Adapting leadership styles

Leading is something you can't learn in the abstract. You've got to do it. There's not always a choice as to who you'll lead, and you have to be willing to change the how. The steady slogger who wants to be alone; the creative fireball who's frequently missing; the expert with personal problems; all have contributions to make. They need different approaches to bring out their best, and you have to adapt the way you lead.

At the same time, you have to be authentic. This means being true to yourself. Up to a point, you can adapt the way you approach people, and how you ensure they progress. It's you behaving like you, but with a different slant. It can get difficult if you try to step out of your personality, in order to deal with someone who's very different from you. You feel false. You sound false. It doesn't work.

Adapting is not the same as being manipulative. Refusing to adapt for other people would be trying to force them into your mould. In effect, you would be forcing them to be phoney. To get the best out of the people you lead, you need to give them the freedom to develop in their own way.

Different situations also call for different styles of leadership. In an emergency, dictatorial insistence may well be right. If people must be moved to a place of safety, there is no time to allow them to work it out for themselves. It might even be appropriate to bodily shift them. At the other end of the continuum, a long-term project on new ground needs all the initiative it can get. A leader who barks orders in this situation will lose every step of the way. The best way forward is maximum freedom, with time and opportunities for self-development. In between, there are times for protocol, times for urgency, times for new departures, and times for long slow incubation of ideas.

Part of leadership is creating the environment for work. You can introduce different schemes to empower people. These might include more flexible allocation of roles; allowing people to choose how they work and what hours; and enabling them to work from home. You might sometimes feel that for specific parts of the project you need to hand the reins to somebody else, either because they have special expertise, or their style is better suited to the situation.

Leadership is a fluid thing. Adapting is part of it, but this may bring problems if the style that seems best for the moment goes against the grain for you. McGonagill and Associates have developed a model that shows this graphically. You have your core style, which comes naturally to you. Outside that is your zone of adaptability, where you can make adjustments, but stay within a frame of authenticity. You are still you. If you try to push your adaptation outside this, you enter the phoney zone. This is not static. You can increase your zone of adaptability, and reduce your phoney zone.

This isn't a case of a personality change. If it's in your nature to want to organise everything and make regular checks, you're not going to be able to retire to a cell and let others take over. However, you can think about what you'll gain from empowering the workforce to make more decisions.

An important first step is to look at your leadership style, and think about how it's affecting others. Your style may be excellent overall, but still need adapting. For example, you might feel you have to be the big leader at all times. Ask yourself whether this is really necessary. Look for areas where your people are succeeding, and positively encourage them to take on more. Refrain from telling them how. They have already demonstrated they can succeed, so let them do it, and your organisation will benefit.

As the leader, mistakes are more likely to be attributed to you. Some react to this by a constant quest for perfection. This is counterproductive. As perfection is impossible, you can only fail. If you think you may be a perfectionist, relax. Trying to avoid mistakes prevents people from trying out anything new, and this stops them from learning. Think of the mistakes people made when trying to fly. How many carefully crafted winged machines have crumpled on the ground within yards. If they hadn't been willing to do that, we would not now be able to fly across continents, in our thousands, every day.

Metaphorical flying goes on the same principle. If you want your people to succeed, let them make mistakes.

Another area for adaptability is relating to people. There will be times when you have to make unpleasant decisions. If you pride yourself on being responding to other people's needs, it will be difficult to accept the feelings of having done something that others won't like. You need to apply the skills you already have in showing sensitivity and relating to people. This is adapting your style to suit the circumstances, not switching from relater to autocrat.

Leadership roles inevitably bring some conflicts of interest, and a risk of conflict of personalities. Conflict is not pleasant, but sweeping it under the carpet will not kill it. It has a habit of festering under there, and then suddenly exploding into life and creating havoc. If your habit is to smooth things over too much, you may create a lull before a storm. Adapting your style can involve bringing the conflicting parties together, and finding a solution. You may be a good mediator yourself; you could ask someone else in the team, or you could appoint an external mediator. Any of these will show an ability to adapt.

