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December 2007 Newsletter

Eight Rules for Leading Change
George Raine

Change makes or breaks managers’ careers.

In the past three years, since starting my own consulting business, I have worked closely with many companies, large and small, on both sides of the border as they struggled to cope with ever-faster change. I have seen managers rise from obscurity to high levels because great changes illuminated their leadership skills. And I have seen change destroy the careers of previously successful managers who could not leave the safety of the status quo.

Niccolo Machiavelli spoke about the difficulty of leading change nearly 500 years ago. Born in Florence in 1469, Machiavelli became a political advisor to the powerful Medici family. In 1512, he wrote a famous treatise, The Prince, in which he summarized for his patrons the principles by which one could lead people in the dangerous and treacherous political world of Renaissance Italy. In The Prince, Machiavelli has the following to say about the difficulty of leading change:

“And it ought to be remembered that there is nothing more difficult to take in hand, more perilous to conduct, or more uncertain in its success, than to take the lead in the introduction of a new order of things. Because the innovator has for enemies all those who have done well under the old conditions and only lukewarm defenders in those who may do well under the new. This lukewarm attitude arises partly from fear of the opposition, who have the old rules on their side, and partly from the incredulity of men, who do not readily believe in new things until they have had long experience of them.”

Machiavelli was talking about introducing new laws to a conquered territory, but he could have equally have been speaking about introducing a new strategy to a troubled company, or of introducing a progressive management style to an adversarial workplace. Leading change demands focus, willpower, and tact - but most of all it demands that leaders have the courage to go forward when safety lies behind them.

Here are eight leadership rules I like to stress when guiding a team through a period of change.

1. Be visible

A famous British Field Marshall, Sir Archibald Wavell, once wrote a handbook for junior army officers called “Ten Commandments for Junior Leaders.” Wavell’s first commandment was this:

Be present with your people as often and as impressively as possible.

Leaders can be at their best in times of change. But effective change leadership is a very personal art. You have to do it face to face. Good change leaders allow at least two hours a day for personal communication, visiting people in their workplace, answering questions and showing confidence. Good leaders dare to be associated with the change. Poor ones hide from it in their office.

2. Overcommunicate

Poor change leaders often complain that their people should already know what’s going on because they’ve been told it once or twice already.

Good change leaders understand that employee communication is like advertising, where repetition is a virtue [except, perhaps, in those Head On commercials]. They communicate openly and honestly about the changes, provide as much detail as possible, and explain the reasons behind every plan or change of course. And they know that effective communication requires telling the same story many times in many different ways.

3. Give people structure amid the chaos

The old ways of doing things gave your people structure and identity. They knew the rules. They knew where to go and what to do. Then came change.

In times of change, your people want to know where they fit in. They won’t want to hear “I don’t know”, or “We’re working on that” or “Just do what makes sense.” They will look to their leaders to assure them that everything will be all right and that the universe is unfolding as it should!

Leaders have to adopt a more directive style directive during times of change. People react to change with fear, and easily become paralyzed. They speculate about the long term – trying to look farther into the future than is realistic. During the early stages of change, effective leaders need to help people focus on what’s important now. They set clear, simple goals and manage them vigorously.

4. Move quickly.

During periods of great change the rumour mill works overtime. People indulge in speculation. The whole organization is upset. Good leaders realize that things are disrupted already and move quickly and decisively. They know that the disruption won’t diminish if they move slowly. If jobs have to change or people have to be let go, effective leaders get on with it.

5. Get people working with each other

When change is structural, such as in the case of a merger, sale, or acquisition, front line employees are often left out. Poor leaders hold all decision making at the executive level and leave groups on the front line isolated from one another.

Good leaders get their front-line people involved and working together. They arrange for the people who need to deal with each other to get together face to face. They create front line transition teams.

6. Be stubborn

When leaders introduce change, they encounter friction. Many of their people argue for smaller and slower change. Leaders are pressured to back off, and to make allowances for many things. People say things like, “George is having a hard time with the idea of learning a new job.” Good leaders know that they cannot be cold-hearted, but they know it will hurt the organization in the long run if they get too soft about change.

7. Sort out who’s accountable for what

Major changes in a company devastate the unwritten organization chart – the one that defines “how things really get done around here.” That unwritten organization chart probably took decades to evolve. It was like a complicated puzzle, and now pieces are missing.

Good leaders understand that telling employees “you figure it out” is wrong. Left to themselves, aggressive employees take on power to an extent that that is unnecessary and disruptive, while more cautious employees give only half of what they could. Effective change leaders take the time to meet with the people doing the work, understand the work flow, and decide matters of accountability and cross-functional communications, coordination, and oversight.

8. Get the whole leadership team on the same page

Introducing a change reminds one of the classic poem The Blind Men and the Elephant. Each employee [and, if you’re not careful, each manager] interprets the change differently. Left unchecked, each employee develops a different explanation of the change. Before long, misunderstandings are common. Effective leaders take care to groom the entire management team to tell the same story in basically the same words.

George Raine is President of Montana HR Services (www.montanahr.com), a Moncton-based consulting firm specializing in workplace and work system organization, labour relations, and customized leadership and supervisory training.