Leading Change

1
Leading Change

• L.H. Newcomb
• Professor Emeritus
• College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental
  Sciences
• The Ohio State University

2
Objectives

• The learners will
• Explain why change is needed in their
  organization
• Explain the difference between structural change
  and cultural change
• Explain Kotters eight-step process
• Begin to develop a strategy to lead change
• Develop the beginning of a strategy to lead a
  change effort in their current assignment

3
Objectives - continued

• The learners will
• Generate ways to increase a sense of urgency
• Design a preliminary guiding coalition
• Discuss communication strategies
• Suggest ideas for short term wins

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Land Grant Administrators. . .

• What are tough issues they face?
• What are impediments in
• Organization and structure
• Business practices
• Organizational culture
• What makes it difficult for them to make
  significant change?
• What must they change for the future?

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Your Position/Area of Influence

• Identify a significant change that is absolutely
  needed.
• Examples might be
• Reorganization
• Changing the reward system
• Eliminating functions
• Dramatic altering of the portfolio of efforts
• Destroying silos
• Merging with another unit

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Your Position/Area of Influence

• Identify something
• that is real for your situation
• that you care about
• where you want to make progress
• where applying what you learn here could help
  accomplish it
• Describe what is
• Describe what you envision must be

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Kotters Eight Stage Process for Leading Change

• Establish a Sense of Urgency
• Create the Guiding Coalition
• Develop a Vision and Strategy
• Communicate the Change Vision
• Kotter, J. P. (1996). Leading Change. Boston
  Harvard Business School Press. p. 21.

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Kotters Eight Stage Process for Leading Change -
continued

• Empower Employees for Broad-Based Action
• Generate Short-Term Wins
• Consolidate Gains and Produce More Change
• Anchor New Approaches in the Culture
• Kotter, J. P. (1996). Leading Change. Boston
  Harvard Business School Press. p. 21.

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Behavior Patterns that Create Paralysis

• Each unit/individual for itself
• Hierarchy rules
• Consensus at all costs
• Always have the right answer
• Whatever is done must be done by all
• All will agree to whatever is decided

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A New Set of Rules

• Questions are more compelling than answers.
• Learning is more a function of critical thinking
  than being right.
• Purposeful experimentation is more important than
  predictive thinking.
• How could you use this notion to help you lead
  change where you are now?

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Sources of ComplacencyKotter, J. P. (1996).
Leading Change. Boston Harvard Business School
Press. p. 40.

• The absence of a major and visible crisis
• Too much happy talk Too many visible
• from senior management resources
• Human nature, with its Low overall
• capacity for denial performance
• especially if people are standards
• already busy or stressed
• A kill-the-messenger-of
  Organizational
• bad-news, low-candor, structures
  that focus
• low-confrontation culture employees
  on narrow
• functional goals

COMPLACENCY
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Building a Coalition That Can Make Change Happen

• Find the Right People
• With strong position power, broad expertise, and
  high credibility
• With leadership and management skills, especially
  the former

Kotter, J. P. (1996). Leading Change. Boston
Harvard Business School Press. pp. 57-61.
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Discussion Create Trust

• How can you create trust within your organization?

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Empowerment

• People wont help when they feel powerless
• Move commitment to change AND participation in
  change out beyond the guiding coalition and the
  management team
• Beyond the umbrella organization

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Discussion - Empowerment

• What can you do to empower people to lead,
  assist, and enable change in your organization?
• What are you willing to try?
• What are you will to assault to make progress in
  this area?

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The Role of Short-Term Wins

• Provide evidence that sacrifices are worth it
  Wins greatly help justify the short-term costs
  involved.
• Reward change agents with a pat on the back
  After a lot of hard work, positive feedback
  builds morale and motivation.

Kotter, J. P. (1996). Leading Change. Boston
Harvard Business School Press. p. 123.
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The Role of Short-Term Wins

• Help fine-tune vision and strategies Short-term
  wins give the guiding coalition concrete data on
  the viability of their ideas.
• Be willing to keep building the bridge as you
  cross it.
• Undermine cynics and self-serving resisters
  Clear improvements in performance make it
  difficult for people to block needed change.

Kotter, J. P. (1996). Leading Change. Boston
Harvard Business School Press. p. 123.
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The Role of Short-Term Wins

• Keep bosses on board Provide those higher in
  the hierarchy with evidence that the
  transformation is on track.
• Building momentum Turns neutrals into
  supporters, reluctant supporters into active
  helpers, etc.

Kotter, J. P. (1996). Leading Change. Boston
Harvard Business School Press. p. 123.
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Discussion Short Term Wins

• What might some short term wins be for the
  change effort you are committed to leading?