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Leading
CHANGE
by
Graham Clark
, Senior Lecturer in
Operations Management
“
The major barrier to change is that people
resist it without even knowing they are.
”
Leading change
28
Management Focus
Management Focus
29
H
ow do you lead culture
change in organisations
and why is it so difficult to
accomplish?
There are many theories on how to
manage people through change,
from Lewin’s three step process
(‘Unfreeze, Change, Freeze’) to
Harvard Professor John Kotter’s 1995
paper, ‘Why transformation efforts
fail’ which introduced an eight step
process for leading change and was
later developed in his book,
Leading
Change
. Whilst there is merit in these
approaches, not least in providing
useful prompts for change leaders, my
experience is that you need to look
deeper.
The major barrier to change is
that people resist it without even
knowing they are. In fact, if you were
to challenge them, they would be
genuinely surprised. Edgar Schein’s
Organisational Culture and Leadership
provides great insight here. He
describes the organisation’s ‘basic
assumption’ as the underlying belief
as to what it does and therefore what
brings meaning to the organisation. In
large scale change, it is all too easy to
focus on what will be done differently
and neglect to pay attention to how
the raison d’être of the business has
changed.
It’s a challenge to deal with what’s
‘unconscious’ for an organisation,
but listening to staff conversations,
particularly those with strong
emotional elements can provide clues.
For example, if a company were to
move from a strong manufacturing
focus based on product innovation
to delivering customised solutions for
customers, many staff will feel out of
their comfort zone.
So how should you lead change in an
organisation?
1. Remember to pay attention to the
meaning of what the organisation
does and demonstrate that you
are building on the heritage of the
past.
2. Enforced step changes may
seem effective in the short term
but you will find that people will
always regress to their previous
(comfortable) state.
3. Too often, leaders complain that
the grapevine or rumour mill is
always negative. A powerful tool
is for change agents to create
and publicise positive stories that
support the new culture, thereby
using the grapevine in a positive
way.
4. Don’t pretend that everything
is positive. All you will do is to
force resistance underground,
making it even more difficult
to deal with. Most experts on
change agree that resistance
can be really valuable because it
forces change leaders to address
areas which have not been fully
resolved.
5. It’s all in the timing! You will
need to give people space to
explore the reasons for change,
particularly those who feel
that they have lost power and
influence. You need to provide
a safe place for people to vent
their emotions but at some point
you must give them a glimpse
of the future and invite as many
as possible to create a shared
understanding of how things will
work in the future. The challenge
of creating something positive
will override the effort of holding
on to something which is really
not doing what it was intended
to do.
6. Make sure that rewards and
recognition are aligned with the
future direction. A shift in the
basis for promotion will send a
powerful message throughout the
organisation.
7. Remember it’s a long term
game. Be patient. It’s likely to
be several years before a cultural
shift is complete. Behaviours
may change but underlying
beliefs take rather longer.
Finally, it is important for change
leaders to manage themselves and
know that it is not possible to please
everyone and that there is a cost to
dealing with the negative energy that
will inevitably come their way. Those
responsible for change need to ensure
that they have appropriate support
networks in place. They also need to
manage their stakeholders and revise
their stakeholder map on a regular
basis, being flexible at all times.
Leading cultural change is a challenge
but it can also be incredibly rewarding.
It is also essential for businesses to
survive over the long term.
MF