Leadership needs to be the change they wish to see and treat others as they would be
Summary
For change to be successful, leadership needs to be the change they wish to see and to treat others as they themselves would be treated. Leadership is then about decision making and providing the guidance as well as the crafting and shaping the required emergent behaviors for the actions by empowered individuals who have ownership and an emotional bond to the change. Leadership uses or changes the environment to instill the behaviors to realize the outcomes. Leadership occurs at all levels and is realized by the people of influence who impact those around them. Aspects of leadership in realizing change and transformation are explored in this chapter.
Key Learnings
Key learnings from this chapter include:
• Leadership starts with being the change you wish to see and treating others as you would wish to be treated.
• Leadership brings changes in the environment, to instill the behaviors to form the required emergent behaviors, to achieve the outcomes.
• Leadership should be able to answer the question “what makes you think you can get people to change what they do?” or at the least, answer “why do you think your change will work?”
• Leadership provides the vision, which is aspirational, but needs to be achievable, even if it is in stages, through a journey of change.
• Leadership is about making decisions and providing guidance for those implementing change to have the empowered ownership and emotional bond to achieve.
Introduction
Leadership is required to make changes of themselves, just as leadership is required during the changes. Leadership is an emergent behavior that is crafted and shaped with skilling and experience. Leadership occurs at all levels and is not just the actions of management. Rather it is done by all People of Influence who can impact those around them. Leadership starts with being the change you wish to see and treating others as you would wish to be treated. Leadership brings changes in the environment, to instill the behaviors to form the required emergent behaviors, to achieve the outcomes. Leadership is managing risk and juggling the gain against the status quo. Leadership is about managing both the reactive and the proactive alongside operations. Leadership aligns the combination of drivers and opportunity for change to help overcome the resistance to Change.
Leadership (the L in AMEDLI) requires Ambiguity Management, Messaging, Empowered Emotional Ownership, and Decision Making. Leadership brings Interests and Values alignment to form an overall approach to realizing change. Crafting and shaping the leadership emergent behavior is implemented through a broad-based capacity and capability building of the emergent behavior from which confidence comes.
Consider the implementation of a data analytics solution that automates routine reporting as part of a digital transformation, where leadership has many issues to address within the change:
• Drivers and Opportunities—Leadership uses opportunities and drivers for change to get the business case approved and to implement the solution.
• Changing What we Do—Leadership needs to be able to answer why the change will work. Without being able to do this, remediation may be required with extra cost and more people involved in both reporting and remediation.
• Assurance—Leadership needs to assure the change and the success of the change.
• Project Management—Implementing the data analytics solution may be achieved via a project of work. Project management skills and expertise are required for the change.
• Moving Forward—Leadership needs to take the first steps and bring the change. From success comes the momentum to change. It is often easier to maintain the status quo.
• Amount and Pace of Change—A business can only sustain so much change at a given time. This will need to be managed within the project to implement the data analytics solution as well as the wider business.
• Taking People on the Journey—Leadership will need to take people on the journey. From justifying the business case, to implementation, to changing roles and responsibilities.
• Crafting and Shaping the Emergent Behaviors—The role of leadership is to craft and shape the required behaviors.
From managing the aspects of COVID-19, through business change, to the sports team; leadership is important. The use of drivers and opportunities for realizing change in leadership and why change will succeed through leadership are addressed in this chapter. The use of assurance, project and programs of work for change, and how to strengthen leadership are addressed in this chapter, together with managing the amount of and rate of change. Leadership is about taking people on the journey of change (use of the Journey Model for change), and the crafting and shaping of emergent behaviors is also covered in this chapter. Some next steps are included.
Drivers and Opportunities
To Get the Most
Leadership balances the combination of drivers with opportunity for change against the pragmatics of keeping operations going. By altering the risk and varying the balance of gain vs. the status quo, actionable change is achieved.
Leadership juggles the drivers of a business (Figure 6.1) to sustain a business and to take opportunities for change. Incumbency is both a protector of a business (e.g., existing market advantage and customers) as well as a limiter on the ability to respond. Similarly, vested interest can be used to limit change and maintain the status quo just as it can be a driver of change.
