0.1 2. change leadership competencies  (Page 4/4)

External Awareness

• Identifying and keeping up-to-date on key policies and economic, political, and social trends that affect the organization.
• Determining how to best position the organization to achieve a competitive advantage.
• Anticipating potential threats or opportunities.

Creativity and Innovation

• Developing new insights into situations
• Applying innovative solutions to make organizational improvements.
• Creating a work environment that encourages creative thinking and innovation.
• Designing and implementing cutting-edge programs and processes.

Strategic Thinking

• Formulating effective strategies consistent with the organization’s new mission, vision, and strategic direction.
• Examining policy issues that might constrain the strategic planning process.
• Determining short-term objectives and setting priorities.

Continual Learning

• Grasping the essence of new information.
• Mastering new knowledge and skills.
• Recognizing personal strengths and weaknesses.
• Pursuing self-development opportunities.
• Seeking feedback from others about their performance.

Resilience

• Dealing effectively with pressure.
• Maintaining focus and intensity.
• Remaining optimistic and persistent, even under adversity.
• Recovering quickly from setbacks.
• Balancing personal life and work.

Flexibility

• Remaining open to change and new information.
• Adapting behavior and work methods in response to new information, changing conditions, or unexpected obstacles.
• Adjusting rapidly to new situations.

Service Motivation

• Creating and sustaining an organizational culture that encourages others to provide the quality of service essential to high performance.
• Enabling others to acquire the tools and support they need to perform well.
• Influencing others toward a spirit of service and meaningful contributions to mission accomplishment.

Higgs and Rowland (2000) identified a set of change leadership competencies that I think are probably the most comprehensive and clearly articulated change leadership competencies available. They identified these competencies by benchmarking them against “world class” best practices in the field of change management. The competencies are:

1. Change Initiation— ability to create the case for change and secure credible sponsorship.
2. Change Impact— ability to scope the breadth, depth, sustainability and returns of a change strategy.
3. Change Facilitation— ability to help others, through effective facilitation, to gain insight into the human dynamics of change and to develop the confidence to achieve the change goals.
4. Change Leadership— ability to influence and enthuse others, through personal advocacy, vision and drive, and to access resources to build a solid platform for change.
5. Change Learning— ability to scan, reflect and identify learning and ensure insights are used to develop individual, group and organizational capabilities.
6. Change Execution— ability to formulate and guide the implementation of a credible change plan with appropriate goals, resources, metrics and review mechanisms.
7. Change Presence— demonstrates high personal commitment to achievement of change goals through integrity and courage, while maintaining objectivity and individual resilience (‘a non-anxious presence in a sea of anxiety’).
8. Change Technology— knowledge, generation and skilful application of change theories, tools and processes.

Kotter (1995) identified eight causes of failed transformational change. The opposites of those eight causes (described below) represent change leadership competencies. The derived competencies and sample behavioral indicators of those competencies are presented below.

1. Change leaders increase urgency by

• Assessing threats, opportunities, and trends in the external environment.
• Collecting and interpreting data from outside the organization that change is necessary.
• Change leaders build a guiding team by

• Assembling a group with enough power to lead the change effort
• Attracting key change leaders by showing enthusiasm and commitment
• Encouraging the group to work together as a team
• Change leaders get the vision right by

• Creating a vision to help direct the change effort
• Developing strategies for achieving that vision
• Change leaders communicate for buy-in by

• Using every means available to communicate the new vision and strategies
• Keeping communication simple and heartfelt
• Teaching new behaviors with the guiding coalition as role models
• Designing and executing a strategic communication plan.
• Change leaders empower for action by

• Eliminating of obstacles to the change
• Revising or discarding managerial systems, policies, procedures, or structures that seriously undermine the vision
• Encouraging and rewarding risk-taking and non-traditional ideas, activities, and actions
• Change leaders create short term wins by

• Planning for visible performance improvements in the near-term
• Creating those improvements quickly
• Recognizing and rewarding people who help create successful short-term wins
• Change leaders do not let up by

• Planning for visible successful change in all areas of the organization
• Implementing action plans
• Recognizing and rewarding people who contribute to the success of the implementation
• Evaluating the change process and outcomes periodically and making necessary course corrections.
• Change leaders make change stick by

• Describing and reinforcing connections between the desirable changes that were made and the organization’s on-going and future success.
• Creating and sustaining strategic alignment among all elements of the organization.