Change Leadership – A Contemporary Perspective

Tweet

Pocket

Leadership and Change
It is not enough to design the strategic architecture of the organization without considering the more practical requirement of translating vision into action. Exemplary leadership behavior will necessitate the alignment of performance with vision, and attract the commitment and participation of the people.

Through the application of the commonality of values and beliefs, the leader will motivate people to attain the future state. The leader creates a congenial climate that will foster, encourage and nurture individual initiatives and creativity, as significant ingredients for the transformation of strategy into results.

The level of interaction among members of a group is influenced by the configuration of the communication network. Various research studies have resulted in the design of a series of communication networks.

Findings from these studies indicate that the better the interrelationship network in a communications structure, the higher the degree of satisfaction the members in the group enjoy.

Furthermore, simple tasks are more efficiently performed in a centralized network, while complex tasks are more amenable to decentralized networks. Given this situation, it is the responsibility of a good leader to determine the most appropriate communication networks to apply in order to enhance organizational cohesiveness and performance.

Alignment in the context of leading change is a condition in which a group of people who share a common understanding, vision or goal, and a set of strategies accept the validity of a preconceived direction, and work assiduously towards achieving it.

One of the primary responsibilities of a good leader is to get people appropriately positioned behind the vision and the set of strategies, so as to generate the changes necessary to cope with environmental shifts in new ideas, services, structure and technology. Incidentally, a major communications challenge emanates from striving to achieve a strategic fit between the expectations of the people and the organizational vision.

Only a leader who possesses the insight necessary to inspire people to understand and believe the vision and the set of strategies can satisfy this challenge. A significant measure of communication to all individuals whose cooperation and collaboration are needed to translate the vision into reality is vital.

Changes in technology, structure and market have elicited the need for a highly skilled, trained and motivated work force. The intensity of competition in the operating environment demands that organizations have to offer high quality of services to attract interest and involvement.

This attribute requires the development of the talent of the people, and the creation of an environment that attracts the commitment of all participants.

Optimizing the human resource compliment of an organization requires a spirit of teamwork and cooperation, and allowing people a greater measure of involvement and participation in making decisions that affect their work.

In order to successfully align the focus of employees in the direction of the organization’s vision, leaders will need to relinquish close control in favor of greater empowerment of their people. Empowered employees are those who provide true value to the organization. They influence the outcome of decisions and actions of leadership in a positive manner.