Leadership uses the opportunities for Change brought by the drivers. The opportunities are the slow incremental change brought by activities like sustained process improvement. There are the opportunistic events like regulatory change that provide opportunities for change. There are also the catastrophic events which bring rapid change (e.g., COVID-19 driving online education which governments may have resisted previously). Leadership is about transformation and seeks to bring changes in the business environment, to instill the behaviors to achieve the outcomes (Transformers).
An example is a sports team that is losing (Drivers are loss of customers and revenue) changing the coach (Opportunistic change). The coach uses the Transformers. Having a new coach is a change in the environment for the team. The coach brings a new approach to the training regimes with a focus on skills which instill the winning behaviors (e.g., belief in the team because of a higher skill set and more disciplined training results). The coach has formed an emergent behavior, and through this emergent behavior achieves the outcome of a championship.
Figure 6.1 Management of the gain vs. status quo
To bring a change, leadership needs to sustain operations whilst overcoming:
• Cost—Making changes incurs a cost. Funds may not be available, and the promised returns may not materialize.
• Time—It takes time to do.
• Resources—These are needed to do the change.
• Competing Priorities—Need to manage Competing Priorities, without knowing that success will occur.
• Impacting Operations—Existing operations are impacted and there is a need to maintain and sustain operations.
• Additional Effort—Requires extra work on top of existing commitments.
• Skilling and Training—Skilling (the ability to do) and training (the how to do) are needed for making the changes, managing the changes, and working with the changes going forward.
• Looking Bad—The fear of looking bad if the change does not work, but also for looking bad if the change works when we are asked “why did we not do it sooner.” Looking bad by having the proposal rejected. Factors like “I will not be listened to” or “someone else’s responsibility” or “even if I try, it will make no difference” also impact the fear of looking bad.
Bringing change is about managing risk and juggling the gain against the status quo. Factors like lawsuits or loss of job may be motivating for bringing change, but these are usually reactionary responses occurring after events. Revenue prospects and market growth provide opportunities for managing change proactively, but proactive management is often difficult within the operational practicalities. Leadership is about managing both the reactive and the proactive alongside operations. Leadership manages the combination of drivers and opportunity alignment which helps overcome the Resistance to Change. By altering the risk and varying the balance of gain vs. the status quo, actionable change is achieved.
Making It Real
Managing the gain against the status quo, use of the Drivers and Opportunities with the Transformers to overcome the Resistance to change is a leadership skill. This experience often develops over time, but the skills can be instilled through a proactive management regime with mentoring and an ongoing improvement process. Leadership is about an emergent behavior with management taking an overall approach that facilitates change, empowerment, and ownership. This requires:
• Existing leadership to recognize the approach and the need.
• Leadership being the change they wish to see and treating others as they would be treated to embed the practices within their teams.
• Change selected personnel in key positions of influence so that they practice the principles which then influence those around them.
• Incremental tactical adoption through opportunities across operations.
The principles and practices mentioned in other chapters for forming an emergent behavior also apply.
Further Details
• Opportunities for Change—The drivers create opportunities to bring change, but a decision to take the opportunities is required (see Chapter 5).
• Making Change Work—Being able to take advantage of the opportunities still requires answering the basic questions (see Section “Why and How are We Going to Change What We Do” of this chapter).
• Video—Problem Solving Together for Our Future: Sharing Skills and Expertise—Drivers and Opportunities (https://youtu.be/eDjDpUnHYsU).
Why and How Are We Going to Change What We Do?
To Get the Most
One of the skills of leadership is about asking the right questions to get right answers for decision making. At the heart of leading change and transformation is “getting people to change what they do.” Change takes time, is nuanced, and is about an emergent behavior. Leadership knows that there is no one size fits all approach or a silver bullet or a panacea for achieving change, making the leading questions (Who, What, Why, Where, When, and How) part of leading change.
Setting the Example
If an officer in a defense force should be able to answer the question “what makes you think you can lead those people in battle?” then those seeking to lead change and transformation should be able to answer “what makes you think you can get people to change what they do?” or at the least, answer “why do you think your change will work?” Leadership should also be able to answer some basic questions around the change they seek (see Chapter 1 Section “The Basic Questions” and Figure 6.2).
