Leading Change from Within: A Road Map to Help Middle Managers Affect Lasting Change

By Brian Strobel

Change is at the core of human essence. The simplest definition of change is to make different. Human essence isnt so simple to define. Aristotle referred to it as to ti esti, the what it is. As such, change makes different what is.

Many experts now assert the number one task of leaders is simply to manage change. Yet managing change is anything but simple. Leading change is even more difficult.

Maximizing value in this environment requires leadershipand not yesterdays authoritarian style of leadership, but leadership at a higher level that connects with both the heart and the mind.

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Feb 4, 2015
• ISBN: 9781490867816

Brian Strobel

Brian Strobel strives to be a servant leader. As a middle manager or a consultant to middle management, hes helped organizations find value in change for the past 25 years. Hes done this within the military, the government and across the private sector. He has always believed the most effective approach is one that directly involves the people affected by the change. He has graduate degrees in management and executive leadership, including direct study under Ken Blanchard. A certified professional coach (CPC) and manager of quality/organizational excellence (CMQ/OE), Strobel holds additional certifications in lean six sigma, negotiation, and conflict resolution. Hes committed to helping organizations uncover hidden value by developing middle managers into more effective leaders. When able to relax and get away from work, he enjoys spending time with his wife and his favorite dog at their lake house just north of Grand Rapids.

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Copyright © 2015 Brian L. Strobel.

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Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

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ISBN: 978-1-4908-6782-3 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4908-6783-0 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-4908-6781-6 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2015901214

WestBow Press rev. date: 02/03/2015

CONTENTS

Introduction

PART ONE

PREPARE FOR CHANGE (READINESS)

Chapter 1 Prepare Yourself

Chapter 2 Diagnose The Organization

Chapter 3 Change The Rules (That Aren’t Working)

Chapter 4 Challenge The Construct

Chapter 5 Recognize Change

PART TWO

RESPOND TO CHANGE (ADOPTION)

Chapter 6 Serve As The Pathfinder

Chapter 7 Implement The Change

Chapter 8 Remove Obstacles

Chapter 9 Consider Power And Influence

PART THREE

INTEGRATE THE CHANGE (INSTITUTIONALIZATION)

Chapter 10 Manage Conflict And Root Success

Chapter 11 Control The Pace

Chapter 12 Stay The Course

Epilogue

Appendix

Change Leadership Toolbox

Bibliography

Image Attributions

Notes

About The Author

Your vision will become clear only

when you can look into your own heart.

Who looks outside, dreams;

who looks inside, awakes.

—CARL JUNG

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Others before have said that no book is the work of any one individual. That truth pertains here.

I developed the concept for this work ten years ago but delayed writing it until my process matured into one of transferable value.

Far more people than I can list here have contributed to this effort in some way; after all, this work is about how you contribute and lead within organizations. I’m indebted to those authors and thinkers who have previously presented ideas and concepts that I’ve leveraged and transformed to deliver the ideas presented in this work. Without their foundational efforts, I’d still be stumbling around looking for my cheese.

Above I mentioned the transformative use of others’ concepts and ideas. Many of my concepts build from the work of others, so I’ve cited and directly quoted in those instances where the original words best communicate the idea under discussion.

Some of the models in the text are of my own development. Others are derivatives of common management models transformed into specific change leadership applications for this work. When leveraging from others, I’ve given the original thinkers full credit for the base theory.

All dictionary definitions are from the Oxford English Dictionary available on-line at www.oed.com.

Permission for all artwork not of my own creation is provided under license from 123RF.

I owe specific thanks to the following people for providing me the confidence to undertake this work.

My grandparents Les and Betty; although both have passed, they remain my heroes and the reason for whatever success I’ve achieved.

Tim MacDonald, for helping me get saved—I hope to be eternally grateful for this gift.

Cohort 13 from USD, who taught me it’s okay to hug.

The faculty and staff of MSEL at USD, who shared their wisdom so that I could grow.

Chad White, for silently encouraging, listening and providing needed feedback.

Rob Bignell, for helping ensure my words express what I intended.

Above all else, I acknowledge the encouragement received from my wife, Chiaumey, who continues to inspire me to be a better man.

INTRODUCTION

Only that which is provisional endures.

—FRENCH PROVERB

Change is at the core of human essence. The simplest definition of change is to make different. Human essence isn’t so simple to define. Aristotle referred to it as to ti esti, the what it is. So by definition, change makes different what is.

And it does so continually.

We’re all changing, continually, from the moment of birth. The organizations in which we work also change and do so continually. But there’s no established discipline within our organizations specifically chartered to lead change. Apparently, no one is in charge of making sure the products of change return the value we seek. Throughout this work, I’ll reveal why middle managers are the people in the best position to fill this void.