Part of leadership is recognising when you are the best person for the job, and when you are not. Everything is in flux. It always has been and always will be. We need leaders to help us through and push us forwards. These leaders need to real, realistic, honest, authentic, and adaptable.

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© Copyright 2004 Trans4mation. Reproduced with permission. Any opinions or views contained in this article are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of Training Reference.

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6 Leadership Styles

George Litwin and Robert Stringer of Harvard Business School studied the behavior of managers as leaders in various settings. They concluded that managers exhibit a variety of patterned behaviors that can be described generally by one or more of 6 fundamental managerial styles.

According to what I've read, managers often mistakenly assume that leadership style is a function of their personality rather than a strategic choice. As a result, they choose one style that suits their temperament when instead they should select a style that best addresses the demands of a particular situation. Of course, this is much easier said than done.

The research goes on to show that the most successful leaders have strengths in several emotional intelligence competencies including self-awareness, self-regulation, motivation, empathy, and social skill. Furthermore, there are six basic styles of leadership with each making use of the key components of emotional intelligence in different combinations. Finally, the best leaders are familiar with not just one style of leadership, but rather they make use of several and have the flexibility to switch between styles as the circumstances dictate.

Why is leadership style important? Because it directly impacts the organizational climate which in turn accounts for nearly a third of financial performance. That's a large enough percentage that it warrants becoming familiar with the styles that Litwin and Stringer identified. Here they are:

The Coercive Style

From my experience in the corporate world, this is the most common style. It is the "do what I tell you to do" technique that many people rely on because it seems easy. It's also the style that junior managers or those that are frustrated will fall back on. The unfortunate result is that in most situations, coercive leadership inhibits the organization's flexibility and dampens employees' motivation. I would argue that this is a good technique for leaders and managers to use with junior personnel who simply don't have the knowledge to make informed decisions.

The Authoritative Style

I don't like the name of this style. The term has negative connotations for me and yet it is a style that is effective in many situations. An authoritative leader uses the "come with me" approach by stating the overall goal, but giving people the freedom to choose their own means of achieving it. This style works especially well when a business is adrift. It is less effective when the leader is working with a team of experts who are more experienced than he is. As my familiarity in a particular area or with a particular business unit increases, I believe I respond well to this form of management.

The Affiliative Style

I'm not too familiar with the pure affiliative style of leading and managing, but I have seen the negatives that such a technique can have. This style believes that "people come first" and is particularly useful for building team harmony or increasing morale. The negative? Its exclusive focus on praise can allow poor performance to go uncorrected. I don't know about you, but having a happy-go-lucky manager who doesn't cut people that aren't pulling their weight doesn't make want to work particularly hard.

The Democratic Style

According to the research, this style's impact on organizational climate is not as high as most people might imagine. There's no question that by giving workers a voice in decisions, democratic leaders build organizational flexibility and responsibility and help generate fresh ideas. The downside is that such a style can lead to endless meetings and confused employees who feel leaderless. I think a lot of managers use this style exclusively when they first start out as they fail to realize that they're not employed to be everyone's friend, but rather to move the business forward.

The Pacesetting Style

On paper the pacesetting style sounds quite exhilarating (to me anyway) since the leader who sets high performance standards and exemplifies them himself has a very positive impact on employees who are self-motivated and highly competent. The problem is that many employees who are just at work because they need to pay their rent tend to feel overwhelmed by such a leader's demands for excellence–and to resent his tendency to take over a situation. I think this style shouldn't be confused with the "just do it" attitude that some managers exhibit without providing any direction, resources, or time.

The Coaching Style

This last style focuses more on personal development than on immediate work-related tasks. It works well when employees are already aware of their weaknesses and want to improve, but not when they are resistant to changing their ways. I'd hazard a guess and say that this style will only be effective with a small percentage of people on any given team.

The good news is that the research indicates the flexibility to switch between different styles can be learned. So what style do you use? What style does your manager use?

source by mariosalexandrou

Start a Business the CHEAP Way!