Figure 6.2 Leadership questions of transformation
Making It Real
The easiest way to make the use of these questions real is for leadership to ask the questions on a consistent and persistent basis, especially as a way to realize the required outcomes from the change. Addressing the reluctance to ask the questions, the wanting to avoid the difficult questions, and those not responding are all part of the use and adoption and adaption. This starts with selected leaders deciding to use the basic questions with others using them in response to the example set (i.e., leaders are they change they wish to see and treat others as they themselves would be treated). This change is motivational and aspirational, but is also believable, so that it can be achieved, even if it is stages (e.g., the sports team winning a championship is motivational, believable, and obtainable, even if it may take a couple of seasons to achieve). This is important for confidence, self-belief, and belief in the process.
Further Details
• Basic Questions—Be able to answer the basic questions around why change will succeed (see Chapter 1 Section “The Basic Questions”).
• Ability to Assure—Leadership needs to assure the change management process (see Section “The 10-Point Assurance” of this chapter).
• Managing the Journey—Making the change is about taking people in the journey of change (see Section “The Journey Model of Change” of this chapter).
• Video—Weekly Mirror Message—Why and How are We Going to Change What we Do? (https://youtu.be/E6PQFet1GXs).
The 10-Point Assurance
To Get the Most
Related to the leading questions (see Section “Why and How are We Going to Change What We Do?” of this chapter) the questions for change (see Chapter 1 Section “The Basic Questions” and Figure 6.2) can be used as an approach for assurance of change. Through the use of the questions, managing against them, and tracking outcomes accordingly, an approach for assurance can be applied by leadership. The approach can also be used by leadership to craft and shape the emergent behaviors.
A 10-point check list for assurance of transformation can used and is best considered as a pyramid built on the foundation of what we are doing and why (Figure 6.3):
• What are we doing?—The most important and the base of the pyramid is to know what we need to do. This is the clearly repeatable objectives to which we refer back to so that efforts can be aligned. This also provides the clarity for messaging and actions. A clear understanding of what we are doing also enables our ownership and empowerment to respond. This needs to be motivational, aspirational, credible, and believable, so that it can be achieved, even if it is in stages along the journey. This created confidence and belief that the change can be achieved.
• Why are we doing it?—If we know why we are doing it, we can adopt and adapt as needed. This also brings the motivation and builds the emotional bond.
• Why will it occur?—This relates to the “What is needed?” and looks at why something will occur or not occur. This is related to motivation, empowerment, ownership, and the emotional factors of Interests and Values.
Figure 6.3 The who, why, what, where, when, how of transformation
• What is needed?—Next, we can establish what is needed to be done so as to empower us to do it.
• When do we need it?—This prioritizes actions and efforts as well as forming the basis for coordination.
• What is the cost, for doing and not doing?—The cost of action or inaction or variable scope impacts what is done and how.
• Who will do it?—We need to know who will do what and who has responsibility.
• How long will it take?—We need to know how long things will take. From this we can change effort accordingly with consideration to the other layers in the pyramid.
• Where it will be done?—We need to know where the expected actions are occurring like a particular team is doing well, or a given state is responding in a particular way.
• What will be traded?—Finally, what compromises are we prepared to make and what prioritizations result?
Each layer of the pyramid depends upon the previous layer and referral back to the “What are we doing?” and “Why are we doing it?” underpins the assurance.
For those in leadership, being able to answer the questions is part of successful change:
• What are we doing?—If it is not clear what we are doing, how do we expect business transformation to be successful?
• Why are we doing it?—When we know why we are doing things, we tend to respond accordingly. How many times have you not known why things are occurring and you are just expected to change the way we do things?
• Why will it occur?—Successful business transformation addresses why transformation is resisted or is unlikely to occur.
• What is needed?—Success in business transformation occurs when we understand what is needed.
• When do we need it?—When we know when it is needed, we can prioritize and allocate resources.
• What is the cost, for doing and not doing?—Success in business transformation comes when the costs (true costs) are known and managed. How many times have an underfunded transformation delivered poor results?
• Who will do it?—Without ownership and responsibility, there is poor accountability and weak results are seen.
