Change Leaders of Change

Communication Skill

Communicating with Internal and External Stakeholders 

Source: excerpted from Katzenbach, et. al.

The goal of the several year study by McKinsey consultants was to understand who leads successful change in organizations and how that change was accomplished.  They found, in part, that change that came from the top levels of organizations was often thwarted at lower organizational levels.  It was particular managers placed in the mid-level of organizations that were able to creatively and successfully navigate intense organizational change.    

The McKinsey team found that traditional managers saw themselves as the primary agent of decision-making and control.  They felt that they knew best, so they relied almost solely on their own knowledge and influence to manage.  Traditional managers were more likely to focus on quantitative ends (i.e. making numbers right), to view people as exploitable and to externalize blame (I hold you accountable) if things did not go right in their organizational units.  Furthermore, traditional managers operated from fear:  they did not believe that there was room for error and they did not see changing jobs as a viable career option.

In contrast, what McKinsey calls “Real Change Leaders” (RCLs) tended to share their power.  RCLs were willing to try new approaches to problem solving that allowed for risk taking and mistakes.  Importantly, RCLs saw the value of distributing power among working teams comprised of people the RCL viewed as already knowledgeable and capable of decision making.  Instead of focusing solely on the numbers, RCLs were interested in satisfying beneficiaries and workers, held everyone on the team accountable for outcomes and were not afraid to move to a new working environment. 

One of the most encouraging aspects of the McKinsey study was that the leaders they interviewed were successful at creating change at organizations such as Compaq or Enron.  In addition, these leaders took the risks necessary to implement change and cared for people along the way.

Managers are organizationally designated authorities, but being appointed as a leader does not mean that we intuitively know how to lead or that anyone helps us learn how to lead others.  Furthermore, leadership can be exercised by anyone in an organization, regardless of her/his formal position;   however, as a manger, you are in a uniquely qualified position to effect change by the leadership you exercise in relation to your peers, subordinates and superiors.  In what follows, we offer some tools for transforming your leadership role for your changing organizational environment.

Note:  Katzenbach, et. al. Conducted in-depth interviews with over 150 “down-the-line change leaders” over a three-year period.  The common characteristic amongst the leaders was that they were all facing challenging change situations.