Thursday, September 3, 2009

Change: Let Voltron Be Your Guide

Change is challenging for the young and old, the rookies and the veterans, the successful and the defeated, yet necessary. The job of the leader is not just to be a catalyst of change but to also know when and how much is needed. It would be nice if we all had some sort of barometer measuring conditions of change for our teams. Email me when you invent it.

Five years ago I inherited a highly dysfunctional team, and everywhere I turned changes screamed out. At the end of the first year, my leaders and I did an “autopsy of change” and listed every change we had made. The board was full. We had over 25 changes. Work hours, lunch hours, new account management and development methodology, along with fresh layers of much needed accountability dominated the list. What we learned was that both the amount of change and the depth of change are directly proportional to the leadership equity possessed by the top dog – yes friend, that’s you the leader.

The leader must, must, must have the trust and influence to cast the vision, drive the strategy, and facilitate the robust dialogue needed to build a solid operating plan used to execute needed changes. This obviously comes with time. That’s right Skippy, you can’t get this done immediately.

One of the key changes accomplished that first year surrounded changing the way the team interacted with each other through altering the way business was executed. Dictating would have been easy yet costly, so I chose to try something different. I picked two of the key influencers and asked them to help me drive the change. Instead of fighting it, they chose to get on board and help make it happen. In order to drive effective change it is imperative to use both your influence and the influence of your leaders. Together this creates an unstoppable force. For those of you cartoon nuts from the 80’s it’s much like Voltron. Do you remember what would happen when all of the lions came together? They created an unbeatable robot that nothing could destroy. Don’t worry. You won’t see me at DragonCON this weekend.

So here’s the punch line: if you are trying to drive change, assess your leadership equity. How much do you have? How much do your people trust you? How cohesive and focused is your leadership team. Where does their leadership equity fall on the grid? If you get high marks, go for it. If you are weak, then start building some muscle in these areas and start leading so you can be the catalyst of change your team needs.

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