• How long will it take?—Business transformation needs to be done and the benefits realized. Having realistic and sustainable deadlines helps with implementation.
• Where it will be done?—We need to know where transformation is occurring, not least for managing the workload and sustaining the business through the transformation.
• What will be traded?—Making the trade-offs to what is pragmatic and practical and achievable against the “What are we doing?”
Whether establishing, sustaining, assuring, or experiencing business transformation, success is seen when these 10-points are met.
Making It Real
Use of the 10-point assurance approach within the leadership of change starts with a decision to use the assurance. Leadership can match this assurance to AMEDLI (Figure 1.3) for wider application or use directly (Figure 6.3). From scoping the work, managing activities, reviewing outcomes, the assurance can be readily used and implemented. Use of training and incremental adoption can also be used.
Further Details
• Process Improvement—A process for improvement goes together with assurance (see Chapter 8 Section “Making Improvements”).
• Project Management—Project management expertise is part of assurance (see Chapter 8 Section “Project Management”).
• Video—Weekly Mirror Message—Spotting the Signs for Success in Change (https://youtu.be/A31znRW7f2c).
• Video—Problem Solving Together for Our Future: Sharing Skills and Expertise—10-Point Assurance (https://youtu.be/CT3g8aPv09U).
Project Management and Project Managers
To Get the Most
As bringing change is a project or program of work or a series of projects and programs to change what people do and how they do it, the role of project management and project managers is part of change management and the leadership of change. Project Management is about bringing people together around a shared cause and getting the best from them to deliver. Project Managers are there to serve the project so that the empowered ownership of the work can get on and deliver.
Setting the Example
Project managing is nuanced. Specific frameworks for change are used alongside project management frameworks that use other frameworks like procurement or vendor management or stakeholder management. Within change, the type of project manager is important in leading the project and realizing the required outcomes because the leadership shown influences the project and the bringing of the change through the emergent behavior they craft and shape.
Roles
From renovating houses to running marketing campaigns, projects are part of our lives. From all of the complexities and nuances in delivering projects, or the differing approaches, or the varying sizes and complexities, the following roles are required within the leadership:
• Sponsors—The party that is supporting the change at the highest levels required for the change. The replacement of a coach for a sports team requires the management to support the change.
• Owners—The party that owns the change. The party with the vested interest to see success. This is often the one with the drive and vision of what is required and what they want to achieve. The Sponsor and Owner may be the same person or different. Project managers may fulfill the role of Owners in certain circumstances.
• Logistics Management—The party that manages the logistics of the activities. This is often the project manager. Those that are logistics managers are not always the best owners or the best to lead the change by example.
• Leaders—The leaders may be the project manager, but there needs to be one party in the project that is the leader. They show the values, be the change they wish to see, lead by example, and influence those around. Like generals in an army, those leading change require an “element of luck” with aspects coming together. As a leader of change it is not enough to be right. It is being right, at the right time, with the right people, with the right amount of money (influence).
Whether it is in one or more people, change leadership requires these skills and expertise within its projects for change.
Project Management
Project Management is about getting people to work together for a period of time to deliver an outcome. By trying to bring out the best in us, projects are delivered. Project management requires an emergent behavior to deliver the required outcomes of the work. Projects require direction and need to have decisions made so that those delivering the work are empowered and enabled to deliver.
Project Managers
Where project managers are logistics managers, the leader’s role needs to be filled with by the owner or from within the project, for example, the leader of the change. Project managers need to ensure that “if I know why I am doing it, why it is important to me, what I need to do, and where to get help, then my pride in who I am and what I do sees me deliver better outcomes.” To achieve this, some level of mentoring and guidance of those involved in the change is required to enable empowerment and ownership. Project managers best achieve these results by serving the needs of the project, because this is how they help people.
Making It Real
Much of this change is a formalization of governance, roles, and responsibilities, but an adoption of approach with a leadership decision to implement is required. Again, leadership is the change they wish to see and treat others as they themselves would be treated. The key element is the ownership of the work and the clarification of logistics management vs. the lead by example for the change. The emergent behavior is developed like the others, incrementally, with skilling over time.