So you want to start a business and enjoy the glamour and stardom of being self-employed (ha-ha)? Great, but you have no money. Even better! Starting a business with little or no money is a huge advantage in several ways. It will:

* Cause you to learn every aspect of being self employed - knowledge is power
* Cause you to become very creative and resourceful push you outside of your box
* Cause you to really know if this is what you want to do
* Give you great stories to tell when you do get successful
* Teach you to trust your gut and strengthen your faith in yourself

Today, I work for myself as a self-promotion consultant and speaker, but when I first went into business on my own thirteen years ago, I started with nothing (and I still have most of it left!). But seriously, it was the most amazing learning experience. I put myself in a position of having to figure out how to make an income very quickly. About two months' time was all I had to make it work. Knowing that, the pressure was on and that's just what I needed to succeed.

In the beginning, if this is really what you are meant to do, you will find yourself working twice as hard for half as much and feeling ten times more alive!

Here are five tips that can help you begin to look outside of the box and get you moving forward CHEAP.

C) Care about what you are doing. You must really care about not only making your business successful, but about the products and services that you are selling. And you must care about the client.

Value each and every client or prospective client. You can do this by sending thank-you cards, remembering their birthdays, anniversaries, accomplishments and acknowledging all these things. Your very first clients are valuable. Treat them like gold - then ask for referrals.

H) Help out when you can. Volunteer your services in your community or donate products or gift certificates to charities or silent auctions. This will give you exposure. Give informational talks to help educate people about your industry. You can make great connections this way and start to build your email list.

You can also help yourself and other entrepreneurs by trading services. If you need a life coach or an accountant, find one that needs your services or products and trade. You can also trade gift certificates,mailing lists, and website links with your contacts. This helps you build referral partners - other business people who will refer clients to you if you will refer yours to them.

Speaking of help, there's a lot of free help out there if you do your research. One of the best resources for free help to entrepreneurs and business owners is SCORE (www.score.org). SCORE is a non-profit association that is dedicated to educating entrepreneurs and small businesses. The amount of information and resources that this organization offers is immense and invaluable. In fact, go directly to the site now (I mean,as soon as you finish reading this of course!).

E) Engage as many people as you can. Write a list of all the people you know. You can start with categories like: church, school, friends, family, then list all the people you know in those categories. Let everyone know what you do and ask them if they know of anyone who could use your services. Get them engaged by offering them a discount and give a discount to the friends that they refer. Engage them by asking their advice on your ads, website, business cards, etc...You can also ask a successful person whom you admire to mentor you. Most successful people love to share and help.

A) Advertise yourself always. Wherever you go, make sure you have your business cards and even a brochure available to hand out to a prospective customer. You can even get car magnets for as little as $12 each and stick them to your car.

If you join a Chamber of Commerce or other types of organizations, often times the membership will come with free advertising.

Make sure you have a small, post-card sized ad to carry with you. You want to take a stack everywhere. You can stick these in magazines at the doctor's office, the information table at the library, the bulletin board at the coffee houses, or anywhere that there is some free space!

If you do buy advertising, make sure that you are getting the best price possible and know that all advertising is negotiable. Radio stations will sell air time cheaper at the end of their cycle because what they don't sell will be lost forever. The same goes for print ads.

Make friends with the sales reps, let them know that you are willing to create an ad at the last minute if they have space that needs filled...if the price is right, of course. Many smaller publications as well as radio stations are willing to trade.

Learn to negotiate. Memorize and use this phrase as often as you can, "Is that the best you can do?" That one phrase has saved me hundreds (if not thousands) of dollars.

Take advantage of free ads on sites like Craig's list and other on-line classifieds.

And of course, you want to learn on-line marketing if you are looking for clients on a national scale, but that's a topic for another day!

P) Get Press! Get free press. Get on radio shows, local news programs and in local publications. Get writers to write about you and your business (or write articles yourself). This is not that hard to do, but will take some time and effort. Sometimes all you have to do is ask. If you hear someone on a radio show, call her and ask her how she got on there and could she help you do the same.

