Change Leadership: Stepping into the Role (part 1)
By:  Leslie Allan You may have been selected by your executive to initiate and see through  some change program in your organization. Or you may have decided that  the time has come to make your mark by dusting off the cobwebs in your  workplace. However your change role came about, you have a challenging  task ahead of you. 
Consider this sobering thought. In spite of the importance of  successfully implementing 
job place change for maintaining  your business’s competitiveness, most change initiatives fail to deliver  the expected organizational benefits. This failure occurs for a number  of reasons: 
Consider this sobering thought. In spite of the importance of  successfully implementing workplace change for maintaining your  business’s competitiveness, most change initiatives fail to deliver the  expected organizational benefits. This failure occurs for a number of  reasons: 
• absence of a change champion or one who is too junior in the  organization
• poor executive sponsorship or senior management support
• poor project management skills
• hope rested on a one-dimensional solution
• political infighting and turf wars
• poorly defined organizational objectives
• change team diverted to other projects 
Do you recognize one or more of these in your organization from previous  initiatives? You have probably experienced already one major cost of  such failure. The cynical and burned out employees left behind only make  the next change objective even more difficult to accomplish. It should  come as no surprise that the fear of managing change and its impacts is a  leading cause of anxiety in managers. 
Your first step in becoming a successful change leader is fully  understanding your organization and matching the initiative to your  organization’s real needs. This means not just adopting the latest  management fad. Recognize that bringing about useful and meaningful  change is fundamentally about changing people’s behavior in certain  desired ways. It is not primarily about installing a new system or  rearranging the organizational structure. If people in the end do not  behave and work differently, then the money and time spent in “doing  stuff” is wasted. 
You will see from the above list of reasons for failure that lack of  technical expertise is not the main impediment to successful change.  Leadership and management skills, such as visioning, prioritizing,  planning, providing feedback and rewarding success, are key factors in  any successful change initiative. Concentrate on these skills that will  help you get people on board and to keep them on board for the life of  the project and beyond. Get your mentor or a training consultant to  perform an honest gap analysis on your skill set and then get the  coaching or training that you need. 
Whatever change program you are implementing, one key area in which you  need to pay close attention is the identification and management of your  change program stakeholders. A stakeholder is any person with an  interest in the change process or the outcome of your proposed change.  Be politically savvy. Your stakeholders will bring a mix of competing  interests and will often act to further their own power, influence and  survival. An added challenge for you as change leader is that such  political maneuvering is often disguised as impartial and rational  argument. Think about who are your major stakeholders. Think about what  you will say to them to get each of them on side. When you have done  that, write up a stakeholder communication plan and make sure you follow  through. 
Another essential 
jobs activity  you would do well to not neglect is setting clearly defined and  measurable objectives. Goal setting done well engages stakeholders and  commits them to the program. Other benefits include focusing effort to  where it is important and providing a yardstick for measuring program  success. Are your program’s goals fuzzy and hard to put a finger on, or  are they specific and measurable? Do they link to the strategic  objectives of your organization? Get all of the key stakeholders to work  with you in devising the goals that will define the success of your  program. Getting their input during the initial stages will give them a  genuine “stake” in your program.   
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