Further Details
• Turnarounds in Change—The circumstances around a change vary, making the need for turnaround projects as part of change (see Chapter 8 Section “Turnaround”).
• Projects is a core Skill—Project skills are part of change management (see Chapter 8 Section “Project Management”).
• Video—Weekly Mirror Message—Project Managers and Project Management (https://youtu.be/c0D8YMk3bJE).
Moving Forward
To Get the Most
Bringing changes to leadership, whether it is executive management or senior management or people of influence, to lead transformation is also nuanced. Setting the leadership for change is integral to transformation. Within AMEDLI (Figure 1.3) the sequencing (Ambiguity Management, Messaging, Empowered Emotional Ownership, Decision Making, Interest and values) leads to the capacity and capability building of Leadership, though some level of leadership is required initially.
Setting the Example
The emergent behavior for leadership to bring change is mainly derived from skilling but other factors impact (Figure 6.4) the crafting and shaping and the leadership in change projects and programs of work.
Starting with an idea of what is to be achieved (i.e., knowing what the outcome from the change is going to look like and how to get there), changing the leadership or the leadership to implement a change requires the management of:
• Desire and Drive—A desire and drive to do it. Consistency and persistency are required.
• Fears—The emergent behavior to overcome our fears and work with them.
• Understanding—An understanding of how to get there and what is going to impact.
• Ability—Strengthen the ability with resources, expertise, able to acquire these and to adapt as the change is made.
• Sales—The ability to sell to persuade and make people feel comfortable with the change.
Figure 6.4 Deciding and taking the first step
All of these skills and expertise may not be present at the start nor will they all be at the level required. It is about having the basics and being able to start. The ability to grow and adopt and adapt emerges over time. Irrespectively:
• The best time to start is now.
• The fear is the missed opportunity.
• The regret is NOT having tried.
Making It Real
Using the idea of what is to be achieved and how to get there, starting and building capacities and capabilities along the way is the pragmatic and practical approach. There are risks associated with it, and the approach requires the management of ambiguity. The acceptance of mistakes is also necessary. Making it real is about the leadership wanting to work with and trusting their teams and working to craft and shape the emergent behaviors along the lines mentioned previously.
Further Details
• Role of Leadership—Although leadership crafts and shapes the emergent behaviors, the main role of leadership is to be the change they wish to see and to treat others as they themselves would be treated.
• Video—Weekly Mirror Message—Adoption and Adaption of Change (https://youtu.be/Upld4smNbQ8).
• Video—Problem Solving Together for Our Future: Sharing Skills and Expertise—Moving Forward (https://youtu.be/NJtiPbOqljw).
Amount and Pace of Change
To Get the Most
Depending upon the type of change, the drivers, priorities, the circumstances, and the capacities and capabilities and priorities; the amount of change and pace of change varies and is a leadership issue. This management of the amount and pace of change can also vary with time as circumstances change and as the change is realized. The skills of Ambiguity Management, Messaging, Empowered Emotional Ownership, Decision Making, and the Interests and Values are required for managing the amount and pace of change.
Setting the Example
There is only so much change that can be accepted and there is a limit to how fast the change can be done. Vary the environment, the need, and the drivers, and the amount and speed of change acceptance will adjust. Whether adoption is seen is a separate issue and there is a requirement to respond to and manage the impacts of the change (support and assistance). Managing this ability to adopt and adapt is part of leadership within change (Figure 6.5).
Using COVID-19 from the global pandemic as the example:
• External—The leadership is often impacted by the external factors where the drive for change originates (e.g., markets or customers, or regulatory), there is a need created for change, and the external factors often bring a change in the environment. This change in the environment leads to the instilling of behaviors, which brings the outcomes required. COVID-19 has been a driver for rapid change because of the need to save lives, but there have been impacts upon the economy, health, mental health, and a sense of uncertainty. Concern over the future, loss of jobs and revenue, being unable to feed families, and the risk of homelessness have come as side effects and show the need to manage the impacts and consequences of change.
Figure 6.5 Leadership through being the change
• Leadership—COVID-19 is a driver that created a need and changed the environment to bring change. This has impacted strategy, created a desire to move fast and do things differently, and has brought risk management home. Governments that would have taken years to agree and implement online schools have been forced into change, with online schooling now being part of the education mix going forward. The risks with online schooling are being managed.
