Leading during
change is extremely difficult; it involves a great deal of planning,
flexibility, and understanding. It is also very unpredictable; as even the best
thought-out plans can be thrown off course.
Even change in something systematic can change the culture of the
organization, it is this upset that makes change the most difficult. I feel that most employees are willing to accept
and make changes to the way they do things but when the change starts to affect
they way they interact it becomes more difficult and people tend to resist.
In the case of
Gallery Furniture (VitalSmarts
Video, 2012), the owner was asking his sales department to change they
way they approaches and dealt with customers.
He asked them to not only follow up with customers that entered the
store but to also take on the new role of prospecting, which is going after
customers that might not have even entered the store yet. In the video, there was a matrix describing
the process of change with the sales department, which had three columns titled
personal, social, and structural and two rows titled motivation and
ability. McIngvale used this technique
to show his sales team how to approach potential customers, gave them the tools
(iPads) they needed to do their job properly, and they build in an incentive
program to help motivate their employees.
Together all these changes resulted not only in a large increase in
revenue, but they resulted in what McIngvale described as “customers for life”.
McChrystal (2011)
referred to the concept of listening and learning before leading. Coming from a military background he was
taught to follow orders and directions exactly as they are stated, as this was
the culture in the military. He went on
to describe what he called “soldier leadership”, they will follow so we better
have taught them well. Teaching isn’t
always about telling a person how to do something it is about letting them
figure some stuff out on their own. A
person can only take in and process so much information verbal and visually,
they then need an opportunity to experience it first hand. This was the case when McChrystal lead a
predawn attack where his men were wiped out.
He left feeling defeated, thinking he was a failure. When he was approached by his battalion
commander he felt he had let him down, however, his commander responded with “I
thought you did great”. This was what he
needed in order to realize that just because one fails doesn’t mean he is a
failure. This is true in business also,
sometimes the best lessons are those taught by our mistakes.
A company’s
culture plays a large role in everything that goes on. Brown (2011) defined a strong culture as
“characterized by the organization’s basic values being intensely held and
widely shared” (p. 406). The strongest
scenario is when most of the members committed to and sharing values, and this
can make change difficult. The employees
can become resistant to any changes that affect the culture.
Another way Brown
(2011) looks at change is in the way strategy and culture mix. In other words, it is most beneficial to be
aware of the culture when implementing strategic changes. Some leaders do not realize how important
culture is when they create plans around change; they are so focused on the
change itself they forget that the employees are directly affected by these changes. It is also best to be aware of how the
culture may react to the change and be willing to adjust your plan accordingly. Brown (2011) breaks this down into four
alternatives in determining change:
1.
Manage the change (manageable risk)
2.
Reinforce the culture (negligible risk)
3.
Manage around the culture (manageable risk)
4.
Change the strategy to fit the culture
(unacceptable risk) (p. 406).
These
alternatives offer leaders the opportunity to realize how they can use the
culture to their advantage, while still promoting the necessary changes.
I have been through a few different
changes in my career and some went better than others. The ones that went the most smoothly were
those where the thoughts and concerns of the employees were appreciated and accepted. While it may be the leader’s responsibility
to make changes happen they need to remember that often times it is the
employees themselves that are most impacted.
Often times a little gratitude and understanding can go a long way.
Brown, D. R. (2011). An Experiential
Approach to Organization Development (8th
ed.). Upper
Saddle River, New Jersey: Prentice Hall.
McChrystal, S. (2011). Transcript of "Listen, learn
... then lead" Retrieved September
28, 2016, from
http://www.ted.com/talks/stanley_mcchrystal/transcript?language=en#t-909175
VitalSmarts Video. (2012). Influencer | Gallery Furniture
Video Case Study.
Retrieved September 28, 2016,
from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E20RW75Fhu4
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