Leading Change for Organization
Renewal
Gene Deszca
School of Business and Economics
Wilfrid Laurier University,
Waterloo, Ontario, Canada
Agenda
• The basic change model
• Barriers to successful change
• Five ways we limit ourselves
• HOW to change
• WHAT to change
• You as change agent
Organization Change is:
A planned alteration of organizational components to
improve the effectiveness of the organization.
• Components include: mission and vision, strategy, goals,
structure, processes & systems, technology & people
• Enhanced effectiveness increases our ability to generate
value for those they serve
The Basic Change Model –
K. Lewin
UNFREEZE
CHANGE
REFREEZE
Re-gel??
Your Experience With
Change Management
•
So it’s easy??
•
Does it work this way?
•
What gets in the way?
Barriers to Recognizing
the Need for Change
• Past successes
• Existing culture
• Current vision
• Leadership practices
• Embedded systems and processes
The above can lead to active inertia, groupthink,
and other impediments to critical judgment
and action
Barriers to
Successful Change
• Thesis:
• We have seen the enemy and the enemy is
us!
• In too many situations, our perceptions,
attitudes and beliefs block us from
successful organization change.
Five Ways
We Limit Ourselves
1. Flawed analysis
• Need to deal with both the How and What of
change
• Need both an “inside out” and “outside in”
focus
2. Lack of self awareness - blind spots
Five Ways
We Limit Ourselves
3. Failure to integrate head, heart and hand
approaches to change
•
Head factors - the cognitive elements – persuasion
of need for change based on logical arguments
•
Heart factors are affective elements – persuasion
based on emotion to build buy-in and commitment
•
Hand factors are action elements – the
engagement of people in change through their active
involvement
Five Ways
We Limit Ourselves
4. We assume that money is the tool of choice for
motivating people
•
Money may work but it brings the body but not the
soul. Better to create a powerful, compelling vision
5. We confuse ambivalence for resistance. We get
defensive and we view resistance as "bad”
•
We assume those with different ideas are wrong
•
Ambivalence and Resistance contains information
that we need to understand and tap into.
Back to The
Change Models
The How of Change – Beckhard and Harris
Change Management:
The How of Change
Why Change?
Determining the need for change
Determining the degree of choice about
whether to change
Defining the desired
future state
Describing the
present state
Getting from here to there:
Assessing the present in terms
of the future to determine the
work to be done
Managing during the
transition state
Back to The
Change Models
The What of Change – Nadler and Tushman
Organizational
Congruence Model
TRANFORMATION PROCESS
INPUT
ENVIRONMENT
(P.E.S.T.)
RESOURCES
HISTORY/
CULTURE
S
T
R
A
T
E
G
Y
INFORMAL
STRUCTURE
& PROCESS
SYSTEMS
LEVEL
FORMAL
STRUCTURE
WORK
PEOPLE
OUTPUT
UNIT/GROUP
LEVEL
INDIVIDUAL
LEVEL
Organizational
Congruence Model
TRANFORMATION PROCESS
INPUT
ENVIRONMENT
(P.E.S.T.)
RESOURCES
HISTORY/
CULTURE
S
T
R
A
T
E
G
Y
INFORMAL
STRUCTURE
& PROCESS
FORMAL
STRUCTURE
WORK
PEOPLE
OUTPUT
SYSTEMS
LEVEL
UNIT/GROUP
LEVEL
INDIVIDUAL
LEVEL
What’s Required to be a
Successful Change Leader?
1. Keen capacity to assess and anticipate the external
environment
• Develop diverse networks for ideas, information & support
2. Rich understanding of organizational systems &
processes, power structures & stakeholder networks
3. Excellent communication skills
• Capacity to frame vision
4. Driving passion for action, yet patient and persistent
• Well developed sense of timing and tactics
• Ability to assess and manage risk
Characteristics Of
A Change Leader (cont.)
5. Tolerance for ambiguity and risk taking
6. Emotional maturity and courage
•
Willingness to hire & listen to employees who will stand
up and tell you what they really think
7. Self confidence and optimism
8. Honest and trustworthy, able to inspire confidence
9. Deep understanding of themselves & their impact
10. Curiosity and a strong desire to learn