• Capacity—Countries with cash reserves, people with skills and expertise in pandemics, and having the required processes have tended to fair better through COVID-19. Countries that have had to develop the response capacity have a slower change. Leadership in the capacity development was also key, both before and during, and will be afterwards.
• Capability—The capability to respond draws on leadership and the capacity for building and strengthening. Skilling and Training to form the emergent behaviors, providing support and assistance, and consistency and persistency of messaging have all been required.
• Operations—COVID-19 has seen resources taken away from business operations to respond to the change, has seen development of expertise to respond, and businesses have had to sustain operations while responding to COVID-19. Opportunities have been created for some.
First-world countries with greater capacities and capabilities have often fared better than countries with lower capacities and capabilities. Where the leadership has been weak, the adoption and adaption to COVID-19 has been impacted, even if capacities and capabilities were greater.
The mirror from COVID-19 to business transformation is seen, but in addition:
• The greater the need, the more tolerance for undergoing change.
• The larger the need, the better the acceptance of change.
• The need to take people on the change.
• There is only so much change that can be accepted, for example, people reluctant to lock down.
• There is a limit to how fast the change can be done, for example, closing borders with due notice.
• There is a requirement to respond and manage to the impacts of the change (support and assistance).
Making It Real
Managing how much change can be implemented and how fast the change is adopted is nuanced, but it is a leadership function. The leadership also needs to manage the responses to the change. This is a skill and an expertise developed, but there are signs to look for:
• Level of Complaints—Complaints are expected. Where the level of complaints is increasing despite the measures to address, the complaints need to be actioned, root causes established, and remediation actioned.
• Level of Compliance—There are going to be adjustments periods and delays in take-up. Where levels of compliance (use or take-up) are plateauing at low numbers or falling, then action is required. This includes root causes established, and remediation actioned.
• Cost—Where the costs of the change are increasing well beyond what was considered and the return is not seen, then remediation is required.
• People of Influence—Listen to people of influence and their views as to what is occurring and why. Where support from people of influence is decreasing, then issues need to be addressed and their views responded to.
• Time—When the required time is not being spent on the change.
• Remediation—The time and cost on remediation and addressing the impacts is increasing for little return.
The one size fits all approach to managing the amount and rate of change is missing. This is often an intuitive call based on a range of factors. The need, the drivers, and the desire impact, but it is looking at the impacts of the change and the management of these which is required. Leadership being the change they wish to see and treating others as they would be treated is the best way to implement and manage risk.
Further Details
• Managing the Journey—The amount and pace of change is about leadership taking people on the journey of change (see Section “The Journey Model of Change” of this chapter).
• Alignment of Interests and Values—Aligning the interests and values impacts how much change can be managed and how fast (see Chapter 7).
• Video—Weekly Mirror Message—Managing Amount and Rate of Change (https://youtu.be/qT_O8wDPxzI).
The Journey Model of Change
To Get the Most
Leadership, including the People of Influence, impacts those around them. Beyond decision making and being the guide as to what is required, leadership is about taking the stakeholders along the change journey. The stakeholders have different levels of expertise and skills, varying levels of engagement, a range of roles and responsibilities, and differing alignments of Interests and Values. Each one is taken on a journey of change (the Journey Model), which varies accordingly. Being able to form the emergent behavior and implement the change is the leadership skill.
Setting the Example
Realizing change is nuanced and is about taking people on a journey to do things differently, termed the Journey Model. Bringing change and transformation is often done through the Journey Model, because change is ongoing, is seen as a series of journeys, with rest points. The approach is to take people on the journey needed for them for the change required. The context for effective and efficient change is summarized in “I do good work, change is coming, help me with the change, and I can do more” (see Chapter 3). This is the journey to take people on. Leadership implementing a change or transformation often uses the following approach as part of the Journey Model (Figure 6.6):
Figure 6.6 The Journey Model of change. From Sherringham, K., and B. Unhelkar. 2020. Crafting and Shaping Knowledge Worker Services in the Information Economy. Palgrave Macmillan Singapore, 570pp
• Organizational Squeeze—The leaders (people of influence) paint a clear picture of what is needed, explaining why, and reinforce the individual benefits (not just abstract organizational benefits). The People of Influence at the operational level need to champion the changes to others. This combination of driving from the top and from the bottom puts the pressure on for achieving change.
