How to Drive Successful Change During a High-Stakes Leadership Transition Phase
Consider:
While every situation has its own unique circumstances, a mandate for change is a massive opportunity to leverage evidence-based best practices.
Change is constant, so the saying goes. But when a leader enters a new role, they don’t just manage change, they are the change. Their arrival is a sure signal to the entire organization that there’s more to come.
While not all leader successors are charged with total transformation – such as an internal hire following a major event like leader retirement – many are expected to do something differently than their predecessor to help the organization reach its goals.
However, doing things differently can be a challenge, as change is complex even for the most tenured of leaders, let alone newcomers who are still finding their bearings. One important factor that affects a new leader’s ability to drive successful change during a leadership transition phase is people’s attitudes toward change.
The Spectrum of Change Attitudes
Across several conversations on the Land and Lead Podcast, my guests described the broad spectrum of change attitudes they encountered while navigating their own leadership transition phase.
The Resistance: Wade Allen explained that some people simply aren’t ready to move: “I had setbacks with certain members of the team. You know, they just resisted change.”
The Hesitators vs. The Supporters: Rima Alameddine described two distinct camps of change attitudes: “I constantly say that there are two types of people, the yes butters and the why notters. The why notters are those whenever you present a new idea, a new plan, a new thought, people say, wow, that's interesting…The yes butters are those who say, yeah, interesting plan, yes, Rima, but not sure if it's going to work.”
The Ready and Waiting: On the other end of the spectrum, Ben Banks highlighted the advantage of landing in an environment already hungry for change: “It's important to note too, as we think about tailwinds that I had coming in, everybody was pretty excited about a change, a change in direction for the company.”
In other words, change can be resisted, accepted, or anything in between.
A Toolbox for Success
In addition to managing and adapting to these various attitudes toward change, leaders entering a new role face a whole host of factors that impact their ability to successfully implement change. So, how can a leader in a new role implement change in a way that is both successful and impactful?
In a 2017 dissertation, Rebecca Bolton reviewed the research and developed a list of 19 factors affecting a new leader’s ability to impact change. Rather than a rigid roadmap, I view these as more a toolbox of actions executives in a leadership transition phase should consider:
Take stock of both freedom and constraints on power to act
Acknowledge insider or outsider origins to leverage advantages and compensate for disadvantages
Leverage relevant prior experience and adjust to organizational context
Use two-way communication to understand the organization
Build organization-specific knowledge before initiating change
Develop networks to strengthen influence and access information
Leverage relationships and social capital to enable change
Align or refresh the top team for change readiness
Identify resistance sources early and address concerns
Build coalitions to generate organizational commitment to change
Communicate change clearly across all organizational levels
Shift culture away from unproductive legacy norms to enable change
Demonstrate stability after predecessor exit to build confidence
Consider the impact of key leader retention vs. exit
Actively shape perceptions to increase openness to change
Align strategy with sustainable pace of organizational change
Leverage offsites to align leaders around change efforts
Leverage external consultants to navigate resistance, get an unbiased perspective, and improve communication
Consider creating an internal change position or team to coordinate implementation
While every situation has its own unique circumstances, a mandate for change is a massive opportunity to leverage evidence-based best practices. When properly accounted for and addressed, executives in a leadership transition phase can more effectively navigate the factors that affect their ability to drive change.
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