Change Masters: Leading Change in a Turbulent World

What is the work of leadership?  John Kotter (Harvard Business Review, 2001), in regards to leaders, says: “They don’t make plans; they don’t solve problems; they don’t even organize people.  What leaders really do is prepare organizations for change and help them cope as they struggle through it.”

John Kotter makes a distinction between leadership and management: “Management is about coping with complexity.  Leadership, by contrast, is about coping with change.” (Harvard Business Review, 2001)

Every person in the organization needs to develop the knowledge and skills for “mastering change.”  How do you become, and how do you help your people become change masters?

A change master:

  • Finds, recognizes, and secures the future;
  • Understands and facilitates fundamental change;
  • Appreciates complexity, and learns to work with complex systems;
  • Provides the emotional security and emotional intelligence to ground the organization even as it confronts chaos;
  • Can craft a powerful vision of the future, and connect all parts of the organization to this future.

The change master must recognize what has challenged the existing structure.  The change master must communicate these challenges, and help the organization see the opportunity embedded in the chaos.  The change master must be able to envision a future different from the present and past.  The change master must connect the organization to this future, and create ownership in the future.

This schematic typifies the paradigm shift required of the change master.

paradigm

As a change master, can you identify those challenges that create urgency for change?  As a change master, can you envision the future?  As a change master can you build the bridge, go out in front, and encourage others to learn, grow, experiment and develop while building the bridge as you cross it?

This is an exciting, fast-paced, challenging keynote address.  It will excite your audience, motivate the desire to lead in the listener, and stimulate action.

 

 

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