Change has 3 components
- Disconfirmation of current situation
- Moving to the new situation
- Stabilizing & Standardizing
In a discussion someone described the Moving to a new Situation as ‘Roaming in the dessert and eventually people find their way out.”
That confused me
I asked who is leading this change in the desert? his reply nobody it must come from the people.
We’ve become afraid to accept that we need managers to create shared and common direction. While looking for ‘Leadership’ to save the day.
With the desert analogy I wonder:
- What if the leaders are only effective at walking people in circles?
- Who is accountable to defining some aspect of the change and moving everyone in the same direction?
- What happens when the people become comfortable walking in the desert and want to stay there?
- What if the leadership enjoys the power assumed from keeping people confused and chooses to keep everyone in the desert?
- What happens when someone asks, we have been spinning for months now and are no closer to achieving results. I think I have another idea.
In a company any change effort will only achieve the level of Complexity-Processing & Planning ability of the person leading the effort.
This is NOT a reason for strict authoritarian rule.
This is an argument for putting the right people in the right roles and supplying them with the needed authority + accountability to accomplish their tasks.
Easier said than done AND that does not mean we just give up!
You (we) have all been a part of a team that felt like We were walking in circles in the desert … and when someone had an idea for how to break this cycle was told to “do your own work”. We all recognize this as a lack of proper managerial-leadership.
The same is true for any organizational change.
The CEO + Vice Presidents + Department Heads + Managers + Team Leaders + Employees ALL THE PEOPLE … Must have a focus on expected Goals / Results and a process to evaluate if we are moving towards or away from the goal / results.
If in each layer of the organization, there is a Big Enough Manager. Goals are cascaded, with discussion + coaching & mentoring, through the levels to each persons best ability to complete the work.
In you have a manager that is Too Small you walk in circles and the manager keeps everyone confused.
- All work has a change component
- Every company is in change
Will your company, team, you emerge stronger / weaker / the same?
We all have good ideas and in a company with a Managerial-Accountability-Hierarchy the success & failure of achieving goals points upwards. A manager is Accountable for the output of staff.
With the right system in place change can happen … with the wrong system in place you may end up walking in circles until the person with the proper Complexity-Processing speaks up and breaks the cycle to move the team to achieve results.
What do you think?
Have we become afraid to accept that we need management to define goals & expectations?