How to overcome resistance and develop adaptable.doc

How to overcome resistance and develop adaptable, change-orientated leadership skills 13The Case for ChangeTo truly understand the pace of change, its worth reviewing the slides of a keynote speech delivered by William Eggers in 2010 entitled, “Adapting to an age of exponential change” Eggers pointed out that the average lifetime of a company in the S&P 500 has fallen 80% since 1937. Furthermore, the rate at which big companies lose their leadership positions has almost doubled in the last forty years, while the profitability of all public companies has dropped by 75% in the same timeframe.The Ashridge Business School “Global Leaders of Tomorrow” project involved interviews and surveys of industry leaders around the world and revealed a high level of agreement on the knowledge and skills important for tomorrows global leader. Organized into three distinct clusters, the ability to manage change is a consistent theme: Context: The global leader of tomorrow needs to understand the changing business context within its sector, as well as how stakeholders (regulators, customers, suppliers, investors, NGOs) are responding. Complexity:The ability to lead in the face of complexity and ambiguity, which by its nature creates uncertainty and disagreement regarding the necessary response. Leadership in these circumstances requires a range of discrete skills. Among those polled, 88% believed that senior executives need the ability to be flexible and responsive to change, as well as to find creative, innovative and original ways to solve problems (91%). Connectedness: The ability to understand the players in a broader political landscape and to engage and build effective relationships with new kinds of external partners.As one of our Leadership 2020 competencies, the question of how to support leaders, their teams and their organizations to overcome resistance and succeed in an era of accelerating change is the subject of this posting.Supporting Individuals, Teams & Organizations in Change“We need to take individual and collective learning at work to the next level if we are to meet twenty-first century change challenges.” (From Immunity to Change by Kegan & Lahey.)A common theme in our work with leaders is the acknowledgement that without change, success both personally and organizationally will be in jeopardy.Inhisbook,Managing at the Speed of Sound,Daryl R. Connerdiscusses how and why resistance to change occurs and the symptoms to look for (E.g. irritation, distraction, reduced trust, conflict, apathy etc). He argues that resilience is a key ingredient to the success of those who prosper during disruption and disorder and he identifies five key principles for enhancing personal and organizational resilience.Harvard educators Robert Kegan and Lisa Lahey argue that immunity to change is grounded in our systems of self-protection, making change much more than having good intentions. Using a mental map, their innovative approach helps individuals to identify and overcome competing barriers that derail lasting change.Personal Action Strategies Assessing & developing your change management competencyMindtools offers some great free resources that will help you assess and develop your change management skills. Start with the How Good Are Your Change Management Skills Assessment to learn where your skills are strong, and where you might need to develop new skills. Mindtools will also guide you through the key areas of change management, and provide additional resources for developing your change management skills, based on your assessment responses.Our recommended steps for aspiring and established leaders: Identify a change “board of advisors” that can mentor and guide you to plan and implement the changes you want to work on. Build and strengthen your change muscles through regular “change workouts” to keep your brain agile. E.g. Expand your network in and outside your organization. Take a different route to work. Try a new activity. Learn a new skill or take a class in something that interests you. Monitoring your responses and reactions to small changes helps to prepare you for big ones. Consider working with an executive coach. A key advantage of an external coach is the outside perspective youll get to help you identify the internal barriers or resistors to change that you may be too close to see. An external coach will also work with you to increase your leadership resilience and capacity for change. Stay up to date with news, insights, thought-leaders and trends in your field. Learn about new developments thatmay impact your profession, your organization and your industry.Team & Organization Action StrategiesAt the organizational level, John Kotters work stands out. As a noted authority on change, Kotter argues that winning over hearts and minds is the key to bringing about change. Yet, most change initiatives hes seen focus on changing thinking. Kotter outlines a process and eight critical success factors in his change model. View the steps, as well as stories from the book. If your organization is experiencing a change process, you may be interested in KottersChange Insight Tool which will help you assess where your organization is.Dynamics of Change ExerciseA fun team exercise that is always well-received in our change management work is the “10 Dynamics of Change” exercise in which the group is divided into teams of two. Each pair is asked to spend one minute looking at their partners before one partner changes 5 things about his/her appearance and asks the other to identify the changes made. The exercise is repeated with the caveat that the first