RAF Leadership Centre
Change,Culture & Leadership
Change, Culture & Leadership: Can Changing Culture
Facilitate the Leadership of Change?
Leadership Conference
July 18/19 2007
Professor Malcolm Higgs
Henley Management College
© Professor Malcolm Higgs 2007
RAF Leadership Centre
Scope of the Presentation
 The Challenges of
Change
 Approaches to Change
 Change Leadership
 Relationship between
Culture & Change
 Further Developments
in Thinking around
Change Leadership
© Professor Malcolm Higgs 2007
Change,Culture & Leadership
RAF Leadership Centre
The
Challenge
of Change
© Professor Malcolm Higgs 2007
Change,Culture & Leadership
RAF Leadership Centre
Change,Culture & Leadership
The Reality is that 70% of Changes Fail !!
In 2004 in the UK it has been estimated
that $6 billion was spent on Change
So $4.2 billion was wasted !!!!
© Professor Malcolm Higgs 2007
RAF Leadership Centre
Change,Culture & Leadership
The Challenge of Change
The Key Questions:
If 70% of Changes Fail:
• Why?
• What makes the others
succeed ?
© Professor Malcolm Higgs 2007
RAF Leadership Centre
Change,Culture & Leadership
What Really Happens?
© Professor Malcolm Higgs 2007
Change,Culture & Leadership
RAF Leadership Centre
One
Look
Complex
Simple
© Professor Malcolm Higgs 2007
Change Approaches
Distributed
© RFLC 2005
Change,Culture & Leadership
RAF Leadership Centre
Change Approaches
One
Look
Directive
Master
“I can manage
change”
“I trust my people to
solve things with us”
Complex
Simple
“Launch enough Initiatives &
something will stick”
SelfAssembly
© Professor Malcolm Higgs 2007
“I can only create the
conditions for change to
happen”
Emergent
Distributed
© RFLC 2005
Change,Culture & Leadership
RAF Leadership Centre
Change Approaches
One
Look
Directive
•High magnitude: 48%
Master
•Long term: 21%
•High scope: 42%
•Low scope, int. source +ve
Complex
Simple
•High magnitude: 44%
•All correlations -ve
SelfAssembly
Key:
Green = positive relationship
Red = negative relationship
% = amount of variance between success and
failure explained in that context
© Professor Malcolm Higgs 2007
•High magnitude: 32%
•All correlations +ve
Emergent
Distributed
© RFLC 2005
RAF Leadership Centre
Change,Culture & Leadership
Change Approaches
One
Look
Simple
Directive
Master
Doing
Change
To
Doing
SelfAssembly
© Professor Malcolm Higgs 2007
Complex
Change
With
Emergent
Distributed
© RFLC 2005
RAF Leadership Centre
Change,Culture & Leadership
Leading
Change
in
Practice
© Professor Malcolm Higgs 2007
RAF Leadership Centre
Change,Culture & Leadership
Leadership Behaviours
Shaping
“Without me, nothing
will happen”
© Professor Malcolm Higgs 2007
Framing
“With clear
boundaries, people
can be free to
contribute”
Creating
“We cannot change
unless we learn and
grow”
©RFLC 2005
RAF Leadership Centre
Change,Culture & Leadership
Impact of Leadership
Creating
“We cannot change unless
we learn and grow”
• Successful
Framing
“With clear boundaries,
people can be free to
contribute”
• Successful
Shaping
“Without me, nothing will happen”
• Unsuccessful
©RFLC 2005
© Professor Malcolm Higgs 2007
RAF Leadership Centre
Why is Culture
so important?
How do culture
and leadership
interrelate?
© Professor Malcolm Higgs 2007
Change,Culture & Leadership
Change,Culture & Leadership
RAF Leadership Centre
Leadership and Culture Make a Difference
?
Performance
Leadership
?
60%
80%
Culture
© Professor Malcolm Higgs 2007
RAF Leadership Centre
Change,Culture & Leadership
The Challenge of Change
70% of Change Initiatives Fail
 Aspects of Corporate
Culture have a significant
impact on the success/failure
of Change
 Understanding the
Culture of an organisation
is key to change
 Making Change work often
entails making some change to
aspects of the culture of an
organisation
© Professor Malcolm Higgs 2007
RAF Leadership Centre
Change,Culture & Leadership
The Impact of Culture on Performance
CULTURE determines:

