“Change waits for no leader, the knowledge and skills required for leading day-to-day operations are very different to change leadership”
👏 Happy Friday!
Some people say August can be a strange working month and we could be forgiven for thinking the Northern Hemisphere generally shuts down over August. Statistically it is difficult to disagree! Based on the Roman calendar, August was actually the sixth month of the year. It originally had 30 days, but this changed, and an extra day was added so that it would equal the number of days in July, which was named after Julius Caesar!
Anyway, for me it has usually been the month to get stuff done with limited interruption while everyone is off on holiday, thus I had time to focus on the creating the Leadership of Change® Institute.
✅ Effective and proactive change involvement from the leadership team in organisational change is critical because they control the organisation’s resources and agenda time. Key Enablers are Change Leadership Knowledge and Skills.
Change resistance is inevitable, ignore it at your peril!
👉 Many leaders think that leading organisation change is common sense. However, the skills and knowledge of leading normal day-to-day operations are very different from leading change.
Based on my experience, very few leaders have natural change leadership knowledge and skills. Knowledge is information acquired through sensory input, reading, watching, and listening, but skills are the ability to apply knowledge to particular situations. This is why I love gamification. Gamification is an interactive and dynamic way for leaders to learn both change management skills and knowledge using game characteristics. I am a big supporter of moving away from static PowerPoint slides and using experiential learning. You cannot learn how your stakeholders will react to change or understand your own self-awareness from PowerPoint slides.
On the Change Management Implementation Spectrum© focusing on having effective and proactive change leadership might be the best option to achieve successful organisational change. However, developing their skills and knowledge so they execute their three critical leadership responsibilities to implement successful organisational change may be a challenge:
Articulate the change vision.
Model the new way.
Intervene to ensure sustainable change.
Have a fantastic weekend with the ones you love, enjoy some fresh air, exercise, eat, drink and be happy!
Further Reading: Change Management Leadership - Leadership of Change Volume 4
Peter consults, speaks, and writes on the Leadership of Change®.
For further reading please visit our websites:
Peter F Gallagher is a Change Management Global Thought Leader, Guru, Expert, International Speaker, Author and Leadership Alignment Coach.
Listed #1 by leadersHum Top 40 Change Management Gurus You Should Follow in 2022 (Mar 2022).
Ranked #1 Change Management Global Thought Leader: Top 50 Global Thought Leaders and Influencers on Change Management (2022-2021-2020) by Thinkers360.
Ranked #2 Business Strategy Global Thought Leader: Top 50 Global Thought Leaders and Influencers on Change Management (Dec 2020) by Thinkers360.
Ranked #2 Leadership Global Thought Leader: Top 50 Global Thought Leaders and Influencers on Leadership (Aug 2020) by Thinkers360.
Business Book Ranking
Change Management Behaviour - Leadership of Change® Volume 6, listed among the 50 Books from Thinkers360 Thought Leaders to read in 2022.
Change Management Adoption - Leadership of Change® Volume 5, listed among year-to-date’s (Jul 2021) most popular books on business and technology from Thinkers360 member thought leaders.
Change Management Handbook - Leadership of Change® Volume 3, listed among the 50 Business and Technology Books from Thinkers360 Thought Leaders to read in 2021.
Change Management Pocket Guide - Leadership of Change® Volume 2, ranked within the top 50 Business and Technology Books (Jan 2020) from Thinkers360 Thought Leaders.