In Getting Change Right: How Leaders Transform Organizations from the Inside Out, Seth Kahan draws upon a wealth of real-world experience from which he learned a number of valuable lessons. He cites seven in the Introduction, then devotes a separate chapter to each. Here are the first three that Kahan explains HOW to:
1. Communicate so that people get it and spread it.
Comment: Kahan correctly begins with this basic rule because all change initiatives require cooperation and collaboration, both of which depend on constant and effective communication between and among those involved.
2. Energize your most valuable players.
Comment: You already know who they are, the ones you dread losing to illness, retirement, spouse relocation, or (worst of all) to a competitor. The best way to energize them is to recognize them: make them feel appreciated.
3. Understand the territory of change.
Comment: Many (most?) of the barriers to change are cultural, the result of what James O’Toole (in Leading Change) aptly characterizes as “the ideology of comfort and the tyranny of custom.” Kahan explains how to create a “map” of what is certain to be a perilous “territory.”
These are the other four, also very important and Kahan explains HOW to
o Accelerate change through communities that perform.
o Generate dramatic surges in progress
o Break through logjams
o WorkLifeSuccess to sustain high performance in the midst of change
I had the great privilege of being able to check out a galley of Seth’s next book, Getting Innovation Right, in which he explains how leaders create and use inflection points to drive success. “By this, I mean doing whatever it takes to achieve and sustain overall excellence.” Kahan envisions leadership at all levels and in all areas. He suggests that change agents must be “practical visionaries,” people “with their eyes on the horizon and their feet on the ground.”
More about Seth and his work in weeks to come.
Meanwhile, please click here to read my interview of him.
Please click here to read my review of Getting Change Right.
Seth Kahan’s book, Getting Change Right, is a Washington Post bestseller. He is a change leadership expert who consults for CEOs and senior leaders. His client list includes World Bank, Shell, NASA, Prudential, Peace Corps, American College of Cardiology, and Project Management Institute. He is the author of Fast Company‘s expert blog, Leading Change (SethFast.com). Kahan received the designation Visionary by the Center for Association Leadership. The Society for the Advancement of Consulting has recognized him as a Thought-leader and Exemplar in the field of Change Leadership. Seth is an associate of the Taos Institute.
Seth’s website is VisionaryLeadership.com. He writes a weekly newsletter, Monday Morning Mojo. His next book, Getting Innovation Right: How Leaders Create and Use Inflection Points to Drive Success, is due out March 2013 and will be published by Jossey-Bass/John Wiley & Sons.