five changes cannot be reversed.During the exercise debrief, people describe experiencing 10 distinct dynamics from awkwardness, loneliness, concerns about what they are being asked to give up; concerns about whether they have sufficient resources to handle whats being asked of them. The exercise demonstrates that people are at different levels in their readiness and capacity to handle change. People will adapt to change, but if the vision and focus are removed, people will revert to old behaviors. Some ideas for teams and organizations (fromAJOs Change Readiness Worksheets): Have your team complete our personal and team change readiness assessment and review results (with external facilitation if needed). Create personal and organizational energy action plan using the templates in this document Workwith your team to identify short-term wins.Achieving individual, team and organizational change demands purposeful commitment to counter the forces working against it. In todays competitive landscape where the pace of change is increasing exponentially, leaders who understand why resistance is occurring and who can master change management skills will improve productivity, engagement and reduce stress levels, both personally and for their teams during change.As Daryl R. Conner argues, “To prosper, remain competitive, or simply survive, leaders need to respond to a growing number of profound changes in how they govern countries, structure companies, conduct business, treat employees, and deal with customers.”AJOs Recommended Reading & Other ActivitiesBooks Conner, D.R. (1992)Managing at the Speed of Change: How Resilient Managers Succeed And Prosper Where Others Fail. Random House. Heath, C. & Heath, D., (2010)Switch: How to Change Things When Change Is Hard. Random House. Kegan, R & Laskow Lahey, L., (2009)Immunity to Change: How to Overcome it and Unlock the Potential in Yourself and Your Organization. Harvard Business School Publishing. Kotter, J. & Cohen, D.S. (2002) The Heart of Change: Real-Life Stories of How People Change Their Organizations. Harvard Business School Publishing. Luecke, R.A. (2003)Managing Change & Transition: Seven Practical Strategies to Help You During Turbulent Times. Harvard Business Essentials.Articles and Blog Postings Bishop, W.H. (2012)Why Creating Change Is Critical.Talent Management Heath, C. & Heath, D., (2011)Why Emotion, Not Knowledge, Is the Catalyst for Change.Fast Company Kotter, J.P. (2007)Leading Change: Why Transformations Fail. Harvard Business ReviewWatch These Videos Kotter, J.P. (2011) The Heart of Change. Kotterstresses the importance of winning over hearts and minds. In this clip, he offers tips for achieving the heart of change. Heath, D. (2011)Why Change is So Hard Heath argues that what looks like laziness is often exhaustion.Managing Cross-Functional TeamsBalancing Team Needs and Functional LinesDraw together varied expertise to achieve more. iStockphoto/AndrewJohnsonBarbara is a manager with more than 10 years of successful leadership experience. Shes been put in charge of a cross-functional team whose objective is to create a new way to package their companys products. She thought that she was prepared for this role, and she was really excited about working with such a diverse group of people. The trouble is, things arent working out at all!All of the members of the team are highly accomplished in their functional areas, so Barbara assumed she could leave them with their respective tasks and then meet every so often to move the project forward. She does this with her regular team all the time, and they come back with excellent results. But thats not happening with this group. Every meeting becomes an argument about which issues have the highest priority, and which perspective is the right one. In fact, every time people meet, there seems to be less progress than before, and people are obviously frustrated and de-motivated. Barbara thought that if she put together a team of responsible, highly capable individuals, they would be easy to manage. Instead, she feels as if they need one-on-one supervision to do even the smallest task. Why is Barbara having so many problems?The Uniqueness of Cross-Functional TeamsCross-functional teams are significantly different from teams that are aligned on one functional level. For example, a group of marketing people generally speak the same language, and they have a solid understanding of what their department is trying to accomplish. With a cross-functional team, you may have representatives from a wide array of specialties finance, accounting, operations, legal, human resources and each person has his or her own perspective and issues. This diversity is both the reason why cross-functional teams can be highly effective, but its also the reason that theyre often problematic. In this article, well look at the specific challenges of leading a cross-functional team versus a single-function team. And well show you how best to use the creativity and capabilities that a cross-functional team can provide.Leadership is EssentialIts not enough to simply manage a cross-functional team - you must lead it. Strong leadership creates and fosters team unity, and that leadership is key to your success. Because of outside pressures, this type of team must have internal strength and commitment to survive. At the same time, the team leader has to know when and how to allow functional experts to take the lead. After all, when you bring together a group of highly talented people, many individuals within the team may know more about the problem from their own perspective than the team leader. This situation requires a careful leadership