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Leadership & Accountability for Implementing Effective Change

18/3/2024

"Our fundamental role in leading organisational change is being accountable for changes we design, orchestrate, and implement in whatever sector we operate, whether public, third, or commercial. Philip Atkinson argues we need to revisit the behavioural and ethical basis of accountability in bringing about large-scale change, to redesign and create the enterprises and society of the future. He discusses the intent, strategies and methodologies to make this happen".

Ignored and Abandoned Accountability

Recent reports and reviews of such significant events as the COVID-19 enquiry and the Post Office Horizon Scandal have occurred, and their reporting demonstrates that Leadership and Accountability are sadly lacking. The deeper the enquiries go, the more we recognise that those supposedly leading the change management policies and processes seemed to ignore their accountabilities when the circumstances permitted them to do so. This lack of accountability is a recent phenomenon and self-evident event in the examples listed below.

If you would like a copy of the published article email [email protected]

Leading Change as a Political and Behavioural Process

5/2/2024

Philip Atkinson acknowledges the anonymous quotation, ‘To understand change management, one first has to understand that change is a political process, fuelled by diverse behaviours and motivations not always committed to the greater good’. He focuses on practical solutions to ensure that political motivations are carefully managed and, when required, neutralised. This article is focused on working more effectively as a change agent and understanding the nature and power of political and behavioural forces in the context in which they operate. Life would be much easier if we could simply follow a logical sequence of steps that guaranteed that ‘change’ was implemented automatically.

Change is a complex process that goes way beyond a simple logic or a sequence of flow. If change were that simple, we could construct a simple cause-effect model, and the change would be implemented swiftly. We know that managing change is far more complex than current theory suggests.

Change has to take account of the people factor, which includes the world of personal egos, emotions, attitudes, motivations, drives and behaviours. It is essential to incorporate both the ‘left’ and ‘right’ brain and, thus, ‘holistic’ thinking into the change process. Change is a journey, not a destination and old thinking will not help anyone in the change arena to achieve success without understanding the behavioural and political aspects of change.

#organisationalchange #behaviourchange #politicalchange #leadingthroughCOVID

To download the article see below.

philip_atkinson_-_leading_change_as_a_political_and_beh_process_winter_2023.pdf
File Size:	675 kb
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Speed of Transformation

5/2/2024

Philip Atkinson highlights the core issues facing organisations today when implementing strategic change. They assert speed and precision in implementation is the core competence which will differentiate organisations. This applies to all sectors. Organisations that can quickly scan, record, analyse, and learn from the threats and opportunities in the environment and transform and implement specific changes faster will have a decisive edge over their competitors.

Critical Themes in the Article

Critical to successful change, speed and precision in implementing change
Current Threats to Organisational Change - Customer & Consumer Expectations, Stakeholder Partnership, Competition, Impact of Technology
Agility & Responsiveness
Public Sector & Time Based Criteria
Corporate Leadership
Accelerated change - right first time
Vision & Transformation - translating this into action
Shaping a Compelling Vision - 10 Vital Steps
Methods to Sustain Change - Core Activities & Behaviours

Email [email protected]

Read the article below

speedoftransformation-implementionofchange.pdf
File Size:	173 kb
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Mastering Change as a Core Competency in your Organisation

18/1/2024

In this published article, Philip Atkinson focuses on installing a solid and positive core competency, enabling an organisation to quickly change its operational effectiveness and culture. Further, he explores strategies and activities that senior managers must commit to to develop both the capability and capacity to drive that change.

Assume change implementation is straightforward. Imagine that you have developed the internal capability to manage the majority of change projects that you need to implement in the next five years. What impact would that have on your organisational performance, growth, the culture and the external strains and stresses you are currently undergoing? Suppose your staff were sufficiently competent, developed and skilled to manage resistance to change, plan and implement complex projects and deal with dissatisfied customers, over-controlling stakeholders and resistant and complex staff. Further, focus on the benefits of not having to employ expensive external consultancy groups, interims and business experts, because you could trust that all your people can deal with all this as part of ‘business as usual’ rather than relying on the same few enthusiasts. Consider using the Acceptance Curve to assess your current capability for change.

