Leading Change within an Organisation

Change in business is inevitable. It can happen internally or as a result of industry change, and it can be planned or reactive. Leading change within organisations is necessary for business leaders to build an enduring company and maintain a competitive advantage.

If you look up ‘leading change’ on any search engine, the first name that comes up is John Kotter. His 8-step process is studied by millions and used as a blueprint guide for businesspeople across the globe. The book ‘Leading Change’ was also nominated by TIME Magazine in 2011 as one of the ‘Top 25 Most Influential Business Management Books’ of all time.

But there are of course other leading lights on the topic of change including - Jim Collins, Clayton Christensen, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi and Brené Brown. Let’s have a look at some of the advice they have to offer.

 Built to Last

Leading change successfully isn’t just about survival - it’s about growth and sustainability. But what does it mean when you feel like you’re constantly firefighting and struggling just to survive in these particularly uncertain times? The good news is that you don’t need to completely re-invent yourself. In fact, according to Jim Collins in his book ‘Built to Last: Successful Habits of Visionary Companies’, that’s the one thing you shouldn’t do. Instead, you should be ‘identifying and sticking with timeless fundamentals.’ Take a hard look at your core business, culture and values and adapt improved structures, products, services, technology, and practices around them to change and stimulate progress.

 Disruptive innovations

The theory of disruptive innovation by Clayton Christensen offers a powerful approach to thinking about innovation driven growth for leaders of small, medium and large businesses. It is based on the ‘process in which a smaller company, usually with fewer resources is able to challenge an established business by entering at the bottom of the market and continuing to move up-market.’

The principles of this theory support building an enduring company and encourages leaders to do what they need to do to survive including listening to customers, investing in their business, and building distinctive capabilities. Business leaders need to remember whilst doing this to not ignore rivals with ‘disruptive’ innovations.

But what is the recipe for disruptive success? Some of the ingredients in addition to innovation itself include seeking to create new markets or revolutionise old ones, listening to consumers and understanding their values, identifying how you can positively impact your industry, and adapting and pushing established market standards. Be agile!

 Go with the Flow

Staff are the most important asset to any business, especially in times of change. So, what steps can a leader take to make sure they have engaged and motivated employees that may be more likely to embrace change and make that journey more positive?

The concept of ‘flow’ was developed in 1990 by positive psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. ‘Flow’ is a mental state of true engagement and focused attention on a challenging task – either personal or professional.  To create the conditions where this can happen, leaders need to set specific goals that challenge the individual (mutual understanding of expectations), provide quick feedback on performance (easier to maintain focus) and match the tasks to the individual’s abilities (reduces stress).

 Keep it awkward, brave and kind

Often the desirable characteristics associated with a successful leader are strong, confident, assured, accountable, experienced – but certainly not vulnerable. 

Dr. Brené Brown, the Texan research professor behind the Dare to Lead initiative would beg to differ.  She advocates that ‘leaders who embrace vulnerability within themselves and their employees create organisations that take risks, uncertainty and failure and manage them in a way that everyone can move on quickly and productively.’

Dr. Brown may have a point. Certainly Paul Wolfe, Senior Vice President of HR at Indeed and Marriott International CED Arne Sorenson seem to have embraced the idea.  In 2020 Wolfe, in an email to 10,000 staff shared his struggle with OCD and Sorenson was praised by Forbes as an example of a leader being ‘candid, vulnerable, humble, emotional and hopeful’ for an employee video he recorded at the start of the pandemic.

Embracing vulnerability helps leaders be more relatable, drives trust, demonstrates strength of character, inspires creativity and ultimately transforms people into modern leaders. This in turn enables continued growth and encourages psychological safety, the ability to connect through authenticity and building stronger teams.

 How are you driving change through your business?

 Let the Alchemists Forum Help you on your path of change and discovery in 2022. Contact Alan Branagh alan@alchemistsforum.com for more information.