Leaders Direction for Organization during Change

Reinvigorating a big company is one of the hardest jobs an executive can ever take on. Often times, a boss thinks they possess all solutions to all problems. They therefore stop listening to their colleagues and this has resulted organizational decline (BBC, 2016). It can be a tough exercise leading organizational change. Not all business leaders are cut for such an exercise. It can be debated that the organizations that win in the long run are those that have mastered both planning and leading change.

There are several things that can spur change including growth being predominantly in a market which is unfamiliar, pricing factors to remain competitive, change in regulations, changing customer expectations, shortfall in talent and constraints in the organization's capacity. The factors which spur change are numerous and the examples given are not a complete representation of the wide scope of demands that force organizations to change (Brown, 2013). Changes that might be necessary for a firm to survive include: • Bringing it to date with industry trends and prevailing standards.

• Doing market and consumer research to evaluate what they really need and figure out the cards competitors are playing (Brown, 2013). • Using old employees' experience as well as the insights new talent brings to the table. • Off-shoring part of the company's operations. Defining change is easy, implementation is the hardest part. An executive leading change must therefore understand that the real work begins after formulation of plans.

A discussion of the foundational theories upon which you would draw to lead this organization Lorsch (1986) stated that 70% of all change efforts fail to achieve the desired outcomes. Specific strategies should be put in place to ensure that an organization is part of the 30% group that meets their objectives (Halm, 2014).

Some of the things that can be done to increase the chances of success include: Step 1: Identifying a Best Practice Operating Model Best practices in an industry are processes and practices that have been proven to deliver the desired results almost every time they are used. Such practices can be identified by doing benchmarking and looking into data collected by membership associations in the industry. It isn't necessary that a practice or process be adopted because it falls under this category.

For a practice to be adopted, it must be consistent with the specific goals the organization is trying to achieve as well as its fundamental values (Halm, 2014). Step 2: Implementing a Comprehensive Governance Structure The organization's governance structure should be helping it achieve its objectives. An organization's structure can sometimes be an impediment to progress. This step will ensure that an organization culture that enables the organization achieve its goals is adopted.

To review the effectiveness and suitability of the structure, the following will be looked at periodically: • Operating model: this shall define the organization's operating philosophy as well as structure. • Performance management: involves risk management, metrics development, and cost/savings tracking. • Supply chain business processes: defines the structure of the organization's procurement process. • Change management: details how employees will be trained, stakeholders managed and how role transition is handled. • Value acceleration: identify and act on opportunities in the short-term that help save costs (Halm, 2014).

Step 3: Aggressively Transition to the New Organization Structure New job descriptions and positions will be launched for the entire workforce. Redundant roles will be eliminated or combined so that there is a meaningful and effective structure. Step 4: Proactively Manage Stakeholders, Employee Engagement and Communication On carrying out a thorough analysis, stakeholders will be classified into 4 distinct groups: council members, company employees, key business partners and executives. Each group is to have a plan of communication.

The organization shall enforce a sense of vision and purpose and inspire all stakeholders to take constructive action towards the attainment of the organization's vision. In leading the change process, we will reframe stakeholders' view of themselves and make them appreciate that they are all important as far as moving the organization forward is concerned (Halm, 2014). Step 5: Define and Implement New Business Processes Since new positions and roles are to be created, there will be need to train existing employees on their new roles and responsibilities.

This will ensure higher effectiveness and smoother transition. Step 6: Develop Employee Capabilities and Reinvent the Culture Effecting the change requires more than new skills. There is need for increased collaboration and alignment of activities to the aim of the organization. An assessment is to be done to identify cross-departmental teamwork and reduce the challenges of collaboration (Halm, 2014). Real partnership in the work place, according to employees, should be grounded on trust and everybody having the organization's interests first.

Participants shall learn that effective performance needs full engagement, accountability and alignment (Halm, 2014). A Discussion On How You Would Assess the Effectiveness of Those Fundamental Theories and Adapt Them to The Diverse Populations and Settings Represented in The Above Scenario All levels of the organizations should be sold on the change. All stakeholders should be educated on the advantages of effecting the change and what they too, besides the company, stand to gain with better systems, processes and structure.

All the stakeholders that will be involved will be identified in advance and given the tools they will need during the process of rolling out the change. Change leaders and agents will be developed for all groups and their participation will help in developing both qualitative and quantitative success measures for all groups (Lofton, 2016). On beginning the process of evaluation, the organization is likely to be faced with despair on realizing that there are problems that had not been foreseen.

Stakeholders will be assured that it is normal during a change process to encounter such problems and that results are bound to improve as time goes by. Stakeholders should be attentive so as not to miss insights that can help improve the new model. Data obtained during evaluation should be quickly used to formulate action plans to move things forward and address problems quickly.

A Statement of How Your Leadership Skills and Style Would Be an Asset or Drawback to Your Effectiveness as A Leader in This Environment I am a committed leader who follows through on all things I take on. To successfully lead a change process, it is required of managers that they fully be on board with the plans for change. They must have been fully sold on the plans.

It is not about them approving the plan but them being willing to embrace the change and sell it to other people continuously. They should also be accountable to their actions and the results of those actions. Peter Drucker once pointed out that like country cultures, one shouldn't try to change company cultures but instead work with what they have. While it isn't bad advice, situations arise where working with what one has can be perilous to an organization's existence and change made almost impossible to achieve.

Leading change is a hard job and management should be willing and ready to be constantly selling the idea of change to all stakeholders. They should also be willing and ready to roll their sleeves and take the actions necessary to achieve the desired results and thwart any efforts to shoot down the change process. Resistance will be there so management should expect it. As a committed leader, these things will be achievable (Brown, 2013).

One of the skills I excel at is the ability to build cohesive teams that work in harmony. Given the difficulty of leading change, it is important that the teams working together.