change

How has your leadership beliefs informed the way you lead
change?
Often its poor leadership that makes organizations go awry. But the
blame is directed towards reasons such as lack of quality in hires,
poor creativity etc. I have seen organizations being transformed
without the need to replace resources. Many a time leaders are
under the mistaken notion that to transform an organization, it is
necessary to fire a set of people and replace them with a new talent
pool. While you have people that need to be changed, you shouldn’t
start with the assumption that people are no good and feel that you
have to get rid of all of them. With the right vision, inspiration, tools
and strategy, change is possible with existing resources.
1. The root cause of every problem is a leadership
problem. This meant that if things failed, it was my fault not
the fault of the organization. It’s tempting to put the problem
somewhere else without looking at ourselves. I took the
ownership for the culture change. If it needs to happen, I have
to drive change across the organization.
2. Involve people in the change. While I may be the person
that needs to drive the change, I can’t do it alone. You need the
buy-in from the organization to make a transformation happen.
If you really want to change culture, it must be both top-down
and bottom-up. Change must happen from both directions.
Great leadership will push down the agenda but people in
the entire organization need to be bought in and own the
change too.
3. People at the end of the day look at real actions. I have
seen people put a lot of emphasis on strategy, which I believe
is important but the real thing is getting things done. People
will evaluate you on what you have done and not on the quality
of your presentation or how well you articulate your vision
statement. It’s about doing a few things incredibly well and
amplifying the message, so people get it and understand you are
serious about change.
4. Articulating your thoughts and putting a huge emphasis
on communication. A lot of the time people’s visions remain
in the eyes of only a few people. Every employee should
understand the vision. You should be able to stand up in front
of employees often and explain and answer every question. I
cannot underestimate the need to communicate, communicate,
and communicate! There is nothing called over communicating.
You just need to stand up and answer those difficult questions.
This needs to be built as a culture. Your leadership team has to
do it and the more you do it, the better you will become. Then
people start believing in a true transformation.
A lot of leaders believe
that they need to
communicate but don’t
because they themselves
aren’t very good
communicators. I don’t
think the two need to
go hand-in-hand. Great
leaders don’t have to
be great speakers. They
just need to stand up
and answer questions.
What people look for
in a great leader is
not skills or charisma;
they look for honesty
and authenticity.
What stops leaders from leveraging the power of
communication?
It could be underestimation. A lot of leaders believe that they
need to communicate but don’t because they themselves aren’t
very good communicators. This gets in the way. I don’t think the
two need to go hand-in-hand. Great leaders don’t have to be great
speakers. They just need to stand up and answer questions. What
people look for in a great leader is not skills or charisma; they look
for honesty and authenticity. So you can still be yourself in front of
people and answer their questions without being a great orator. It
takes a lot of courage to put yourself in front of people, especially
when there is bad news. However, it is important for a leader to
communicate both good and bad news.
28 | LPS Quarterly