With the best of intentions, we set out in pursuit of sweeping changes in our organizations – in our leaders’ behaviors, in the way our people work together, and in how our organizational pieces fit together to succeed. Often these attempts at change create chaos. A solution to one leader’s behavioral issues creates a rivalry with another.
Encouraging new ways of working between team members unravels a recently implemented organizational design from leadership coaches. We try to grow by merging with another company and that throws two radically different cultures into a duel.
Leadership Transformation: Invest in Change Efforts
While it may be trendy to iterate, “test and learn,” and move swiftly, significant change efforts are difficult and the stakes – financially, emotionally, and socially – are high and should be done thoughtfully.
Investing in Leadership Transformation is the First Step on the Path to Success
Knowing your strengths and weaknesses as a leader is essential for change.
Leading organizational transformation is a privilege affecting the lives of countless thousands of people. It is a daunting undertaking that demands careful preparation and meticulous thought. We believe, as we hope you do, that it is worthy of your best. For that reason, we believe a new and deeper look at stale approaches to transformation is warranted.
We don’t pretend to offer a silver bullet, nor do we claim we’ve cracked the code on ideas that never occurred to others. But we have assembled our collective century of experience working on coaching executives into what we believe is a fresh perspective.
Leadership Tranformation: Operate Like a Fine-Tuned Car
Imagine the engine of a Ferrari, on the chassis of a Ford Taurus with the wheels of an Escalade. All of the parts are of great quality but that does not mean that they will work well together. All too often, well-meaning executives implement changes that are ill conceived or so narrowly defined that their potential impact is minimized from the get go.
Leadership transformation requires collaboration and dedication. Learn more with these blogs:
They focus on great tires without thinking about the new tires’ impact on the chassis. Even with best-in-class parts, change efforts are unsustainable if the parts don’t fit.
We believe that there are three domains of formation that fit together to form lasting leadership transformation – changes needed within individuals, between leaders in their relationships, and among the various components of the organization. These are to be considered as an integrated and interconnected set of changes that must be worked in concert.
Our world is begging for this integrated leadership development consulting. In our world’s most recognized companies there are leaders who are intolerable managers, relationships full of distrust and miscommunication, and organizations that have functions at cross purposes and priorities that do not align with their consumers’ biggest needs.
In our next post we will begin with the thing most in our control yet most difficult to transform – ourselves.