Focal Leadership

Leadership

The interim leader as a change leader

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Being a change leader is not only an area of deep capability for an interim leader, it is an area of significant comfort. An interim understands change perhaps more than most leaders because of the interim’s repeated confrontations with it on the front line. The speed at which an interim is able to deliver results is a product of the interim’s experience, confidence, and resilience. An interim prefers to be the agent of change, not the subject of change. Charles Handy, in The Age of Unreason, cites “discontinuous upside-down thinking” as the way a dynamic leader impacts our changing world.  An interim leader loves to play in this sand-pit of chaos and change!

In Built to Last Collins and Porras discuss the concept of alignment; in their view, companies transform themselves into visionary companies through two key alignment processes:

1) developing new alignments to preserve the core and stimulate progress

2) eliminating misalignments that drive an organization away from its core ideology and those that impede progress toward the envisioned future

Both alignment processes are fertile ground for an interim leader. An interim is adept at managing alignment. The Confederation of British Industry states in their business guide, Interim Executive Management, “Interims are hungry for the challenge of changing the state of things and know they can do it because they have successfully done so on many occasions.”

An interim’s raison d’être is to accelerate the pace of change. If an interim can deliver on his or her accountabilities as part of organizational change then the interim will leave a legacy of value and transformation. If the interim encounters an organizational culture that is blocked by obstacles, whether the result of hierarchies, budget, or other constraints, the interim’s effectiveness and energy will lose momentum. However, since an interim has a short-term tenure with an organization, he or she often has more license than a long-term employee to navigate and challenge norms. An interim does this with an authentic interest in the organization’s growth.

When leading change an interim leader often presents a client with alternative scenarios. This process of providing clients with options helps an interim achieve buy-in for proposed changes. This is especially important when an interim delivers change at a rapid pace. An interim uses comprehensive stakeholder management to help engage support for change. Speed of change is a familiar concept for an interim. An interim is not rattled when riding the change-curve roller coaster and is unlikely to be perturbed when projects lurch in different directions. An interim’s ability to react quickly and change course, even in the face of uncertainty and shifting horizons, is an essential part of the interim’s tool kit as a change leader.

Often an interim is responsible for moving the dial to deliver a change program within a short timeframe. An interim may not be with the organization long enough to fully see the change project’s entire implementation. An interim may however be required to design processes to embed change over this longer time period and has a responsibility to leave a legacy of significant value. In many ways this is more challenging for an interim than delivering the original change project under short time pressures. To create processes to successfully embed change, an interim needs to anticipate all the variables in the organization, processes, and people to create the best conditions for successful implementation—without having the opportunity to course-correct in real time. As Robert Schaffer notes in High Impact Consulting, “Management consultants must be more than experts in their field. They must serve as effective change agents and share accountability with their clients for the ultimate outcome of their consulting projects.”

The Confederation of British Industry discusses the role of interims as change leaders in their business guide, Interim Executive Management: “Clients have found that interims are an effective strategic weapon to gain competitive advantage, through rapid and lasting change. They bring a refreshing degree of objectivity and prove excellent at building and leading internal teams and managing external suppliers – including consultants. Changes introduced in this way are far more resilient than those created and imposed by an outside agency.” It is no surprise that an interim leader shows his or her effectiveness when designing, leading, and implementing change programs for clients.

For more information, Rise of the Gig Leaders provides a detailed analysis of interim leadership. Please check-out the YouTube link as an introduction to the book https://youtu.be/iHMesdPFbro  

Change leadership – 3 subtle imperatives

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changeChange leadership is a topic with a lot of existing commentary. It is also a subject with many models that provide maps for the change process – many of which are very helpful. But when dealing with change, the very essence of it can be volatile. There are some subtle and significant imperatives that need to be considered when steering a course through change.

I recall a few years ago being interviewed about my views on change management. I probably rather flippantly suggested that change management is just packaged terminology for good leadership. After all, leadership at its best has to deal with ambiguity, engage multiple stakeholders, chart a course to clear outcomes and manage processes. Effective disciplines to lead people and organizations through change are essential. At the same time, change management can take on a life of its own and become a beast rather than a beauty. Much the same way that processes like performance management, talent management and employee development have evolved over the years in some organizations to become onerous and costly processes. Having the courage and candor to validate how effectively change leadership is working for everyone is something that many leaders should give attention to.

I am suggesting three imperatives that will help to ensure change leadership is delivering and not debilitating:

1) Test your vision
One of the first actions of a change initiative is to spell out a vision for what the future looks like – what is the desired outcome and goal. This then becomes the measure and validation of everything done to move from the present to the vision of change. Leaders can get hung up on all of the activity required to fix the current situation, and not keep measuring these activities against the value they deliver against the goal of the initiative. Perhaps more subtly, leaders can fail to continually validate the vision. Time changes things, and this can include the vision. It’s not a failure to reimagine and review a vision. It’s actually about leaders understanding that change management is all inclusive. Continuing to re-affirm the vision and keeping it alive rather than enshrined, is essential for change leadership.

2) Read the signs
Leading change is often a series of processes to map, test and transform existing processes. There is also a massive element of leading the people who are impacted by this change. Organizations who understand the role that culture has on people, are better at reading the signs of change impact and implications. Leaders need to be able to read people and the organization throughout the change process in order to determine commitment, morale and motivation. Many years ago I was asked to establish an internal communications infrastructure that included ‘contact employees’ in each department. The jargon now would be ‘change agents’. But these were people whose role was not just to be the catalysts of local change, but who were the eyes and ears of the heartbeat of the organization. We collaborated regularly to build our intelligence and awareness of how the change process was progressing – we continually read the signs and sought to learn from them.

3) Stay connected
Large-scale change initiatives can often be led by a crack team of experts including consultants. This team can have a war room or a program office. They issue branded communication. They hold daily briefings. They pull in resources with a powerful mandate. Membership of the team can become exclusive and admirable. The first agenda item for senior leadership meetings is always to hear from this team. Whilst such a team and many of the actions of this team may be essential to deliver a successful change program, these teams can create a surreal and alternative reality for an organization. Leaders need to stay connected to all employees, respect their views, appreciate their contributions, and understand the psychology of change on everyone. Organizational change is about “we’re in this together”, not “the SWAT team are doing this for us”.

Leading through change is a test of leadership wisdom, empathy and insight, as well as leadership intent, drive and energy. Developing leaders in the subtle and significant can often add greater value than the obvious and essential aspects of change.