Look at your local newspapers and publications. Identify the writers who write about similar topics. If you are accountant, you would be the perfect person to be interviewed around tax time. Could you write an article listing several steps to make tax preparation easier? Could you comment on a national issue? I have been on the local news several times as a "local expert" on stress and was asked to comment on national issues the stations were covering.

Most magazines have a list of topics or themes for each publication. Request a copy and try to see how you can angle your business into that theme. Then pester the writers relentlessly until they give up and write about you. Be creative here.

If you are an esthetician and the magazine's theme is stress, think about "how stress effects our skin and what we can do about it"! If you are a mountain bike repair person, and their theme is the out-doors, that's easy. Now if you are an interior designer and the their theme is the outdoors, could you help the readers "bring the out-doors in side"? Pitch that angle.

Follow these tips and you will be moving forward quickly and CHEAPly in no time.

Starting your very own business can fun, challenging, and exciting especially when you're making more than you spend. Enjoy the process!

By Januarie Wood

Januarie Wood works as a speaker and consultant. She started her first consulting business in 1995 and has been speaking professionally since 1996. Currently, she travels the US speaking, writing and conducting seminars. She also does self-promotion consulting with small business owners and entrepreneurs.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Januarie_Wood

Let Your Business Vision Guide You to Success

Most of us spend a lot of time thinking about what we want to accomplish with our business. We imagine having many clients, and hope to achieve great success and financial freedom. The thing I often notice with clients, however, is how many people think about what they want, but never manifest their full vision. Nor do they create an action plan to make it happen. How can you expect to earn more money if you are just thinking about what you want and not taking the right steps to achieve your desired results?

Of course, you have to believe in yourself. So much of my coaching work is helping clients to own their worth and reduce the fears that get in their way. The other and equally important piece is to connect your higher vision with a practical action plan. Know what you want to accomplish and set the intention to do so. I plan for the future and create a success map each year. The following should support you to solidify your foundation and the steps you'll need to do so.

Your Success Steps:

Know Why You Do Your Work: Are you still inspired by what you do? It's important to continually focus on why you do your work - the work of helping people. Let this higher vision inspire you, even on dark winter days. Know that YOU make a difference.

Decide What You Want to Accomplish: Think about your goals, how many clients you'd like to have, how much money you want to make. Sit down, write out your goals for the next 12 months. Put the ideas on paper. When you get things out of your head, you become more focused.

Think Big: Don't limit yourself. Be realistic, but dream big, go for your goals. I believe that you can accomplish anything if you truly believe it's possible and set your mind to it. Stop playing small, you are not serving the world by doing do.

Match Your Marketing with Your Vision: What will it require to make your goals a reality; have you matched your goals with a tangible marketing plan and action steps? Develop a plan to consistently reach out and build relationships of trust. Work smarter, not harder. And keep adapting your plan as you learn and grow.

Work with Clients You Love: When you work with people you enjoy, you will be more successful with those clients, and will have more energy to find even MORE ideal clients. Keep considering who is your ideal client, and think about how to attract people into your practice who energize and inspire you.

Get Support: Don't over isolate yourself. You don't have to do this alone. Other people are on your side, and want you to succeed. Be open and ask for help when you need it.

My Question to You: What is your next step? How will you put a plan together to manifest your vision, and translate that into more clients and a more fulfilling practice? Focus on taking the first step now - one practical action that will start the Book More Clients energy flowing. Take out your planner, set the time aside, and start accomplishing. Your business is worth it!

Robert Notter is founder and president of Robert Notter Business Coaching, a company devoted to empowering health and wellness entrepreneurs to build a successful and fulfilling business

Based in New York City, he works with client all over the world in person and by phone. His practice is focused on helping individuals find more clients, increase their income, and have long term personal and professional success. He has worked with and taught to over 4500 people nationally.He is also a faculty member at The Institute for Integrative Nutrition, where he leads the Marketing Education Program.

By Robert C. Notter

Your next step: You can learn more about Robert and receive his Free Ecourse on Finding Your Ideal Client by visiting: http://www.BookClientsNow.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Robert_C._Notter

The Effects of Change On The Manager

One of the least mentioned effects of change relates to how it affects the manager leading that change, and his or her ability to undertake the leadership role. We have already talked about the effects of change on the individual employee, and of course managers are subject to the same reactions, resistances and strains. Some types of change, such as restructuring, or downsizing can put considerable strain on the leaders of an organization.

