Leadership Power and Change
Leadership Power and Change
First Principle - People Who Have Power Usually Do Not Give It Up Voluntarily. Power means control. It bestows prestige and privilege, perks that are far too seductive for most people to relinquish willingly. Managers may give lip service to the principles of empowerment, but the reality is often quite different, making the transition process difficult. Many a department head who tries to change procedures in his or her organization has learned this lesson the hard way. Outwardly, all of the mangers may agree with the reforms, but in reality they often see them as a threat to their way of doing thins. As a result, the reforms may never be implemented.
Another factor also helps to explain the reluctance of many managers to change. They often feel uncomfortable in a new culture because they lack the necessary tools to function 'there' effectively. It's similar to doing business in a country that you've never seen before. The new culture is totally unfamiliar, and you have no model for what is expected of you. Eventually, you may acquire a mode, but even then you still must figure out how to translate it into specific behaviors on you job. In order to be able to successfully do so, you need to practice these behaviors on the job, to rely on your colleagues to do the same thing, to interface with other departments where the change process has not yet started, and finally to depend on the rest of the organization to support your efforts. This tough situation explains why so many mangers are reluctant to embrace the brave new world of corporate change.
Second Principle - Hierarchies Are the Natural Order of Things. As organizations try to flatten out their hierarchies, they need to ask themselves an important questions: What purpose is the hierarchy designed to serve? In their book Re-framing Organizations, Bolman and Deal contrast the organizational structures at McDonald's and at Harvard University. The former is tightly controlled from the top, with a long chain of command that reaches into every restaurant and down to every employee in order to ensure uniformity - a hamburger at one location is to be the same as a hamburger everywhere else. By contrast, Harvard is a far more decentralized organization, with each school largely in control of its own destiny and every professor teaching according to his or her own unique style. People want individuality from the Harvard faculty, but not from McDonald's hamburger flippers.
For each organization, there seems to be an optional degree of command structure. This varies with the purpose of the organization and the amount of alignment required among the employees. Incidentally, hierarchies will always exist because they seem to be a natural organizing principle of life. In fact, organizations that eliminate layers of formal hierarchy usually discover that informal structures emerge to replace them. These may for around natural leaders who may be the mavericks who direct successful skunk works or the corporate heroes who lead the organization to new markets. They attract their own followers who establish hierarchies of their own that exist side by side with the formal organization chart.
Third Principle - In Each Organization There Are Different Types of Power. Inside every organization, power is clothed in various forms and resides in different centers. Successful change often depends on persuading enough powerful people to buy into a transition process. formal power, of course, is described in our company's organization chart, which tells us, the people in authority who are charged with enforcing the rules. While their support is critical, it is only the beginning, because there are many types of informal power that may prove just as important.
These include moral power, which carries the force of sanctions against any employee who violates the values of the culture. Moral power may be exercised by the individuals that we may call believers; they preserve the institution and its hallowed traditions. Since any change effort generally strikes at these traditions, those preachers and their followers may be expected to oppose it unless you can enlist their enthusiastic approval.
Expertise is another kind of power, usually represented by various gurus who can be found in almost any functional area. These are employees who possess outstanding reputations that have won them wide respect throughout the organization, and so their support can be crucial.
Finally, there is coercive power. This is the ultimate authority to hire and fire, to determine corporate strategy and change organizational structures. The leader may need to use coercive power to initiate the change process, especially if he or she is the only one who seems to recognize the necessity for change. There may simply be no other way for the leader to start the ball rolling than by announcing his or her vision for the organization to the members of the management team. Then the leader must be skilled at reaching out to all of the opinion makers in the organization - those who possess expert power and moral power as well as those who hold positions of authority in the company's formal organization chart.
This process requires the leader to have the ability to persuade others tat he or she is fully committed to the change process, the ability to set an example and undertake actions that seem consistent with the process, and a past record of success which enhances his or her reputation throughout the organization. This is the leader's own moral and expert power. The leader cannot rely on coercive power alone to force change down employees' throats, because resistance will build that can undermine the entire process.
Leadership Power and Change - To learn more about this author, visit Dr. Fathi El-Nadi's Website.
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indeed, reward and recognition systems have usually been designed to encourage individual achievement and promote managers who wanted to acquire additional power. These reward systems may have changed in recent years to recognize team accomplishment and encourage employees to become team players. But it would be naive to assume that human nature has suddenly changed. As they have since the beginning of the species, some humans still crave power and, once they have achieved it, want to hold onto it. Consequently, I propose that, for more understanding of power, following principles may be considered:
First Principle - People Who Have Power Usually Do Not Give It Up Voluntarily. Power means control. It bestows prestige and privilege, perks that are far too seductive for most people to relinquish willingly. Managers may give lip service to the principles of empowerment, but the reality is often quite different, making the transition process difficult. Many a department head who tries to change procedures in his or her organization has learned this lesson the hard way. Outwardly, all of the mangers may agree with the reforms, but in reality they often see them as a threat to their way of doing thins. As a result, the reforms may never be implemented.
