Competitiveness Requires Improvement
Mastering Change through Effective Leadership
 

Each day, life brings change. In business, change is created constantly through new products, technology and the occasional earthshaking event.

Regardless of why an organization is changing, developing an organizational culture adept and comfortable with change is key to continuously learn and adapt, spread knowledge, share ideas and improve.

Competitiveness Requires Improvement

We live in a competitive world and to compete, we must improve. To improve we must change. These changes need to be led by an organization’s top performers, leaders who share three key attributes:

• The imagination to innovate. To encourage innovation, effective leaders help develop new concepts – the ideas, models and applications of technology that set an organization apart.

• The professionalism to perform. Leaders provide personal and organizational competence, supported by workforce training and development, to execute flawlessly and deliver value to ever more demanding customers.

• The openness to collaborate. Leaders make connections with partners who can extend the organization's reach, enhance its offerings or energize its practices.

Mastering Change Through Effective Leadership

Being first with the best service, anticipating and meeting new customer requirements, applying new technology … all this requires organizations to do more than adapt to changes already in progress. It requires them to be fast, agile, intuitive and innovative.

To do that, effective leaders need to act. They must become idea scouts, attentive to early signs of discontinuity, disruption, threat or opportunity in the marketplace and the community. And they create channels for senior managers, salespeople, service reps or receptionists to share what customers are saying about the organization.

According to Lynco Associates, Inc., there are 12 principles for managing change.

1. Thought processes and relationship dynamics are fundamental if change is to be successful.

2. Change only happens when each person makes a decision to implement the change.

3. People fear change when it "happens" to them.

4. Given the freedom to do so, people will build quality into their work as a matter of personal pride.

5. Traditional organizational systems treat people like children and expect them to act like adults.

6. "Truth" is more important during periods of change and uncertainty than "good news."

7. Trust is earned by those who demonstrate consistent behavior and clearly defined values.

8. People who work are capable of doing much more than they are doing.

9. The intrinsic rewards of a project are often more important than the material rewards and recognition.

10. A clearly defined vision of the end result enables all the people to define the most efficient path for accomplishing the results.

11. The more input people have into defining the changes that will affect their work, the more they will take ownership for the results.

12. To change the individual, the system must change.

Learn more about change management this spring at Leadership: Leading and Managing Change Through Teamwork and Strategic Thinking, presented by Dennis Faurote, president, The Faurote Group and adjunct professor at Indiana University, Kelley School of Business. This program, slated for April 26-27 at the Hotel Baronette in Novi, is offered by the MACPA as part of our Center for Corporate Financial Leadership benefit. For more information, contact the MACPA’s CPE Department at 248.267.3700 or toll-free in Michigan at 888.877.4273.

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