Stress, Stress & More Stress

One primary concern regarding change is the stress it imposes on those undergoing the change. Managers, because they have obligations to their staff, not only have to deal with change as employees but also need to carry some of the concerns of their staffs. In the case of downsizing, the stress levels can be extremely high, because the manager is charged with conveying very upsetting information.

Stress is part of the job, but in times of change, it is critical that you recognize that it may cause you to act in ways that are less effective than usual. As with anything connected with change, the major concern is not short term but long term. If your stress levels result in marked loss of effectiveness, the risk is that a vicious cycle will be set up, where ineffective leadership results in creating more long term problems, which increases your stress, which reduces your effectiveness even more.

Avoidance -- A Common Response

A common response to unpleasant change is to ignore the situation. Avoidance can take many forms. Most commonly, the avoiding manager plays only a minimal role in moving the organization through the swamp. After announcing the change and doing the minimum required, the manager "hides" from the change, through delegation, or attending to other work. This tactic involves treating things as "business as usual".

The outcomes of this tactic can be devastating. By avoiding situations, the manager abdicates any leadership role, when staff needs it most, during and after significant change. In addition, the avoidance results in the manager becoming out of touch with the people and realities of the organization.

While avoidance serves a need for the manager in the short run, it destroys the manager's credibility, and results in poor decisions. The long term consequence of such action is that the organization tends to deteriorate in terms of morale, effectiveness and productivity. Sometimes this deterioration is irreversable.

Denial -- Another Ineffective Tactic

Sometimes the manager deals with change by denying its impact. Usually, the denying manager takes a very logical approach to change. Decisions get made, systems are put in place, or new procedures are developed. Unfortunately, this "logical" approach denies the impact of change on the people in the organization.
The denying manager tends to refuse to understand "what the big deal is", and shows little empathy with employees in the organization.

As with avoidance the denying tactic tends to drop the manager's credibility and destroy any personal loyalty on the part of employees.

Key Points

1) Managers are put under stress by change, and that stress, if mishandled can result in loss of managerial effectiveness. Managers need to be alert to the signs of stress upon their performance.

2) A common management tactic is to avoid involvement in change when that involvement is unpleasant. The affects of this withdrawal can be lethal to the organization and to the manager.

3) Another common tactic is denial of the effects of change. Managers who do this tend to under- estimate the impact of the change, and demonstrate an inability to respond to employees' emotional reactions to change.

by management business

The Responsive Manager/Leader

The Responsiveness Paradigm outlined elsewhere in this newsletter is applicable at a number of levels. For example, it applies to organizations in general, and the ability of the organization to respond to the needs of customers, staff and other stakeholders (eg. politicians, etc). It applies to non-supervisory staff, and their ability to respond to the needs of their managers, customers and co-workers. This month we are going to look at responsiveness as it applied to managers, leaders and/or supervisors.

Influence Of The Responsive Manager

The responsive manager tends to succeed by building bonds of respect and trust with those around him/her. Staff respond positively to responsive managers; they work more diligently, work to help the manager and the organization succeed, and will go the extra mile when necessary. That is because responsive managers act consistent with the principle that their jobs are to help their staff do their jobs. So, a basic inter-dependence emerges based on behaviours that show concern, respect and trust.

Responsive managers also influence those above them in the hierarchy. Because responsive managers have the ability to read and act upon the needs of their "bosses", they are perceived as helpful and reliable, or in a simple way, very useful. This allows them to get the "ear" of people above them in the system, and further helps get things done when needed.

Contrast this with the limited influence of the UNresponsive manager. The unresponsive manager is restricted in influence because those around him/her do not respect or trust them to look out for their welfare. Influence is more limited to the use of power coming from the formal position, and fear, a motivational component that is hard to sustain over time. Unresponsive managers tend to be perceived as self-interested, or at best uninterested in the needs of those around them. They also tend to be perceived by those above them as less reliable and less useful due to their focus on empire building, organization protection, and self-interest, rather than getting done what needs to be done.