Another factor also helps to explain the reluctance of many managers to change. They often feel uncomfortable in a new culture because they lack the necessary tools to function 'there' effectively. It's similar to doing business in a country that you've never seen before. The new culture is totally unfamiliar, and you have no model for what is expected of you. Eventually, you may acquire a mode, but even then you still must figure out how to translate it into specific behaviors on you job. In order to be able to successfully do so, you need to practice these behaviors on the job, to rely on your colleagues to do the same thing, to interface with other departments where the change process has not yet started, and finally to depend on the rest of the organization to support your efforts. This tough situation explains why so many mangers are reluctant to embrace the brave new world of corporate change.
Second Principle - Hierarchies Are the Natural Order of Things. As organizations try to flatten out their hierarchies, they need to ask themselves an important questions: What purpose is the hierarchy designed to serve? In their book Re-framing Organizations, Bolman and Deal contrast the organizational structures at McDonald's and at Harvard University. The former is tightly controlled from the top, with a long chain of command that reaches into every restaurant and down to every employee in order to ensure uniformity - a hamburger at one location is to be the same as a hamburger everywhere else. By contrast, Harvard is a far more decentralized organization, with each school largely in control of its own destiny and every professor teaching according to his or her own unique style. People want individuality from the Harvard faculty, but not from McDonald's hamburger flippers.
For each organization, there seems to be an optional degree of command structure. This varies with the purpose of the organization and the amount of alignment required among the employees. Incidentally, hierarchies will always exist because they seem to be a natural organizing principle of life. In fact, organizations that eliminate layers of formal hierarchy usually discover that informal structures emerge to replace them. These may for around natural leaders who may be the mavericks who direct successful skunk works or the corporate heroes who lead the organization to new markets. They attract their own followers who establish hierarchies of their own that exist side by side with the formal organization chart.
Third Principle - In Each Organization There Are Different Types of Power. Inside every organization, power is clothed in various forms and resides in different centers. Successful change often depends on persuading enough powerful people to buy into a transition process. formal power, of course, is described in our company's organization chart, which tells us, the people in authority who are charged with enforcing the rules. While their support is critical, it is only the beginning, because there are many types of informal power that may prove just as important.
These include moral power, which carries the force of sanctions against any employee who violates the values of the culture. Moral power may be exercised by the individuals that we may call believers; they preserve the institution and its hallowed traditions. Since any change effort generally strikes at these traditions, those preachers and their followers may be expected to oppose it unless you can enlist their enthusiastic approval.
Expertise is another kind of power, usually represented by various gurus who can be found in almost any functional area. These are employees who possess outstanding reputations that have won them wide respect throughout the organization, and so their support can be crucial.
Finally, there is coercive power. This is the ultimate authority to hire and fire, to determine corporate strategy and change organizational structures. The leader may need to use coercive power to initiate the change process, especially if he or she is the only one who seems to recognize the necessity for change. There may simply be no other way for the leader to start the ball rolling than by announcing his or her vision for the organization to the members of the management team. Then the leader must be skilled at reaching out to all of the opinion makers in the organization - those who possess expert power and moral power as well as those who hold positions of authority in the company's formal organization chart.
This process requires the leader to have the ability to persuade others tat he or she is fully committed to the change process, the ability to set an example and undertake actions that seem consistent with the process, and a past record of success which enhances his or her reputation throughout the organization. This is the leader's own moral and expert power. The leader cannot rely on coercive power alone to force change down employees' throats, because resistance will build that can undermine the entire process.
Leadership Power and Change - To learn more about this author, visit Dr. Fathi El-Nadi's Website.
