Understanding and Managing Change and Leadership Application

I spent a very rewarding few days with my leadership team in Malaysia this past week. 

 

We were focusing on the transitional change required to move from a green field start-up to a business as usual environment.  This is no easy task, particularly when the leadership team are young (home grown) and their only reference and leadership experience and skills have been learnt in a start-up operation.  Once you move beyond ‘project’ and transition to business as usual you are facing increased expectations; from your staff, your peers, your leaders and the parent company.  Often during a start-up phase everyone is so busy focusing on getting the ‘job done’ that building organisational and leadership skills is left by the way side.  

 

This is certainly our story and so we are now facing a heightened classic dip in the change management cycle.

•  Self-doubt
• Some level of panic
• Lack of motivation
• High activity for minimal return
• Lack of clarity on where to next

To fix this we firstly to understand the various change phases and where we are in the change phase.   Secondly we need to build on and improve leadership skills and competency.  

It is interesting to note the highlight this week on Colin Powell’s 13-rules of Leadership.  This was our starting point.  Not all of the ‘rules’ are relevant to us at this time but as a frame of reference we considered the following as our base-point.  

 

Lesson 1:  "Being responsible sometimes means pissing people off."  

The key message: Trying to get everyone to like you is a sign of mediocrity: you'll avoid the tough decisions 

Leadership Competency:

1. Ensure best performers are more satisfied than poor performers
2. Get rid of non-performers 

Lesson 5: "Never neglect details.  When everyone's mind is dulled or distracted the leader must be doubly vigilant." 

The key message:  Good leaders delegate and empower others liberally, but they pay attention to details, every day.  Bad ones, even those who fancy themselves as progressive  "visionaries“, think they're somehow "above" operational details. 

Leadership Competency:

1. Stay in touch with the “little� things 

Lesson 7:  "Keep looking below surface appearances. Don't shrink from doing so (just) because you might not like what you find." 

The key message: "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" is the slogan of the complacent 

Leadership Competency:

1. Create an environment in which everybody wants to stretch

Lesson 8:  "Organization doesn't really accomplish anything.  Plans don't accomplish anything, either.  Theories of management don't much matter.  Endeavors succeed or fail because of the people involved.  Only by attracting the best people will you accomplish great deeds." 

The key message: But how many leaders really "walk the talk" with this stuff?   

Leadership Competency

1. Count on people more than plans or structures
2. Spend at least 50% of your time on people
3. View people as partners, regardless of place in the hierarchy
4. Become a servant leader – work “for� your people

Lesson 9: "Organization charts and fancy titles count for next to nothing." 

The key message: If people really followed organization charts, companies would collapse.   

Leadership Competency

•  Inspire trust from :

1. Competence
2. Character
3. Courage
4.  Loyalty
5.  Instill confidence
6. Selflessness 

Lesson 10:"Never let your ego get so close to your position that when your position goes, your ego goes with it." 

The key message: Too often, change is stifled by people who cling to familiar turfs and job descriptions.   

Leadership Competency

1.  Make change mean growth – organisationally & personally  

Lesson 12:"Perpetual optimism is a force multiplier." 

The key message: The ripple effect of a leader's enthusiasm and optimism is awesome.  So is the impact of cynicism and pessimism.   

Leadership Competency:

1. Make optimism the fuel for bold and disciplined action 

Lesson 18: "Command is lonely." 

The key lesson: You can encourage participative management and bottom-up employee involvement, but ultimately the essence of leadership is the willingness to make the tough, unambiguous choices  

Leadership Competency

1. Make the ultimate decision and accept the weight of their position
2. Those who seek out ‘responsibility’  need to be prepared to accept it – fully & unequivocally

Time will tell how successful we are in making the transition but make it we must.  I accept that we lose people along the way but that is to be expected.  I will share more after my next trip (in June) along with our progress.