How Do They Do It?

Responsive managers apply a number of specific skills and abilities to the task (as outlined generally in The Responsiveness Paradigm article). Above all, they appear to be "withit". Withitness

has a number of components. First withit managers are able to put aside their concerns to listen to (and appear to listen to) those around them. As a result, they know what is going on, and know what is both said, and said between the lines. They have the knack of appearing to know what people need even if those needs are not expressed directly.

However, knowing what is going on, and identifying the needs of those around them is not sufficient. The responsive manager also acts upon that knowledge, attempting to help fulfil the needs of employees, superiors, etc. Responsive managers wield influence to solve problems for those around them, often before even being asked.

Here's an example:

I was responsible for automating an office system in a government department. As happens sometimes, the Management Information Systems people were not keen on our going our own way on the project, despite the fact that they had indicated they could not do it for us in the near future. As a result their cooperation (needed for the project) was patchy. As team leader, I faced a number of roadblocks, despite the fact that our Assistant Deputy Minister wanted to see this project come to fruition. I regularly reported back to our Director, outlining progress and roadblocks. Every time I communicated roadblocks to the Director, they were removed within a short time, despite the fact that I did not request direct action. In addition, the Director advised and counselled me on how to deal with the "systems people" so I could have maximum impact. Despite the roadblocks, the project was completed on time and was very successful, much to the chagrin of some of the systems people, who I think were hoping we would fail.

This is a simple story, but one full of meaning. In this situation the Director was able to identify the project leader's needs with respect to the project, listening carefully, and identifying actions she could take to "smooth the path". Not only was the Director able to remove obstacles and fulfil the need of the project leader, but the Director responded on a deeper level, helping to teach the Project Leader methods of becoming more effective, fulfilling yet another need. All of this was assumed to be the proper role of the Director, and was done without expressing all of the needs specifically or explicitly.

We can contrast this with the unresponsiveness of the MIS people. They lectured, they fussed, they predicted dire consequences, rather than offering consistent, responsive help. They focused not on responding to the needs of their clients, but on some other factors having to do with control, and their own needs. Eventually, their lack of responsiveness resulted in the very thing they did not want; loss of control of the project. As a result of this project their overall status in the organization suffered, simply because at both an organization and individual level they were seen as barriers, rather than useful.

Let's look at one more example.

An employee had been working for a government branch for about a year, having moved to the city as a new resident. In a casual conversation, the supervisor noted that the employee wasn't looking at his best, and asked how he was feeling. The employee explained that he hadn't been feeling well lately, and sounded very tired and overwhelmed. The supervisor determined that the staff member didn't have a local family doctor, asked if he would like the supervisor to arrange an appointment, and proceeded to do so immediately. The problem turned out to be a minor one.

In this example we see again the ideas of "withitness" and responsiveness. The supervisor was able to identify that the staff member was in need of some help, despite the fact that the staff member did not state this explicitly. Note that the supervisor didn't pressure the staff member to go to the doctor, but identified needs, checked them out, and then acted upon them. In this case, help consisted of direct, helpful action.

Conclusion

These two examples are the stuff of loyalty and commitment. They are remembered years and years after the fact, and continue to extend the influence of managers. In this sense responsiveness is a critical component of management success, because it allows managers and supervisors to get things done, for the benefit of all players.

In the limited space we have, we have attempted to give you a feel of what responsiveness means. You might want to extend your own understanding by considering some of the following questions.

1. If you are a manager or supervisor, how can you modify your own behaviours so that you become and are perceived as more responsive by a) your staff, b) your boss and c) your customers?

2. Again, if you are a manager or supervisor what is your definition of the "responsive employee"? Can you identify your "favourite employees", and consider how they are responsive to you? Our bet is you will find that your most valued employees are responsive.

