Personal Side of Leading Change There are two questions that the personal side of leading change asks namely how does one motivate others in an environment of constant change and how does one motivate themself in order to keep going (Rodd, 2015). As a leader, one has to create a compelling change story, communicate it effectively to the employees, and follow up on the story with continuous communications. Change is inevitable, and leaders need to ensure that they can motivate their employees in order to achieve the organization's change objectives. Motivation comes in different forms, and not all employees would be motivated with the same ways. Most employees are afraid of change because it creates a new way of doing things, and they are uncertain of what lies ahead. Been able to demonstrate and communicate to them the benefits that the organization would gain from the new changes would be the best way to get them onboard. There are five things that motivate employees namely impact on society, impact on customer, impact on the team, impact on shareholders, and impact on themselves. Change leaders should be able to communicate to the employees in a manner that covers all the five things. Doing this would ensure they manage to unleash the energy within the employees that would have otherwise remained latent within the organization.

Change leaders should also offer the employees the opportunity to tell their own story (Johnson et al., 2014). What this means is that once the leader has communicated the need for change he/she should now listen to what the employees have to say regarding the proposed change. Allowing employees to tell their own stories gives the change leader an opportunity to hear and understand how the employees would approach the proposed change initiative. The employees are more motivated when they are will most likely be more committed to the change initiative, which would result in a successful change process. The sense of ownership that the employees will have is beneficial to the change process.

Leaders should understand that they are also part of the change process. Most leaders will attempt to role model for the employees, and they do not see as if they need to change too. In order for the change process to succeed, leaders should be the first to change. Once a leader becomes part the change process, they will be motivated to keep the change process going and make changes in their leadership style. The failure to be part of the change process will most likely lead to a lack of self-motivation for the leader. To push continuously for the change process, a leader needs to be motivated enough. There are challenges that the leaders would also face during the change process, and they need to establish how they can keep themselves motivated in order to motivate the employees. Remaining optimistic is necessary if a leader is to stay motivated. The situations that leaders are faced with are challenging especially during a change process, but they should try to search for the good in every situation (Quinn, 2011). There are valuable lessons to be learned from any difficult situation, and seeking these lessons would keep a leader motivated. A change in thinking is beneficial to the leader. Recognizing that there is a choice in every situation would greatly benefit a leader. In order to stay motivated, a leader should look for opportunities in negative situations. There are elements that the leader would not have any control over, and they should not struggle to control such elements instead they should accept these elements. Negotiables are elements that they can discuss with the employees and make changes together with the employees. Controllable are elements that the leader can control and transform them the way he/she wants.

Walt Disney's Dennis Hightower case

Challenges faced by Dennis Hightower in his new position

Disney had established a Disney Consumer Products division that was charged with licensing of Walt Disney name, company characters, music, song, and visual properties (Jick, 2003). The division had fared well in the U.S.A., but had been lagging behind in Europe. This led the company to create a new position Vice President of DCP Europe and Dennis Hightower was appointed to this position in 1987. The management of Disney foresaw great opportunities coming from Europe during the 1990's and were not prepared to let the opportunities pass. The first challenge that Hightower was faced with was creating a European strategy for DCP. Hightower saw an opportunity for Disney to a publisher instead of pure licensing. This decision was made because licensors would use the Disney name for their own benefit, and all Disney would get were royalty fees. Establishing the same model that had worked in the United States, Hightower managed to eliminate 68 local licenses in the toys division, and 57 in the food products. The deals he made were not well received by the country offices because they felt they were losing...

The country managers were a challenge to manage, but Hightower was not deterred by their sentiments. Managing the country managers was not easy since most of them felt that the regional office was overstepping on their roles. The independence of the country managers was a huge headache for Hightower and at one point, he had to let go of the U.K. country manager because she never accepted the deals the DCP was striking (Jick, 2003). Dealing with the personal side of change was not easy, and Hightower knew this too well. He was mostly involved in personnel issues because he believed that people matter the most (Jick, 2003). The country managers were used to working independently, and most of them were not willing to accept the new leadership that Hightower was bringing.
Planning for succession was another challenge that Hightower was faced with in his new position. Succession planning is beneficial to ensure that the leadership a manager had initiated continues after they leave the company. The many changes he had implemented and initiated would not be achieved in a short period and in case of anything there was need to have someone who could continue implementing the proposed changes. Hightower needed to identify the profile of the person who would be best suited to take over after him and start searching for his replacement. Competition from Warner Brothers had begun, and they were implementing the same model applied by Disney. This would affect the company's growth and profit margins, and Hightower had to identify a model that would allow DCP to continue its annual growth. There were opportunities for instance in the Nordic region where the company had a 90% penetration, but only 11% growth. Identifying the needs of this region would be beneficial to continuous growth of DCP-EME.

Changing the apparel division licensing was going to be harder than in the other divisions. This is because most country managers preferred the current non-exclusive license model. The main problem with this model is that product quality was often shoddy, and distribution was not well established. Continuing with this licensing model would mean that the company would have many licensees, but shoddy designs for the apparel they create. The pan-European licensing strategy was effective on some European countries, and it had failed on others like Germany (Jick, 2003). This was a challenge because Germany was a key market for Disney and losing it would not be well received. However, continuing with the current strategy would not beneficial for the company's image and its characters. This was a challenge that needed to be addressed swiftly to ensure that relationships are not served completely.

Plan of action

Goal: Strategy development for the Disney Company Products in Europe

Objectives:

1. Strategy development for the German market

2. Review of the pan-European licenses

3. Handling the competition

4. Planning for succession

What needs to be done?

Who is responsible?

Due date

Action Plan

Strategy development for the German market.

Hightower

One month

Identify the key differences of the German market.

Determine if the German and Italy market should be eliminated or given a different strategy in the Apparel market

Communicate with the German Country manager to identify the requirements of the German market and how to implement the pan-European license in the country

Review the pan-European licensing strategy

Hightower and the country managers

Two month

Meet with the country managers to identify the failures of the licensing strategy and come up with improvements.

Motivate the country managers by demonstrating to them the importance of the licensing strategy.

Continue identifying businesses that should be cut from the company's portfolio.

Tackling the competition

Country managers

One month

Increase growth in the Nordic region where the company has 90% penetration.

Merchandise licensing has a potential for increasing growth of the company.

Reinvent new strategies to counter the efforts of Warner Brothers.

Planning for succession

Hightower

Three months

Develop a profile for his successor.

Start searching for potential successors from Europe.