I believe it’s cliché to claim that change is now, all of a sudden, constant. For the past fifty years, social scientists have predicted change to be a new problem of unforeseen magnitude. But the global economy is driving relentless change. Recent history proves organizations must adapt and predict change, or they will perish. Businesses that don’t move beyond their legacy change management principles are essentially planning not to have a plan.

This environment of continual change is the realm of the change agent leader.

If you’re a middle manager, you’re probably in a positon to be a change agent leader. To be effective, you need to be engaged and have the right tools and support structure. Organizations that purposely choose their change agent leaders and then support change with the full weight of the organization have a competitive advantage over those peers not so prepared.

Helping change agents succeed is the purpose of this book.

The word change is overused and now aligns with a near-infinite number of concepts. A movement exists within practitioner communities to empower new words, such as adaptation, transition, transformation, renewal, and organizational readiness. Some of us may have even become oblivious from overuse of the word. It appears more than fifteen hundred times just within this writing. I won’t be proposing a new word—we already have enough to discuss. Yet I did want to recognize this background activity to amplify the growing importance change has in our lives.

This importance can be personal. Change often creates significant emotional events. For many of us, these feelings driven from change are far too frequently anything but positive.

This correlation with emotions and feelings results in behaviorists classifying change as an affective event. It shouldn’t surprise that any attempt to lead people through change must then also consider these associated emotional impacts.

The speed of change and the challenges it presents are salient issues that we now continually deal with in our daily routines. Yet we still struggle with the concept more than possibly any other facet of management and leadership. Many experts claim the number one task of leaders is now simply to manage change. But managing change is anything but simple.

Leading change is even more difficult.

Maximizing value in this environment requires leadership—and not yesterday’s authoritarian style of leadership, but leadership at a higher level that connects with both the heart and the mind.

A BRIEF BACKGROUND ON CHANGE

The academic research with empirical evidence on change management is surprisingly light. The available evidence on change leadership is even lighter.

In today’s global market and its constant evolving business environment, I find it difficult to imagine any other business facet that should demand more of our attention. As mentioned earlier, some have suggested the primary job of management is to lead change. Led effectively, it can return great value. Implemented without the appropriate leadership, bad things can happen.

We’re just getting starting, but this is the point where many books cite a common statistic claiming change failure rates of 70 percent. I now almost expect to find this statistic cited in some derivative in every work on change.

This book won’t do so.

When presented with this claim, I challenge you to try to trace the source. A 2011 study published in the Journal of Change Management investigates the lack of empirical evidence supporting this oft-cited failure rate.¹ The one source with significant empirical evidence, a McKinsey survey of more than fifteen hundred executives, is itself often misrepresented. References to this survey usually focus attention on the negative and ignore the documented positive attributes revealed by the study.²

The problem with classifying failure rates in such broad strokes is that many efforts partially achieve intended goals. This begs the question—if an initiative achieved four of five goals, does that still indicate failure?

I’ll avoid quantifying change success rates, as it truly is a relative concept. But it is safe to say that leading change is difficult. It requires an intentional effort to increase the likelihood of achieving desired results. Supporting references aren’t necessary for this assertion.

The academic community hasn’t yet agreed to a practical framework to classify change management. This results in most popular literature lacking the expected empirical support. One of the few agreed upon scholarly classifications is to identify what causes change to come about. The two distinct groupings that dominate here are planned and emergent change.

Kurt Lewin documented the planned approach in 1947.³ Lewin’s method assesses the process an organization takes to move a measured characteristic from an initial undesired state to a final desired state. The model places emphasis on the need to discard old behavior, structures and processes before adopting new behavior, structures and processes. The heart of Lewin’s approach is the three-step process of unfreeze, move and freeze.

1LewinChangeModel.jpg

Lewin Change Model

The first step, unfreeze, is the action to get people to disconfirm what they believe to be true for how things are accomplished. This initial phase is concerned with directly affecting peoples’ readiness and motivation to change. The second step is the action to move from this initial state, perceived to be unsatisfactory, to the new desired state. The final step, freeze, is the process of making the new behaviors the way things are done, to make them habit.

While some change theorists and practitioners still recognize the importance of Lewin’s model, others focus critique on several perceived shortcomings. The first critique is that the approach assumes organizations operate under constant conditions and move in a preplanned fashion. Another is that the model doesn’t always work well when a more directive approach is required, such as crisis management or any situation requiring rapid change. Yet another criticism is the belief that the model only works if stakeholders buy-in from the beginning. A final criticism of Lewin’s model is the freezing process is impossible in today’s environment of constant change. I’ll be addressing each of these concerns individually later in the book.