3. If you are non-management, what would you need to do to be perceived as more responsive by the people around you?

by management business

Front and Center - Leadership Critical To Managing Change

When change is imposed (as in downsizing scenarios), clearly the most important determinant of "getting through the swamp", is the ability of leadership to...well, lead. The literature on the subject indicates that the nature of the change is secondary to the perceptions that employees have regarding the ability, competence, and credibility of senior and middle management.

If you are to manage change effectively, you need to be aware that there are three distinct times zones where leadership is important. We can call these Preparing For the Journey, Slogging Through The Swamp, and After Arrival. We will look more carefully at each of these.

The Role of Leadership

In an organization where there is faith in the abilities of formal leaders, employees will look towards the leaders for a number of things. During drastic change times, employees will expect effective and sensible planning, confident and effective decision-making, and regular, complete communication that is timely. Also during these times of change, employees will perceive leadership as supportive, concerned and committed to their welfare, while at the same time recognizing that tough decisions need to be made. The best way to summarize is that there is a climate of trust between leader and the rest of the team. The existence of this trust, brings hope for better times in the future, and that makes coping with drastic change much easier.

In organizations characterized by poor leadership, employees expect nothing positive. In a climate of distrust, employees learn that leaders will act in indecipherable ways and in ways that do not seem to be in anyone's best interests. Poor leadership means an absence of hope, which, if allowed to go on for too long, results in an organization becoming completely nonfunctioning. The organization must deal with the practical impact of unpleasant change, but more importantly, must labor under the weight of employees who have given up, have no faith in the system or in the ability of leaders to turn the organization around.

Leadership before, during and after change implementation is THE key to getting through the swamp. Unfortunately, if haven't established a track record of effective leadership, by the time you have to deal with difficult changes, it may be too late.

Preparing For The Journey

It would be a mistake to assume that preparing for the journey takes place only after the destination has been defined or chosen. When we talk about preparing for the change journey, we are talking about leading in a way that lays the foundation or groundwork for ANY changes that may occur in the future. Preparing is about building resources, by building healthy organizations in the first place. Much like healthy people, who are better able to cope with infection or disease than unhealthy people, organization that are healthy in the first place are better able to deal with change.

As a leader you need to establish credibility and a track record of effective decision making, so that there is trust in your ability to figure out what is necessary to bring the organization through.

Slogging Through The Swamp

Leaders play a critical role during change implementation, the period from the announcement of change through the installation of the change. During this middle period the organization is the most unstable, characterized by confusion, fear, loss of direction, reduced productivity, and lack of clarity about direction and mandate. It can be a period of emotionalism, with employees grieving for what is lost, and initially unable to look to the future.

During this period, effective leaders need to focus on two things. First, the feelings and confusion of employees must be acknowledged and validated. Second, the leader must work with employees to begin creating a new vision of the altered workplace, and helping employees to understand the direction of the future. Focusing only on feelings, may result in wallowing. That is why it is necessary to begin the movement into the new ways or situations. Focusing only on the new vision may result in the perception that the leader is out of touch, cold and uncaring. A key part of leadership in this phase is knowing when to focus on the pain, and when to focus on building and moving into the future.

After Arrival

In a sense you never completely arrive, but here we are talking about the period where the initial instability of massive change has been reduced. People have become less emotional, and more stable, and with effective leadership during the previous phases, are now more open to locking in to the new directions, mandate and ways of doing things.

This is an ideal time for leaders to introduce positive new change, such as examination of unwieldy procedures or Total Quality Management. The critical thing here is that leaders must now offer hope that the organization is working towards being better, by solving problems and improving the quality of work life. While the new vision of the organization may have begun while people were slogging through the swamp, this is the time to complete the process, and make sure that people buy into it, and understand their roles in this new organization.

Conclusion

Playing a leadership role in the three phases is not easy. Not only do you have a responsibility to lead, but as an employee yourself, you have to deal with your own reactions to the change, and your role in it. However, if you are ineffective in leading change, you will bear a very heavy personal load. Since you are accountable for the performance of your unit, you will have to deal with the ongoing loss of productivity that can result from poorly managed change, not to mention the potential impact on your own enjoyment of your job.

by free aeticle