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Leadership Development: A new
approach to planned change
by Margot Cairnes
I was recently
sitting in on a meeting of the leadership team of a
large European manufacturing organisation. They were
discussing the current issues; a multi-billion dollar
merger, a global restructure dictated by the parent
company independent of the merger and an industry wide
push to double profits through introducing innovative
leadership practices at business unit level.
Since I started
working with this group six months earlier all the
participants were new having been brought in from around
world for their specific skills and experience. I had
been working with the group's leader for many years and
we shared a common belief that the best way to
capitalise on chaos is to table the real issues,
(especially the thorny ones that every one would rather
avoid and ignore) and engage in adult to adult
communication which encompasses and affirms the personal
reality of each participant.
If people openly
bring their true feelings, thoughts and beliefs into
play you are more likely to resolve issues efficiently,
gain strong commitment and thus ensure effective
implementation. Moreover, open communication around real
issues builds relationship. In times of rapid change,
robust relationships and fluid communication are
strategically vital. In times of very rapid change they
may be the only thing that works.
The group's
leader set the agenda and tone. "I want us to talk
openly, frankly and Margot is here to help us do that"
he informed his people all of whom had already had a
chance to brief me on the issues as they saw them. The
leader then told us all how the past six months had been
for him. How he personally had dealt with the chaos, the
disappointment, the politics and the uncertainty. He did
not give us the Public Relations story, he told us the
truth - warts and all. All the group were expatriates
who had recently undergone dislocating family moves. No
one, including the leader was sure there would ever be a
place for them in their country of origin. They faced
possibly the biggest, most complex challenge of their
careers. No one had the answers. Then they worked
through the nuts and bolts reality (human, team,
business and strategic) of the intricate web of change
that was their lives and business. No hype, no
motivational buzz words, visions or mottos - just the
plain day to day reality of leading a multi-billion
dollar business in a world that is changing so fast you
don't even know where the signposts are any more.
I contrasted this
session with others I have attended (in the banking,
insurance, computing, manufacturing and government
sectors) where people have fought desperately not to
talk about the personal, professional and relationship
implications of massive strategic and structural
changes. I remembered the colossal denial dumped on me
by people whose industries were about to undergo massive
restructure. "Perhaps" one man told me "change will slow
down and go away". From where I sat he and probably half
of his colleagues would be retrenched within a two to
three year period as technological innovation and the
information revolution would make him and his job
irrelevant. "Let's not talk about us and how we feel."
such people would tell me "That's flummery, let's talk
about the real issues".
The real issues
are that organisations around the world are downsizing.
General Electric for example has reduced its staff by
100,000 or nearly one third over the past decade while
at the same time more than doubling its sales. Companies
are shifting to mobile, self-employed and contracted
staff. By the end of this century it is estimated that
less than half the workforce in the industrialised world
will have a 'proper' full time job in organisations.
Those who remain will be expected to deal with change,
uncertainty and complexity that is currently mind
boggling. Between 1992 and 2000 the estimated increase
in innovation is 200%, greatly assisted by the fact that
50% of all scientists and engineers who have ever lived
are alive today. These technological changes will
revolutionise many industries. The financial sector for
example will be completely restructured over the next
decade as more and more banking functions are
transferred to internet and telecommunications systems,
many operated from home or mobile pocket sized machines
readily available to the public.
The most
effective way to plan for this change is to develop the
human potential of the leaders. By leaders I mean the
people, whatever position they hold within the
organisation, who can lead themselves and others through
the web of relationship, innovation and uncertainty that
is the only certainty of the coming age. Leaders will be
the people who can see and capitalise on opportunities
as they occur and see things through to completion in a
world where all the parameters change constantly. These
leaders are people who will be themselves in a process
of transformation. Having themselves experienced real
personal change they will know what it is like for the
people around them to face the quick sands of
technological and information revolution. They will know
how to build robust relationship quickly, how to help
people exit with dignity and how to negotiate with a
changing sea of business partners. They will need to
know how to navigate relationships with business
partners who are also competitors, how to work in
strategic partnership with suppliers, competitors and
clients and how to see a way ahead through the mists of
change.
Developing people
to a high level of comfort with the intangibles takes
time, especially considering the strength of
relationship skill they will be expected to exhibit.
Having enough people in house who can deal effectively
with the coming age will necessitate that organisations
find, develop and keep people who are in the process of
personal transformation - people who are sufficiently
aware of their habits of thought, belief, emotional
response and behaviour that they can act appropriately
in a myriad of new and unpredictable situations.
People who have
the courage to let go of past certainties and stride out
into the unknown. People with the sensitivity to notice
changes as they occur and the wit to navigate the jungle
of organisational politics. They will also need to be
intelligent enough to get their brains around the issues
as they reconstruct themselves over time.
The stars of the
coming era cannot be "trained." They can however be
developed. Development will need to be ongoing and
highly personalised in its nature. Change leaders are,
however, so strategically important that organisations
cannot afford not to provide them with the support and
developmental resources they need as they tap their
highest potential, remaining in a constant process of
personal growth and unfolding.
Not everybody is
capable of being a corporate star in an age of change,
so finding, developing and keeping the stars is going to
be no mean feat. It is however going to be the key to
strategic success in a world of change, complexity and
uncertainty.
Copyright
ã Margot
Cairnes
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