Fall 2008 issue of Horizons

GENERAL TOPICS

Leading Through Change – Lessons from the Front Lines For leaders in any organization, it often is difficult to accurately forecast the future. We spend a significant amount of time building strategies based upon assumptions, market intelligence, forecasts and historical data, all with the hope that our prediction will at least be close to what actually occurs. There is one thing, however, of which we can be sure, and that is change. Planned or unplanned, change can teach valuable lessons that help leaders to not only manage, but take advantage of the opportunities they present. Some specific examples include taking over the leadership of an organization after the departure of existing leadership, selling a major division of a company, leading a new entity, acquiring and integrating companies into an organization, growing a company in a down market, or shifting an organization’s focus through personnel changes and acquisitions. No matter what the circumstance, each change can teach lessons along the way that help not only in successfully managing the change, but also serving as a catalyst to dramatically improve the organization. While there are many leadership skills that are required to lead an organization and lead significant change, there are three that have proven beneficial in succeeding in a range of unique situations. Lesson 1 – Lead, don’t do Many leaders have a tendency to try to take over when significant change occurs. They feel a need to demonstrate that they are “in total control” of the situation, hoping to portray the image that the changes By Dan Raskas

that are occurring will have minimal, if any, impact. While it is important to establish a sense of stability and order, too much control and dominance can suppress the potential opportunity for improvement. For example, one company recognized that the only way to truly grow one of its divisions was to sell the group to a buyer who viewed it as strategic and was willing to invest in the business. Company leaders could have simply made the decision, obtained approval from the board, and made it happen. Instead, they carefully orchestrated the process to involve key people within the group at various points so that they felt involved in the process as a whole. While the board needed to approve the concept up front, these key people were able to dictate much of the transaction, like attributes of the buyer and execution of the transaction. Toward the end of the process, everyone in the group was completely energized. People on staff even created a logo that represented the quest for the new company and distributed shirts to all employees. Productivity and sales significantly increased during the time they were looking for a buyer. As a leader, setting the vision and reaching out to people in the organization to make them part of the solution results in the maximum benefit. The negative impact of the changes in every scenario gets minimized, shifting the focus from the change to the opportunity to make a difference and be part of the new future. By employing this skill, leaders will find they have a group of highly motivated individuals who play a large part in executing the solution because they had ownership in the plan to get there. Lesson 2 – Communicate One of the most critical aspects of managing significant change is a leader’s ability to effectively communicate to the various stakeholders. These stakeholders include not only people within the organization, but also people outside the organization, such as customers, suppliers and investors. The communications must be timely and contain relevant information; avoid communicating for the sake of communicating. Communications should take many forms, the most effective of which is face-to-face interaction with people. Direct contact is the best way to share information and, more importantly, listen to what people have to say.

13 ◆ fall 2008 issue