Developing acceptance of change as the norm Now consider the profile of the typical business. This may not be true for you, but this is accurate for larger organisations that need to change how they operate. For every 100 people you employ, you will be fortunate if you have two or three outstanding staff members drawn to deal enthusiastically with complex problems. They are exceptional people who I would term ‘change champions’ and will willingly seek, initiate and take on new projects and portray strong leadership skills. You may also have an additional 2-4 people who we could class as ‘early adaptors’ who, seeing how the ‘change champions’ work, are willing to get absorbed in the process. If you are lucky, you will have a further 4-6 ‘late adaptors’ willing to be involved in projects but not with the same intensity as their colleagues, as mentioned earlier. Perhaps if you are lucky, you can rely on about ten people out of every hundred to take some responsibility for leading change.

You can download the rest of the article below.

atkinson-change_as_a_core_competency_autumn_2017_ms_journal.pdf
File Size:	335 kb
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Mouse Attack & New Year Resolutions

21/12/2023

As I spend part of the year travelling to clients, I take different laptops, depending on my role. If I am doing team psychometrics, I have to use my Windows machine with me as I have software for assessing team types or if I have presentations, I prefer my iMac. The trouble is I often use a different mouse (or is it mice if I have more than one), matching up a myriad of the mouse to their resident USB receiver. It takes me ages as you also have to check for the battery power. Anyway, I was not struggling to work out New Year resolutions for 2024, but this year, I will get organised and match and colour code them all so I will not waste hours doing this again. Yes, I know this is boring but not as dull as working through my accounts and expenses. Until 2024. Enjoy your Xmas vacation and a Happy New 2024.

Speed of Transformational Change

15/11/2023

Critical to successful change, speed and precision in implementing change
Current Threats to Organisational Change - Customer & Consumer Expectations, Stakeholder Partnership, Competition, Impact of Technology
Agility & Responsiveness
Public Sector & Time Based Criteria
Corporate Leadership
Accelerated change - right first time
Vision & Transformation - translating this into action
Shaping a Compelling Vision - 10 Vital Steps
Methods to Sustain Change - Core Activities & Behaviours

Email [email protected]

To download the article see below

speedoftransformation-implementionofchange.pdf
File Size:	173 kb
File Type:	pdf

Download File

Complexity in Change: The VUCA Model

11/10/2023

Since the 2008 financial crash and the COVID-19 Pandemic, there has been a cost of living Crisis; we live in a world that VUCA governs: Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity and Ambiguity. This model originated from the US Army War College Experience as defining strategic leadership within a ‘volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous environment’.

Much of this work was based on the original thinking of Bennis and Namus, cited in the book ‘Leaders: The Strategies for Taking Charge’.

Using the VUCA Model, we need to ask some leading questions similar to Vulnerability Analysis and Risk Mitigation.

In his 2016 book, Leaders Make the Future, Bob Johanson states that Leaders can change the following four factors :

Volatility yields to Vision

Which elements of our business environment are most volatile?
How can we better generate the data to understand what prevents us from tackling these threats?
What strategies can we adopt to decrease the volatility?

Uncertainty yields to Understanding

How can we manage uncertainty in our business environment?
How can we identify the key factors hindering our performance and our future?
How do we create a plan to manage change to reduce the intensity of uncertainty in our business strategies?

Complexity yields to Clarity

Where are the immediate and longer-term threats to our business?
How can we develop simple strategies to counter these?
How can we innovate out of the complexity conundrum?

Ambiguity yields to Agility

How do we identify ambiguity in our service delivery, problem-solving, culture, and behaviours?
How can we best use innovation and IT to resolve conflicts and ambiguity?
How best can we utilise our people in eradicating negativity and promoting positive change?

Contact Philip for more information on how to tailor this model for your own unique change management solution.

The Confusion of the Law of Familiarity - Theory & Implementation

12/9/2023

When changing cultures, there is often confusion between theory and implementation. This I call the 'Theory of Familiarity' Managers often confuse their knowledge of a concept equating with the application of the idea in practice.

Several years ago, when I led a Senior Team through a 'Focus Session' to get the Management Group to assess progress in Culture Change, I understood the term - 'Familiarity breeds contempt'. We were talking about Corporate Culture and how the business leaders had identified critical areas for improvement. In particular, this group focused on changing from a fear-driven, punitive, negative sales culture to one of customer focus, empowerment and achievement.

Managerial behaviours which supported the old culture were identified and discouraged. Many positive new behaviours were being demonstrated. Several middle managers were making headway, leading briefing sessions with some initiating 360-degree appraisals. This was a radical change compared to six months previous, when almost all appraisals had not been valued and were imposed from above. Many staff were experimenting with peer review, several had moved into upward appraisal, and several challenging souls had adopted a 360-degree view.