• Rails for Operation—Sustaining the change and bringing those on the journey is about providing rails for operation for implementing change and the ongoing management of change. Changes come through the building of momentum, accepting difference in the adoption and transition, taking an iterative approach. It is building the environment and behaviors through ownership and empowerment that the journey moves along the rails provided by leadership. The change has to be good enough to get buy-in support whilst allowing people to take ownership and improve.
• Building Momentum—Change may go through stages and may be a series of starts and stops. The change is about an ongoing capacity and capability in response to the factors influencing the change. Sustaining change is about a momentum for change (environment, leadership, behaviors) with recognition and ongoing engagement.
Within the implementation, other considerations are:
• Emergent Behavior and Environment—It is the actions of individuals that forms an emergent behavior and environment for outcomes through which transformation occurs. An emergent behavior to make the change and the emergent behavior required from the change are crafted and shaped (they may be different).
• Recognition—A recognition of what works well and the “good that is currently occurring” is required. People have pride in who they are and what they do. They are proud of what they make or grow or provide. Questioning the current performance can lead to alienation of people of good will whose support is necessary in the adoption.
• Start, Build, Adopt and Adapt—Start the change, take advantage of opportunities to build support and structures to adopt and adapt along the way.
• Assistance—It is inherent within many people to want to better themselves and to want to grow and develop. What they often seek is the assistance, to be guided, and to be given the opportunity.
Making It Real
Making the change journey real starts with the leadership deciding to adopt the Journey Model and taking the first step. Then the leadership uses the journey model to implement and manage the change. Through adoption and adaption of the journey model work it to bring the change. Managing how much change can be implemented and how fast the change is adopted is nuanced, but it is a leadership function. The leadership also needs to manage the responses to the change. This is a skill and an expertise developed, but there are signs to look for:
• Level of Complaints—Complaints are expected. Where the level of complaints is increasing despite the measures to address, the complaints need to be actioned, root causes established, and remediation actioned.
• Level of Compliance—There are going to be adjustments periods and delays in take-up. Where levels of compliance (use or take-up) are plateauing at low numbers or falling, then action is required. This includes root causes established and remediation actioned.
• Cost—Where the costs of the change are increasing well beyond what was considered and the return is not seen, then remediation is required.
• People of Influence—Listen to people of influence and their views as to what is occurring and why. Where support from people of influence is decreasing, then issues need to be addressed and their views responded too.
• Time—When the required time is not being spent on the change.
• Remediation—The time and cost on remediation and addressing the impacts is increasing for little return.
The one size fits all approach to managing the amount and rate of change is missing. This is often an intuitive call based on a range of factors. The need, the drivers, and the desire impact, but it is looking at the impacts of the change and the management of these which is required. Leadership being the change they wish to see and treating others as they would be treated is the best way to implement and manage risk.
Further Details
• Video—Weekly Mirror Message—Starting the Change Journey using Opportunities to Build Along the Way (https://youtu.be/4WjqIzbHpew).
• Video—Building Capacity and Capability (https://youtu.be/-loAAPQsexk).
• Video—Weekly Mirror Message—Adoption and Adaption of Change (https://youtu.be/Upld4smNbQ8).
Crafting and Shaping the Emergent Behavior
To Get the Most
A key leadership function is to craft and shape the emergent behaviors for change. The emergent behaviors are the collective behaviors from the group, team, business area, or business (organization). The overall emergent behavior comes from the individuals with their own needs and capacities and capabilities. The overall approach is crafting and shaping of the individuals to overall outcomes. This emergent behavior is often nuanced, varies within areas of operations and with time.
Setting the Example
Crafting and shaping the emergent behaviors of both individuals and at the team, group, or business (organization) or even country levels takes time and is nuanced. An emergent behavior to make the change and the emergent behavior required from the change are crafted and shaped (they may be different). The process seldom follows a linear approach and requires multiple approaches that change over time. There is an overall approach (Figure 6.7) to building and sustaining the emergent behaviors, but it is the skills and expertise in implementation that matter.
