Seven Steps to Leading Organizational Transformation Posted on 28 August 2013. Tags: Maureen Metcalf, organizational transformation Ralph walked into a meeting that was being led by the business unit president. Ralph was running a large project for a global company and, based on what he had seen thus far, he was concerned about their ability to implement the changes proposed in the scheduled time. Given Ralph’s twenty years of successful project implementation, he recognized the warning signs: 1.Leaders gave lip service to the change, but did not fully understand what they were implementing; 2.Leaders were not meeting their commitments to attend sessions required to better understand the process and make key business decisions impacting project success; 3.Leaders were not implementing critical change in their organizations according to schedule. These warning signs are common across organizations. Leaders are often overloaded and do not make change initiatives a priority, especially when they need to attend to ongoing operations in addition to leading very time consuming change initiatives. So, what can you do to address this problem? The Innovative Leaders Guide to Transforming Organizations lays out a seven step process for leaders. Each step walks leaders through what they need to do as leaders as well as what the organization needs to do to be successful. As the leader, here are a few recommended actions for each of the transformation steps: Leading Organizational Transformation 1.Create a vision and sense of urgency. Link change initiatives to the organization’s strategic objectives and to conduct thorough analysis of the reason for the change and the business case. 2.Build your team. Clearly determine teams and roles. Who does what? By when? With what resources?Confirm that all impacted segments of the organization (including front line) are represented in the team structure. 3.Assess situation and strengths. Determine required culture changes and determine required leadership changes. What behaviors do leaders need to demonstrate for the project to be successful? 4.Plan the change journey. Use collaborative planning process that includes input from all key stakeholder groups. Integrate culture and leadership changes into the overall project plan. 5.Communicate. Formulate communication messages that include vision as well as urgency. Confirm that leaders at all levels are communicating a consistent message. 6.Implement and measure. Ensure front line involvement in the implementation process. Establish clear and specific actions and completion dates, and aggressively track progress. 7.Embed the change. Reward key project participants for their efforts to complete the project and the personal commitment they made to the organization’s success. Update training and other key materials.While following this process does not guarantee successful transformation, it does increase the probability of success.Ralph’s project was a success in large part because of his ability to foresee issues and proactively identify solutions. He demonstrated deep business acumen, amazing patience and a willingness to laugh at himself and the challenges he faced.Evaluate yourself against the seven step process using the free online Organizational Transformation Assessment? How effective are you at each of these steps?To learn more about becoming a more effective leader using Innovative Leadership we recommend taking leadership assessments, reading the Innovative Leadership Fieldbook and the Innovative Leaders Guide to Transforming Organizations and participating in the on-line innovative leadership development program with coaching. We also offer several workshops to help you build these skills. Maureen Metcalf, CEO of Metcalf & Associates Inc., is a distinguished leader, consultant, and teacher focused on helping leaders transform themselves and their organizations in service of creating healthy, sustainable, and thriving organizations. She is also the co-author of The Innovative Leadership Fieldbook, published by Integral Publishing and winner of the 2012 International Book Award as Best Business Reference Book and the author of the Innovative Leadership Workbook Series. She has developed, tested, and implemented emerging models that dramatically improve how clients’ organizations transform for success in changing times. She works with leaders to develop innovative “Level 5″ leadership competencies and with organizations to develop innovative organizations. Metcalf combines intellectual rigor and discipline with an ability to translate theory into practice to serve all of her clients.
Posted on: Thu, 05 Sep 2013 05:06:35 +0000
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