will find our new programme interesting! http://gettingtherewithwisewolf.com/

Wendy Mason is a career coach working mainly with managers and professionals who want to make that jump to senior level while maintaining a good work/life balance. Before working as a coach, Wendy had a long career in both the public and private sectors in general management and consultancy as well as spells in HR. She now divides her time between face to face coaching, and coaching and blogging on-line. You can contact Wendy at wendymason@wisewolfcoaching.com and find out more at http://wisewolfcoaching.com

Getting There – Wendy’s Career and Personal Development Programme

→ 3 Comments

Posted in change, Change Competence, Change Gurus, Change Models, Job Skills, leadership, Management, Programme Management, Project Management, Work

Tagged advice, business, business change programmes, change, Change Management, Freeze Phases, Job Skills, Kurt Lewin, leadership, Leading Change, Management, Managing Change, organisational change, Organizational Change, ready for change, resource, support, tips, Transtheoretical model

The qualities of leadership – leading change!

Posted on 11 September 2011 by Wendy Mason | 1 Comment

Image by s3728 via Flickr

On the website of the US Office of Personnel Management I found a description of Executive Core Qualifications/Competencies.

This defines the competencies they believe are needed to build a federal corporate culture that drives for results, serves customers, and builds successful teams and coalitions within and outside the organization.

As you would expect I was particularly drawn to their description of what they consider to be the core competencies required to lead change.

They describe this as the ability to bring about strategic change, both within and outside the organization, to meet organizational goals. This includes the ability to establish an organizational vision and to implement it in a continuously changing environment.

Here are the competencies;

Creativity and Innovation
1. Develops new insights into situations;
2. Questions conventional approaches;
3. Encourages new ideas and innovations;
4. Designs and implements new or cutting edge programs/processes.
External Awareness
1. Understands and keeps up-to-date on local, national, and international policies and trends that affect the organization and shape stakeholders’ views;
2. Is aware of the organization’s impact on the external environment.
Flexibility

Is open to change and new information;
Rapidly adapts to new information, changing conditions, or unexpected obstacles.

Resilience
1. Deals effectively with pressure;
2. Remains optimistic and persistent, even under adversity.
3. Recovers quickly from setbacks
Strategic Thinking
1. Formulates objectives and priorities, and implements plans consistent with the long-term interests of the organization in a global environment.
2. Capitalizes on opportunities and manages risks
Vision
1. Takes a long-term view and builds a shared vision with others;
2. Acts as a catalyst for organizational change.
3. Influences others to translate vision into action.

This is great stuff. But then I realised something was missing in this description of “executive” competencies. Somewhere along the way we seem to have lost sight of some of the essentials. How about adding interpersonal skills, communication, integrity and a willingness to go on learning even at this stage in your corporate life? Lose them, oh mighty leader, and you lose yourself, your team and probably any chance at all of meaningful success!

Leading Change – lessons from the NHS – making sure your change is properly embedded! (wisewolftalking.com)
Becoming a Leader Today – Manifesto for a Servant Leader (wisewolftalking.com)
Leadership Clarity: Can They See You Now? (linked2leadership.com)

→ 1 Comment

Posted in leadership, Leadership styles, Leading Change

Tagged Core Competencies, Lead change, leadership, Leadership Competencies, Leadership qualities, Leading Change, Management, Organizational Change, what is leadership

Becoming A Leader Today – What to give up!

Posted on 25 July 2011 by Wendy Mason | 5 Comments

Whether you are new to leadership, or an established leader taking time out to reflect, it is worth considering your leadership style. A summer break provides a great opportunity to contemplate lessons learned and the opportunities ahead.

What kind of leader would you like to be? Here are some thoughts on changes you might make and some things you might like to consider giving up!

Give up talking down! Has your approach always been focused top-down with instructions flowing from the “top floor” to the rest of the organization? Now is the time to go for a more collaborative approach! Have you got the confidence to build discussion into your decision making process? Try it and see whether you get more or less engagement from your team. Of course if it doesn’t work you can always revert, but I bet you won’t want to.
Give up revolution and go for evolution. If you want to change the team, try focusing on their strengths and build on them. You have a much better chance of getting the results you want if you start small and build on your successes rather than setting out to ‘rock everyone’s world.’
Give up coercion and start changing from within. Stephen Covey states in his change theory that ‘change occurs on a broken front.’ Not everyone on your team will be where you are and some may not want to change at all. Start with those who are likely to come on board most easily and get them to change. Then help the change seep out to those who are less enthusiastic. This is likely to be much more effective than forcing people to do something and then hitting a wall.
Give up hypocrisy. Model in yourself how you want people to be. If you expect people to make positive changes, they need to see it in you. Set yourself as the example and be visible doing what you’ve asked others to do. You’d be surprised how good the human race is at imitation!
Give up taking things for granted! Make sure that as the ‘right’ things start happening, you recognize the efforts of those who have made it happen. You’ll find that those who want recognition will work harder for more of it, and push others as well.

There are other changes you may want to make in yourself as leader. Give yourself some time for reflection and see what you come up with. If you are an established leader and want to reflect on your approach in depth then try the mini-stocktake you will find at this link .

Whichever approach you take, I’d love to hear about your results.
I am Wendy Mason and I work as a personal and business coach, consultant and blogger. I have worked with many different kinds of people going through personal and career change. If you would like my help, please email me at wendymason@wisewolfconsulting.com or ring ++44(0)2084610114 or ++44(0)7867681439. I will be very pleased to hear from you. I offer half an hour’s free telephone coaching to readers of this blog who quote WW1 – email me to arrange.