The emergent approach contrasts with the planned approach on many fronts. The method is a modern development claimed to be more concerned with facilitating change than with providing specific preplanned steps. Proponents assert it as a method focused on change readiness. The approach assumes change is non-linear and requires the business to continually align and re-align itself to a changing environment. Its advocates suggest change to be occurring so rapid that it’s impossible to identify change and implement planned responses. Supporters believe the approach deals with change as it naturally occurs within organizations. Many popular models in use today trace the emergent approach as their basis.

The main criticism of the emergent approach is its lack of a participatory process. On its own, I don’t believe this methodology provides the solution.

And I’m not alone.

Others question the ethical implications of a change management approach that derives motivation through imposition and coercion.⁴ We may all seek the same end, but the means of how to achieve it often have quite different paths.

Peeling back the layers of each approach and tracing change to the roots reveals two primary sources for organizational change: needs and ideas. Change based upon needs is often associated with perceived problems or opportunities. It results from forcing functions in the external environment you can’t ignore, such as those coming from the customer, competition, or regulation. Needs-driven change tends to be top-down and originates from executive management.

Change based upon ideas, on the other hand, is most often associated with creativity and innovation. This type of change comes from forcing functions in the external environment that are less mandatory than needs, although just as critical for survival, such as those derived from suppliers, trade movements and research. Ideas-driven change tends to viewed as bottom-up change and typically originates from within the organization.

Top-down change often aligns with the planned approach while the bottom-up approach aligns more often with the emergent approach.

A growing popular argument is that successful change efforts are actually both top-down and bottom-up: the vision and structure come from the top-down while the buy-in, participation and support come from the bottom-up.⁵ I agree with this, mostly. I do have a slightly different perspective on vision that we later will explore in more detail.

Leading change from within requires that you, as a middle manager, be capable of dealing with both top-down and bottom-up change. I believe you need an approach that blends elements from both methods. This hybrid approach should integrate and include the people who will affect the change and deal with its effects.

I believe you need a situational approach. You need a methodology that allows you to predict and respond to change. And you need one that considers the external environment and interdependencies within the organization.

MY APPROACH

I don’t portray to have all the answers to leading change.

I do offer an effective methodology for middle managers to lead change from within organizations. This work doesn’t attempt to represent leading change as a systematic process that universally applies to any given environment. The book does present models, techniques and tools to assist you in your quest to manage change. It can help you lead change through recognizing and influencing the environment to affect intended outcomes. I present this as a framework in the form of a thought process guide, or a road map, to assist middle managers in their pursuit to lead change.

My approach revisits the simple methodology put forth by Lewin nearly seventy years ago. Many now believe Lewin’s planned approach to be too linear and unable to account for complex interdependencies. I’m not on that same page. My slant melds Lewin’s planned approach with its emphasis on ethics and participative learning with select elements of the emergent approach while accounting for the influence power and politics have on the change effort.

The perspective of this work is unlike other efforts. I approach change from a systems perspective that considers the effect of structure and interdependence. The approach examines these interdependencies for each element affected by and affecting the change. This includes understanding the roles of the change agent leader, the people within the organization, and most importantly, the surrounding culture.

My process is transferable to others and proven to help middle managers effectively lead change.

Our organizations are changing. What used to be trivial is now important and vice versa. Globalization, technology, sustainability and values each help define a company’s bottom line. Ignoring any of these facets would be more than detrimental. Recognizing the importance of these areas wasn’t always the case, especially so for values.

Effective leaders understand ethics are now an integral component of business. Managers at all levels must possess the knowledge, skills and abilities to identify and respond to change with consideration for the world’s growing ethical challenges.

The world is changing—some say changing too fast. Most agree a certain portion of this change is anything but positive, such as the increasing circumstance of high-profile greed and unethical behavior in business. Memories of the ethical lapses leading to the recent global economic collapse remain fresh in our minds.

But hope for moving beyond cynicism is present.

Signs indicate a growing business movement to restore an emphasis on ethical behavior. Business school students are taking oaths attesting to their intent to live-by and define their values and commitments.⁶ Professional organizations and government agencies are developing pledges confirming their commitment to operate by an agreed-to code of ethics.⁷ Effective change agents in these activities are leading change in a way that respects the rights of the individual, adheres to democratic principles, and engenders trust and commitment across the establishment.

As leaders, we’re in the people business.

My approach echoes the above assertion and places emphasis on the people instead of the process. Later, we’ll explore why people resist change and discover often, they do not. What they do resist is being controlled and not being involved. This later analysis will document the importance of free will to achieving positive results from change.

Change doesn’t succeed independent of involvement by the people affected. For this reason, my approach embraces the simple model proposed by Lewin, supplemented with concepts inherent to the emergent approach and a leadership philosophy based on serving others.

