Leadership Challenges - Managing Change in Organizations

Keywords

Chris Argyris, John P. Kotter, market share, ROE, Coalition, Vision, Strategy for Change, communication

Links

Free Resources,
Articles,
Book Reviews,
Interviews

Tools

Developing a Vision and Strategy for Change

The guiding coalition needs a vision or a clear picture of the future. The vision provides the direction in which the organization needs to move. Hence, it is referred to as the change vision. This vision should be easy to communicate. It should appeal to customers, stockholders and employees.

In ordinary circumstances, the vision for change arises from a single individual, and is often not clear. After a thorough discussion of the vision by the partners in the coalition, the vision becomes more clear, and the coalition can even chalk out a strategy to achieve the vision.

An unclear change vision can derail the transformation of a company. Without a guiding vision, the efforts aimed at change are fragmented, and amount to nothing more than confusion as they are often incompatible. Efforts without a clear vision are bound to fail, even if plans, directives, procedures, programs, goals, and deadlines are properly laid out. The many details of transformation can confuse or alienate employees unless they have a clear understanding of where they are being led.

A change vision should be compelling enough to motivate fundamental rethinking at all levels of the company. However, it should not be impossible to realize. If the change vision is difficult to attain then it will have no credibility, and change will never take place.

The success of a change vision depends upon the circumstances in which the firm operates, and the leader's ability to communicate. The feasibility of a change vision depends to a great extent on the ability of the leader to carry others with him.

A leader who is good at convincing people can make ambitious goals appear quite feasible. Judging the feasibility of the vision also depends on a clear and rational understanding of the organization's strengths and weaknesses, the environment in which the organization operates, and competitive trends. Formulating a strategy that takes into consideration all these aspects is a prerequisite to realizing the change vision.

According to Kotter, the success of a company's transformation process depends on how easily and quickly the leader communicates the change vision to his employees and on how readily the employees understand and take an interest in the vision.

Next >>