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John PowerJohn Power, founder of Biltmore Franchise Consulting, has extensive experience developing and marketing franchises and business opportunities. He has been in and around franchising for over twenty years. From 1980 through 1990 he conceptualized, organized, and developed the American Video Association. He grew AVA to 2,000 national members, before selling the company it 1990. It was later merged into another home video marketing company. From 2000 to 2005 he worked as a contract marketing and human resources consultant to several local and national companies. In 2005 Mr. Power began working as a franchise development consultant on a full-time basis. Since that time he has helped more than three dozen companies initiate and develop their franchising program. He notes that there are many companies interested in developing a franchise program, and who need his specialized assistance. Mr. Power is a “hands-on” franchise consultant. He said, “I am the ‘nuts and bolts’ person who tends to the details for my clients.” Mr. Power holds a B.S. degree with a major in Marketing. See: www.biltmorefranchise.com You may contact Mr. Power at: jpower@biltmorefranchise.co - Visit John Power's Website |
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Leanne Hoagland-SmithAre your sales where you want them to be? Will you be one of the few who achieves sales or business success or one of the many who have failed to change? Are you tired of being told you are like everyone else? Then you may find my first book on sales of interest. Be the Red Jacket in the Sea of Gray Suits, The Keys to Unlocking Sales available at Amazon or at http://www.processspecialist.com/red-jacket.htm. This book is a reflection of my no-nonsense approach to improving sales to overall business results. If you are truly committed to making sustainable changes, then I can help you secure a positive return on your investment because I focus on executable solutions not telling you the problems you already know you have. From training to corporate (group) coaching to executive one on one coaching, my approach is to assess, create awareness, build a goal driven action plan and then execute. The bottom line question is "Not do you or your employees know it, but do you or they want to do it?" Please call for a free strategy session at 219.759.5601. - Visit Leanne Hoagland-Smith's Website |
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Anne BarrAnne Barr has over 26 years experience in sales and marketing, six years as a franchisee. She has assisted over 367 business owners and purchasers to achieve their goals in career change, transition and exit strategy. She holds the designation of Certified Franchise Executive from the International Franchise Association, Certified Business Intermediary from the International Business Brokers Association and Board Certified Broker from the Texas Association of Business Brokers. Anne is active in professional organizations, networking groups and volunteers for non-profit entities. As owner/operator of four successful businesses, Anne has proven people skills and enjoys helping clients find the right "fit" in business ownership. Visit www.FranchiseOpportunitySpecialist.com for more information about me and my company. - Visit Anne Barr's Website |
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Dave KurlanDave Kurlan is the founder and CEO of Objective Management Group, Inc., the industry leader in sales assessments and sales force evaluations, and the CEO of David Kurlan & Associates, Inc., a consulting firm specializing in sales force development. Dave has been a top rated speaker at Inc. Magazine's Conference on Growing the Company, the Sales & Marketing Management Conference and the Gazelles Sales & Marketing Summit. He has been featured on radio and TV, including World Business Review with General Norman Schwarzkopf, in Inc. Magazine, Selling Power Magazine, Sales & Marketing Management Magazine and Incentive Magazine. He is the author of Mindless Selling and Baseline Selling – How to Become a Sales Superstar by Using What You Already Know about the Game of Baseball. He created and wrote STAR, a proprietary recruiting process for hiring great salespeople, and he writes Understanding the Sales Force, a popular business Blog and is a contributing author to The Death of 20th Century Selling and 101 Great Ways to Improve Your Life, Volume 2. - Visit Dave Kurlan's Website |
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Dianne CramptonDianne Crampton is an executive leadership coach, team consultant, author and president of TIGERS Success Series, Inc. Dianne has been helping CEO's and Executives connect their employees to their core values and goals for over 20 years using the trademarked TIGERS team culture process, which stands for trust, interdependence, genuineness, empathy, risk and success. To download a free white paper on behaviors that build strong teams and behaviors that will predictably tear them down go here. - Visit Dianne Crampton's Website |
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George LudwigGeorge Ludwig is a recognized authority on sales strategy and peak performance psychology. An international speaker, trainer, and corporate consultant, he helps clients like Johnson & Johnson, Abbott Laboratories, Northwestern Mutual, CIGNA, and numerous others improve sales force effectiveness and performance. Though it's George's strategies and processes that help corporations increase productivity and performance, it's his tremendous energy and dynamism that spark the transformation. Again and again, clients remark on his amazing ability to unleash human capacity and inspire men and women to break out of their comfort zones. The result is a whole new type of salesperson. His customized presentations teach achievers to make stunning advances in their lives. From helping salespeople realize cherished dreams to helping corporations exponentially accelerate revenue streams, George Ludwig leaves audiences and individuals empowered, emboldened, and clamoring for more. George is the best-selling author of Power Selling: Seven Strategies for Cracking the Sales Code and Wise Moves: 60 Quick Tips to Improve Your Position in Life & Business. - Visit George Ludwig's Website |
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Linda RichardsonLinda Richardson is the Founder and Executive Chairwoman of Richardson, a global sales training and performance improvement company. As a recognized leader in the industry, she has won the coveted Stevie Award for Lifetime Achievement in Sales Excellence and she was identified by Training Industry, Inc. as one of the “Top 20 Most Influential Training Professionals.” Ms. Richardson is credited with the movement to Consultative Selling and is the author of ten books on selling and sales management, including Sales Coaching — Making the Great Leap from Sales Manager to Sales Coach, and Stop Telling, Start Selling. She teaches sales and management at the Wharton Graduate School of the University of Pennsylvania and the Wharton Executive Development Center. Linda is a frequent speaker at industry and client conferences, has been published extensively in industry and training journals, and has been featured in numerous publications, including The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Nation’s Business, Selling Power, Success, and The Conference Board Magazine. Learn more about Richardson's sales training and performance improvement solutions at http://www.richardson.com web - Visit Linda Richardson's Website |
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