The overall approach to the emergent behaviors is for:
• Business Need—The need for the change or transformation. The individual needs may be different to those of a group or organization, but the leadership function is to align the Interests and Values (see Chapter 7).
• Engage Stakeholders—The respective stakeholders are engaged. This engagement should be ongoing and often uses the Journey Model (see Section “The Journey Model of Change” in this chapter). Engagement includes finding out what the issues are or why things are not happening. The resources undertaking operations should know what is happening in their operations, the problems that exist, and why actions are not occurring that need to be addressed. The stakeholder engagement is also about laying the groundwork for change where:
Figure 6.7 Crafting and shaping emergent behavior
Laying the groundwork takes time to develop, with the relationships often forming with time based on trust. This requires sustained engagement, strengthened by seeing success in delivery, and is often done on the basis of a judgment of the informal relationships (like a sale process and the relationship management function).
The costs and effort in laying the groundwork are often omitted within the factoring of change. This omission is partly because the value of the groundwork is often overlooked, but also because groundwork is an intangible that is hard to cost, hard to measure, and with no assured return.
Groundwork is about persistent and consistent engagement, especially with People of Influence, to build relationships, sharing of empathy, and a sense of caring.
• Solutions and Answers—The respective stakeholders often have solutions to the problems or have an approach to resolution. Often, staff are seeking recognition of the issues (by management) and to have someone address the problems.
• Ownership and Priorities—Having ownership for the outcomes is a key factor for success. There is often the need for a prioritization of solutions with staged implementation, but some changes are simple to make, and they can be readily implemented.
• Implement—With an owner and a prioritization, the agreement to implement is made and the implementation undertaken. The training (how to do) and skilling (ability to do) to support the change is required.
• Reward and Support—Changes made need to be supported ongoing. Further skilling and the effectiveness of the changes made need to be rewarded. Those involved in making the changes, especially those who identified the issues and proposed solutions, should be rewarded accordingly.
The results from the emergent behaviors then impact the business need.
Crafting and shaping the emergent behaviors often comes primarily from the people involved in leading and driving the change and, in particular, in the relationships they build. Beyond the expertise and the frameworks used, success often lies with the personal element. The emotions invoked from the actions of high-caliber people with integrity leading the change bring the response in others. This personal relationship and the responses to the actions of others are often intangible, but “we know it when we see it” and is an integral part of leadership. If leadership values the emergent behaviors and is prepared to make the investment in the relationship management, then change tends to succeed.
Further Details
• Video—Weekly Mirror Message – Conversation as the Barometer of Change (https://youtu.be/1UNHyzDfKwI)
• Video—Weekly Mirror Message—Managing People Shutdown (https://youtu.be/m_PsC1gObd8).
• Video—Weekly Mirror Message—Adoption and Adaption of Change (https://youtu.be/Upld4smNbQ8).
• Video—Weekly Mirror Message—The Role of the Individual (https://youtu.be/7ZzKoFwtPiw).
• Video—Weekly Mirror Message—Tangibles and Intangibles from Behaviours in Change (https://youtu.be/mLji3yTUXsg).
Next Steps
Leadership is needed to realize change. While it is the actions of individuals who are empowered with ownership and have an emotional bond, it is the leadership to make decisions and provide guidance that compliments to assure delivery. There are a series of steps leadership can take including:
• Recognize and incrementally use the balance of drivers and opportunities for change with the pragmatics of operations to sustain ongoing change and transformation. This is complimented by opportunistic change.
• When the openings occur, find ways to change the environment, to instill the behaviors to craft and shape an emergent behavior for achieving the required outcomes.
• Make use of the 10-point assurance within the management of change, from asking questions of the team to use as a guide in management across the projects and programs of work.
• Have the view of what you want to achieve and how to get there. Then share that image so that the empowered ownership with the emotional bond is formed.
• Be the change you wish to see and treat others as you would be treated.
Making these changes does not follow a recipe like training on processes, rather the change is a desire to do it.