Thursday, March 19, 2009

24 Lessons in High Performance Leadership

Lesson Twenty-four
Lead Through Change

There are six fundamental phases required for successful change management:

In a busy organization, you are very possibly involved in several new projects at once. These phases of change management will help you understand where you are in the project.
The Education Phase: Inform employees ahead of time change is on the way. The head's up helps to develop the sense of confidence in your organization I talked about.
The Participation Phase: Encourage input from all employees on
planning and implementation. This bolsters confidence and enthusiasm toward the organization and the project.

The Communication Phase: This is the final presentation on how the change is about to be implemented. A storyboard showing all the final changes can be used in the presentation.

The Facilitation Phase: The change is under way. During this phase the leader’s hands on participation brings big benefits. Communicating and coaching can only go so far. The leader must get personally involved to demonstrate his or her personal investment in the project.

The Information Phase: Now the leader truly keeps his or her ear to
the ground to determine what is working and what is not working. Informal, non-threatening encounters with your people will give you most of this critical feedback. This is when you might learn that proper delegation is not occurring or thinking is still too narrow.

The Rededication Phase: Enthusiasm and energy don't last forever. After the initial hoopla is over, it is important to evaluate and analyze the progress of the new project. Necessary tune-ups and adjustments are made to enhance the improvement.

These three actions will help you avoid the "Other Shoe Syndrome," which results in cynicism in your team brought on by promoting change and not following through:

Focus on how your change initiatives are affecting morale.
Solving one problem can create others.

Anticipate doubt. People have a natural skepticism that often serves a good purpose.

Never stop selling. Your team members take their clues from you. They watch every day to see if your support and enthusiasm for change has diminished.

"Embrace change. It's saying ‘yes’ to tomorrow and ‘no’ to repeated yesterdays."

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