A Manager's Moment of Truth: Successfully Leading Change
The whole world is anxiously waiting to see whether various initiatives in Washington will jumpstart economic growth. In the meantime, business leaders are scrambling to lead and manage change in order for their organizations to survive and succeed during the current downturn--and beyond.
Jaffrey, NH (PRWEB) June 3, 2009
From three decades of consultation and observation, Gerald A. Kraines, M. D., CEO and president of The Levinson Institute and faculty member at Harvard Medical School, has discovered that the best business leaders do five specific things to successfully implement organizational change. According to Dr. Kraines, wēijī, the Mandarin word for crisis, best summarizes the change process: "beware the danger; this is your moment of truth!"
COMMUNICATE. Change--real change--is difficult. Managers need to communicate and provide information so that people will understand that the change is both necessary and advantageous.
UNDERSTAND. Change means we must venture into unchartered territory. Our usual competencies, from which we used to derive our self-confidence and self-esteem, are temporarily out of order. We are flying blind and hitting brick walls. In a crisis, people confront their personal moments of truth. Managers leading organizational change must recognize this as a crisis of confidence and competence for those who must make a significant change.
CLARIFY. Managers need to understand their own crucial psychological role in helping the people they lead recover their self-confidence. Managers also need to provide clarification about the implications of the change decision in order to encourage trust.
LISTEN. A manager's confiding in his or her people helps rebuild confidence. And managers can best do this by speaking with and listening--really listening--to their people.
WORK TOGETHER. By taking the time to listen to their people's pain, managers hear and acknowledge their people's doubts and explain why the change is necessary. Managers must make a commitment to their people that they will work with them and that they are not facing this change--this moment of truth--alone.
According to Dr. Kraines, "Leadership during change or during a crisis should be intimate, in the sense of a manager's demonstrating empathy. In other words, 'as manager, I care about helping you succeed as we move forward toward new organizational goals together.'"
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Gerald A. Kraines, M. D. (Gerry) is president and chief executive officer of The Levinson Institute. He is also on the faculty of Harvard Medical School. Dr. Kraines's career has focused on enhancing leadership effectiveness: as an executive for healthcare organizations, as a teacher of leadership, as an executive coach, and since the 1980s, as a consultant to senior executives about leadership systems.
To learn much more about successfully leading organizational change, consider coming or sending a team of managers to the Levinson Institute seminar On Leadership (http://www. levinsoninstitute. com/leadership_development_seminar. htm). Two exciting sessions are scheduled for the fall of 2009: October 18-23, and November 15-20 at the Doubletree Bedford Glen Hotel, Bedford, MA.
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