balance. Tasks must be tightly coordinated and organized, and yet people must be free to use their talents and expertise as needed. As such, being able to adopt an appropriate leadership style is key to leading a cross-functional team effectively. Build Upper Management Sponsorship and SupportOne of the team leaders main responsibilities is to ensure that the cross-functional team has the full support of key stakeholders within the organization. The managers in every affected functional area must support the project. The teams objectives must be seen as a priority, or it will be too difficult for individual team members to find the time and resources necessary to complete their tasks. When the team has enough high-level support, senior managers can ensure that people within the organization understand the teams objectives and how they fit with the big picture. Its important to remember that the relationship between the functional departments and the cross-functional team is dynamic its constantly evolving and changing. Therefore, be sure to monitor the relationship and the priorities on a regular basis. Set Clear ObjectivesBefore you can convince the organization that your objectives are a priority, members of the cross-functional team have to be clear about what those objectives are. Each team member must be reminded often of the goals. This helps the whole project stay on target, despite the occasional outside influence. A team charter is useful here, as a great way of keeping everyone focused, as well as for establishing basic standards for working together. To add more strength to the cross-functional teams goals, senior managers may want to ensure that making the project a success is one of the departmental goals of each functional department. Since cross-functional teamwork is often not related to a persons regular duties, he or she has competing responsibilities. When departmental goals are aligned with cross-functional team goals, theres much more scope for cooperation, and a higher likelihood of success. Communicate Clearly and WidelyA common theme in this discussion is effective communication. Cross-functional teams can include team members from across the whole organization, therefore appropriate people from across the organization need to understand whats going on, so that the teams objectives arent forgotten or dismissed. By communicating appropriately right from the start, you can avoid rumors and misinformation, raise awareness of the teams objectives, and build relationships that will be needed later. Team members themselves must remember to talk with appropriate people within their departments about what the team is discussing and deciding. As such, they can present the benefits and risks of decisions in ways that their colleagues will understand. This helps to reduce mistrust, and it gives team members a chance to show their support for and unity with the team, despite opposition that may exist from within their departments.Build Positive Team DynamicsWhile communicating outside the team is essential, internal team communication is equally important. Honesty, respect, and trust are fundamental in cross-functional teams, even more than in departmental teams. Team members often have to compete for organizational resources, so when you ask them to work together, spend sufficient time building trust and creating an environment of open communication. These people are also likely to be very diverse in the way they think, analyze, and solve problems. If you build trust between them, then they will be much more likely to contribute freely and openly to discussions, even when they know their ideas wont be popular or agreed with.Make sure that youre aware of the Forming, Storming, Norming and Performing model of team development, and do what you can to guide your team through these performance stages. In particular, consider using Ice Breakers so that people can get to know one-another, train people in Conflict Resolution, and allow plenty of time for group decision making. Adopt the Right Approach to MotivationAs mentioned earlier, linking the cross-functional teams success to the success of each functional department is a powerful way to gain support and increase motivation, where this can be achieved. Establish clear performance standards and expectations related to the team. Individuals need to know how well theyre performing as a member of the cross-functional team, and that evaluation should be separate from the functional department evaluation. In these situations, the team member has two distinct roles, and maintaining a clear distinction is helpful, particularly when the teams decisions require compromise and resources from a functional department. When individual rewards are based on clear performance standards, it helps secure personal commitment and effort toward team goals, and the team leader and functional department leaders should administer these rewards respectively. Its also often a good idea to reward the team as a whole. This contributes to team unity and cohesiveness. All of these rewards should include formal and informal recognition. Its just as important to hear people say thank you on a regular basis as it is to receive something tangible. Recognition events can also communicate team success, and demonstrate this to the wider organization. Make Sure People Have Enough Time to Contribute When youre leading a cross-functional team, you need to be careful to manage he expectations of team members and their functional managers as to how much time team members need to spend on project work as opposed to departmental work. To establish the right balance, the department