Attention Span

We discussed the merits of this approach, the time that some managers needed to adapt to the new way and the knowledge that change for one person can occur in a heartbeat. In contrast, it can be a lengthy, painful, but productive process for others. At this stage, one of the team members interrupted his colleagues and said, "We have heard all this before - can't we move on to something new."

Negative Belief: Been there, Seen it

I stopped to listen and concluded that this statement hid a very harmful belief needing to be confronted and challenged. Although many Senior Officers in companies have been there and seen it - they certainly have not done it!

Contact Philip to understand the dynamics behind effective organisational and cultural change.

Finding 101 Ways to make an idea fail

15/8/2023

This is best represented by reference to a case study relating to a change in corporate culture within a company in the Financial Services Sector. I had been speaking about the importance of leadership in the process of change and suggested that we really should employ 100% of a person: their aspirations, hopes, and motivation, not just pay them for the job.

I also suggested that we make some effort to learn more about staff, for instance, what they did when they were not working for the company, did they have a partner, have children, what motivated them and interested them in and outside work hours.

The more significant part of the group, about 60%, were keen to find out what motivated their staff and the remaining number - stating that this was an intrusion into their staff's privacy, did little. In honesty, they were uncomfortable with the process of finding out just what drove their people.
Two weeks later the large group met again. Those willing to share the results of their investigations concluded that:

Staff have many social and psychological motives for work. The key drivers were identified as recognition (not reward) and being valued as part of a team.
If staff felt undervalued at work, they were more likely to pursue outside interests that may help them meet these unsatisfied needs. For instance, staff lower in status often pursued very responsible positions within Voluntary Sector organisations or in groups such as Golf, Bowling, Dance, Community and Drama Groups.
Staff had many personal motivations and were far more complex to understand once the managers took more than a passive passing interest in them.

The remaining managers (who did not support this view) were clearly surprised and stated that their reason for not completing the exercise was their staff's perceived invasion of privacy. The real reason was their inability to experiment, try new (if uncomfortable) behaviours and become real man managers. They further stated defensively that most people come to work for purely financial rewards, and they were all interested in pay and promotion.

There was an issue of perception in this case. Those managers who opposed involvement with staff found 101 reasons to make a good idea fail - but couldn't find one good one to make it work.

If you need to turn your team around to be more optimistic about change and the staff's role in driving change, contact Philip.

If ypou want to change learn about the The Law of Repetition.

11/7/2023

The key to implementation is repetition. Think of this in your personal life. If you had failed to overlearn the synchronized use of a clutch and a gearbox, you would never have learned to drive a car. If you could not practice your diction of French verbs, you would never speak French. If you could not learn and practice your communication skills, you would never have developed managerial skills.

Repetition is the key to success

Learning to practise, improve, be self-critical, and seek feedback from others is critical to personal improvement. So why do we adopt a different viewpoint when we change the context from personal learning to organisational learning or change? Unless the change is instantaneous, we say the 'theory does not hold water', rather than trying repeatedly and using different routes to implement.

It would appear that if the benefits sought are not apparent almost overnight, the change initiative is deemed to have failed. Apply this reasoning to learning to play golf, dance or swim. This view lacks credibility. We expect too much from expending minimal effort.

The law of repetition is based upon closing the loop through continuous feedback by taking action and learning, taking action and learning and so on. Relating this to organisational change requires the following actions.

Never set impossible targets for culture change. Throw the esoteric stuff out of the window.
Choose three areas for improvement and drive these until they give you the return you want. As soon as it is realised that the management group is not going to stop investing massive action into a project until the objectives are achieved - you will see and witness a different level of commitment from middle managers and others.
Never give a managerial group responsibility for critical objectives. Avoid collective responsibility because ownership will never reside with a person - it will reside with a group. Make individuals responsible and relentlessly request feedback on progress. Don't show any interest in why things don't work. Measure performance on what each individual makes work.
Make it a rule never to say, "It won't work." If you hear negative comments, ask for two ways to make 'it' work for every negative comment you receive.

Things only work with the support of people. If they don't work, perhaps there is a requirement to communicate more effectively. You may have focused on the wrong person as a change agent.

Contact Philip to learn how to use the law of Repetition.

<<Previous

Leadership & Accountability for Implementing Effective Change

Leading Change as a Political and Behavioural Process

Speed of Transformation

Mastering Change as a Core Competency in your Organisation

Mouse Attack & New Year Resolutions

Speed of Transformational Change

Complexity in Change: The VUCA Model

The Confusion of the Law of Familiarity - Theory & Implementation

Finding 101 Ways to make an idea fail

If ypou want to change learn about the The Law of Repetition.

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