1.5 - About University

H OW TO USE THIS LEADERSHIP TOOL“Never underestimate the magnitude of the forces that reinforce complacency and help maintain the status quo.”—John Kotter, LEADING CHANGEThere is no easy answer here, and it would be misleading to characterize these approaches aseither-or. Breakthrough change is difficult, and there are times when no number of small winswill ever add up to the large-systems change that is necessary for your organization. This isbecause the status quo in organizations has a way of powerfully rejecting, absorbing, or corruptingincremental changes. To quote a popular phrase, “Your organization is perfectlyaligned to get the results that it is currently getting.”WEB WORKSHEETSmall wins approachWhere/when to use:✔ Senior management is not ready for orsupportive of breakthrough change.✔ You need to build credibility for change.✔ Risks of failure are catastrophic.✔ The sum of incremental changes will add upto a large-scale change.Checklist of things to consider:❑ Clarify the overall change goal or vision before youbreak the change into chunks.❑ Be sure that small wins will move you toward theoverall change that is required.❑ Turn over chunks to project teams.ORBreakthrough approachWhere/when to use:✔ Your back is against the wall: Change or goout of business.✔ You have tried “more of the same” and itisn’t getting the overall results needed.Checklist of things to consider:❑ This kind of change requires commitment at thehighest level.❑ Must be led by a strong steering committee.❑ Requires a crisis or a sense of urgency.❑ Requires the breakup of current functions; someleaders will not succeed.❑ Since many old systems will no longer support thechange, you must do thorough systems andstakeholder analyses.[☛ 5.6 Aligning Systems, 5.7 Stakeholder Groups]Think of some needed changes in your leadership area. Use the workspace provided hereto assess whether a Small Wins or a Breakthrough approach would be most appropriate.Potential change Small wins approach Breakthrough approachBenefits of this approach:Benefits of this approach:148 SECTION 5 TOOLS FOR LEADING CHANGE