This work emphasizes a leadership style grounded in situational leadership theory, from a servant leadership perspective. I’ve found, and research confirms, a change model employing a situational approach allows you to vary strategies to achieve optimum results in a changing environment.⁸ You can then approach change not with one tool or model, but with a system of situational tools, techniques and models—a framework for your own change leadership toolbox.⁹

The book’s layout is intentional and doesn’t depict a specific chronological pattern or systematic methodology.

Part One, Prepare for Change, discusses the structure, behavior and thought processes you must be unfreeze in order to prepare for change.

Part Two, Respond to Change, is the move phase and discusses the change leadership features employed to adopt new behaviors and attitudes required by the new environment.

Part Three, Integrate the Change, is the freeze phase and lays out strategies and techniques to help make change stick as the new way of doing things.

Other approaches commonly focus on implementation. Such approaches struggle if you don’t first understand the underlying culture and prepare it for change. I believe culture is the most important aspect for us to consider. As such, Part One has the most emphasis.

Each chapter focus alternates between management and leadership. Many approaches popular today profess change must be led instead of managed. This over-simplifies the issue. Dealing effectively with change requires both leadership and management. It may help to visualize the management and leadership continuum in which management is process-centric and leadership is people-centric. This continuum provides the foundation for my change model.

My leading change model isn’t a process model. It’s conceptual and emphasizes the mental constructs that facilitate sense-making. The model focuses on the strategic notions of change leadership and emphasizes the cognitive mechanisms required to produce intended outcomes. It portrays the interdependencies present between the leader and the organization as the leader responds to the conditions presented by change.

The model also provides a heuristic for the diagnostic foundation of my process as the book progresses from chapter to chapter. A progression that serves as a road map to introduce middle managers to concepts proven effective at leading change from within organizations.

2LeadingChangeModel.jpg

Leading Change Model

Throughout this work, I provide stimulants to assess your persona. This gives you an opportunity to reflect upon your personal self as developed through your beliefs, values and disposition. It affords you the space to determine whether the ideas and concepts presented provide an opportunity for personal change as you lead within your organization. I’ve taken this approach as the book is as much about the changes occurring within the leader as it is about leading change within any organization.

This work is neither an academic approach nor one limited to the theoretical—it’s a work based on techniques proven effective in leading major change within private industry, the government and the military. It’s about leading change from within an organization. It’s about leading change, which includes managing change. But in leading change, you must be aware of the outward influences while looking within to develop and connect with those leadership concepts that ultimately will help achieve lasting results.

The book provides a crossover between scholarly study and elite authors presenting their interpretations on the subject. The work draws from each of those sources, but to a lesser extent than it does actual practice and experience.

The targeted audience is middle managers tasked with affecting change—those leaders expected to be change agents. While not written for top-level executives, the concepts remain the same. But there are enough books on the subject targeted toward these individuals.

This one is for the middle managers.

This book is for those middle managers who find themselves in a constant battle of managing change. It is for those who seek to move from a reactive to a proactive posture in order to start leading change.

Unique differences exist between change leadership and change management. When describing these differences, John Kotter stated change leadership is the challenge of the future and emphasized, Almost nobody is very good at it.¹⁰ Kotter has spent many years making people better at leading change through his books and consulting. He’s earned a deserved reputation as maybe the most prominent figure in the field.

But I don’t completely agree with his approach.

My slant departs from Kotter’s on several fronts. The two most prominent differences are my belief in the importance of assessing the culture early in the process and the importance placed on the character of leadership necessary to lead others through change. There are other differences, but I won’t give them all away in the introduction.

Instead, let’s get started.

PART ONE

Prepare for Change (Readiness)

3LeadingChangeModelReadiness.jpg

Leading Change Model - Readiness

Prior to any discussion of responding to change, it’s often necessary to implement our own change. This helps ensure the motivation to enable change readiness. The environment continually drives and pulls change into organizations. Immediacy of action is required. But sometimes we have to slow down to go fast. Achieving change that sticks requires a certain familiarity with the culture. The culture represents how things get done. The organizational framework is the structure of the culture. Validating the framework helps provide a more agile structure poised to deal with change.

After properly preparing for change, the organization will be ready to respond. It will be ready for additional change and still more change after that. The cycle can continue until change comes to the culture itself. This occurs with transformational change. When this happens, change agents ensure the culture adjusts commensurate with the change implemented. You accomplish this by revisiting the foundation to ensure the framework remains as the binding mortar throughout the process.

Recognizing a pending cultural impact is as much art as it is skill. Certain triggers that indicate the culture will have its say will be present.

Unfortunately, it can be extremely difficult to self-diagnose while a member of the environment under analysis.

That’s where I come in.

CHAPTER 1

Prepare Yourself

No one cares how much you know, until they know how much you care.

—Disputed¹

Each chapter in Part One focuses on establishing our case for change. The discussions center on unfreezing the cultural environment so the old way of doing things can transform into the new way of