The way we address problems

Our receptivity to change

The way we deal with each
other

The way we deal with
stakeholders

Our commitment to strategy
© Professor Malcolm Higgs 2007
RAF Leadership Centre
Change,Culture & Leadership
The Goffee & Jones Model
Solidarity
© Professor Malcolm Higgs 2007
RAF Leadership Centre
Change,Culture & Leadership
Hi
-ve Success
+ve Shaping
+ve Framing
-ve Shaping
+ve Success
Lo
Lo
© Professor Malcolm Higgs 2007
? Communal as
best culture
Hi
Solidarity
RAF Leadership Centre
Change,Culture & Leadership
The Goffee & Jones Model
Hi
Networked
Communal
Fragmented
Mercenary
Lo
Lo
© Professor Malcolm Higgs 2007
Solidarity
Hi
RAF Leadership Centre
Change,Culture & Leadership
Managing Cultural Change
Know where you are starting
Know where you need to go (from
a business perspective)
Identify the levers which need
pulling
Pull the levers
© Professor Malcolm Higgs 2007
RAF Leadership Centre
Changing Culture
Increasing Sociability
Change,Culture & Leadership
The Goffee & Jones Model
Increasing Solidarity
•Promote the sharing of ideas,
interest and emotions by recruiting
compatible people
•Develop awareness of competitors
through briefings, e-mail,
newsletters, etc.
•Increase social interaction among
employees by arranging casual
gatherings inside and outside the
office
•Create a sense of urgency
•Reduce formality between
employees
•Limit hierarchical differences
•Act like a friend - set the example
© Professor Malcolm Higgs 2007
•Stimulate the will to win
•Encourage commitment to shared
corporate goals
RAF Leadership Centre
Change,Culture & Leadership
Study 2
We cannot change unless we
learn and grow
Creating positive
With clear boundaries,
people can be free to
contribute
Framing strongly
Positive
“Without me, nothing will happen”
Shaping Negative
A combination (Framcap) strongly positive in all Contexts
©RFLC 2005
© Professor Malcolm Higgs 2007
RAF Leadership Centre
Change,Culture & Leadership
Behaviours which Make a Difference
Attractor
Creates an
energy for the
change
Edge & Tension
Amplifies
disturbance
around the change
Transforming
Space
Creates a
Container
Creates
movement
Holds the tension
around the change
© RFLC 2006
© Professor Malcolm Higgs 2007
RAF Leadership Centre
Attractor
Change,Culture & Leadership
Creates an energy for the change
•Connects with others at an emotional level,
embodies the future intent of the
organisation
•Tunes in to day to day reality, sees themes &
patterns that connect to a wider movement,
and from this creates a compelling story for
the organisation
•Uses this to set the context of how things fit
together, working the story into the life of the
organisation so that every conversation &
decision “makes sense”
•Visibly works beyond personal ambition to
serve higher purpose, the organisation, and
its wider community
• Is consciously aware of one’s own
leadership and adapts this for a specific
purpose
© Professor Malcolm Higgs 2007
© RFLC 2006
RAF Leadership Centre
Edge & Tension
Change,Culture & Leadership
Amplifies disturbance around the change
•Tells it as it is – describes reality with
respect yet without compromise
•In times of turbulence, has constancy;
does not withdraw from the tough stuff;
keeps people’s hands in the fire
•Can spot and challenge assumptions –
creates discomfort by challenging
existing paradigms and disrupting
habitual ways of doing things
•Sets the bar high and keeps it there –
stretches the goals & limits of what’s
possible
•Does not compromise on talent – pays
attention to getting and keeping “A”
players
© Professor Malcolm Higgs 2007
© RFLC 2006
RAF Leadership Centre
Creates a Container
Change,Culture & Leadership
Holds the tension around the change
•Sets & contracts boundaries , clear
expectations & hard rules so that people
know what to operate on (performance
expectations) and how they need to operate
(values & behaviours)
•Is self assured, confident, and takes a stand
for one’s beliefs – is non-anxious in
challenging conditions
•Provides affirming & encouraging signals;
creates ownership, trust & confidence
•Makes it “safe” to say risky things & have
the “hard to have conversations” via
empathy & high quality dialogue skills
•Creates alignment at the top to ensure
consistency & constancy of approach
© Professor Malcolm Higgs 2007
© RFLC 2006
RAF Leadership Centre
Transforming Space
Change,Culture & Leadership
Creates movement
•Demonstrates a commitment that
engenders trust, enabling the system
to go to new places, learn about itself,
and act differently
•Frees people to new possibilities
through making oneself vulnerable and
open
•Understands what is happening in the
moment & breaks established patterns
and structures in ways that create
movement in the “here and now”
•Powerfully inquires into ripe systemic
issues to enable deep change to
happen
•Creates time and space (including
attending to its physical quality) for
transforming encounters
© Professor Malcolm Higgs 2007
© RFLC 2006
RAF Leadership Centre
Change,Culture & Leadership
A combination of these factors explained nearly 50%
of the variance in change success
Attractor
Creates an
energy for the
change
Edge & Tension
Amplifies
disturbance
around the change
Transforming
Space
Creates a
Container
Creates
movement
Holds the tension
around the change
© RFLC 2006
© Professor Malcolm Higgs 2007
RAF Leadership Centre
Attractor
Change,Culture & Leadership
Putting it all Together
 Understand
Edge & Tension
& Incorporate Wider
Context
 Build Leadership Teams
 Work on the Underlying System
Transforming
Space
Creating a
Container
 Patient with People
 Display Self-Awareness
 Set Tangible Measures
© Professor Malcolm Higgs 2007
© RFLC 2006
RAF Leadership Centre
Change,Culture & Leadership
Creating a Positive Climate for Change
© Professor Malcolm Higgs 2007
RAF Leadership Centre
Change,Culture & Leadership
Questions?
© Professor Malcolm Higgs 2007