Conversion course: Natalie Gordon offers her plan for surviving and thriving during an organisational change programme--as both a leader and a follower.
| Author | Gordon, Natalie |
| Position | Career development |
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We've heard it all before. In the current climate of M&A mania, we're constantly being told to embrace change. We have to be leaner and faster; to create more growth and more profit. And we have to impress the new owners of our organisations with ever more ambitious plans. Does that sound familiar? More and more of us belong to companies that have recently merged or been bought by private equity--and that means new people with new ideas are at the top. Whatever level you are at in your organisation, there are practical things you can do to survive the inevitable changes that are on their way.
If you have just been given the task of leading change in your organisation, the chances are that you have a sense of trepidation at this stage. This is a healthy sign. If it were an easy job, no one would bother writing about it. As former US president John Adams said: "If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader."
It's a tall order, so where do you start? Your first task should be to create a vision for the first 100, 300 or 600 days. This needs to be something that you can articulate in one sentence, explaining what your organisation will become and by when. And the first question to ask yourself about the new vision is whether it inspires you or not. If it doesn't, it's unlikely to inspire anyone else. Once you have the right vision, it's easier to work out your journey towards it, planning what the main achievements will be along the way and how you will reach them.
So now you have a clear vision and you know how you're going to try to achieve it, but do you and your fellow leaders have the ability to lead the transformation? This requires a high level of self-awareness, as you will need to face some brutal truths about yourself and your company. For example, how connected are you to your organisation? This is an important issue, because you will need to empathise with its members and mobilise them, removing barriers, seeing through the politics and bringing the vision to life. Placing a high value on innovation will also be vital in creating solutions to apparently intractable problems--something that can be done only in a climate of trust, collaboration and creativity. As a change leader, you need to stay focused on what needs to be done. The ability to see clearly what must change and in what order is key, as is knowing what can remain the same. To do this, you need...
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