Why Do Organizations Need Change Leaders?

Any successful company will have both ups and downs, positive press and risks to be managed. Starbucks is no different. CEO Howard Schultz has endured many crises, from open carry advocates wanting to use the store to further their agenda, a Hong Kong exposé about the water for coffee coming from the restroom sink, a decision to politically involve the brand in expressing outrage over a multi-day government shutdown, overpriced coffee, and a failed merger with another popular brand. Please review these stories in Reputation on the Line: The Starbucks cases
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. This activity aligns with module outcome 1.
Discussion Questions
Select one of the crises mentioned in the article. Imagine that you are Howard Schultz, CEO of Starbucks. How would you utilize what you’ve learned this week about leading in a time of crisis? How would you approach solving or mitigating the crisis you selected, and why?

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Required
Cran, C. (2015). The Art of Change Leadership : Driving Transformation In a Fast-Paced World . Hoboken, New Jersey: Wiley.
Chapter 1 – Why Do Organizations Need Change Leaders?
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Chapter 3 – Hack the Status Quo: Change Manager or Change Leader?
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Chapter 5 – The Change Cycle Transformation Tool
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Bennis, W. G., Asghar, R., & Sample, S. B. (2015). The Art and Adventure of Leadership : Understanding Failure, Resilience and Success. Hoboken, New Jersey: Wiley.
Chapter 1 – Redefining Success and Failure
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Chapter 6 – When Failure is Baked into the System
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Dwyer, P. C., Bono, J. E., Snyder, M., Nov, O., & Berson, Y. (2013). Sources of Volunteer Motivation: Transformational Leadership and Personal Motives Influence Volunteer Outcomes.
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Nonprofit Management & Leadership, 24(2), 181-205.
Tracy, B. (2014). Chapter 9: Learn from Adversity
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. In Leadership (The Brian Tracy Success Library). New York: AMACOM.
http://vlib.excelsior.edu/login?url=https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/excelsior-ebooks/reader.action?ppg=27&docID=1390902&tm=1547479443148
Youndt, M. A., Taylor, R. L., & Rosenbach, W. E. (2012). Contemporary Issues in Leadership. Boulder, Colo: Westview Press.
Chapter 16 – Why Leaders Lose Their Way
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Chapter 17 – “Success” A Leadership Trap
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Hutt, R. W. (2016). Reputation on the line: the Starbucks cases.
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The Americans won the Revolution by trying things that no one had tried before. George Washington was famous for hit-and-run raids, ambushes, and other surprise attacks. These raids were in pursuit of a goal that almost no people had ever achieved before – a colonial rebellion against imperial domination. In the words of the hit musical Hamilton, the American troops were “outgunned, outmanned, outnumbered and outplanned.” And yet they won, in large measure because General George Washington was a change leader.
Now it’s the 21st century. Rapidly transforming technology, surging globalization, evolving business models, increased focus on diversity in the workplace —these are just some of the variables impacting the competitive landscapes across virtually all industries. To keep up with the changes that these and other factors are creating, it is critical that you are able to understand what change leadership is, why it is important, and most importantly how you can leverage it in your workplace to positively impact your company.
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As the old saying goes, “Nothing is permanent except change.” Change is a given and a top priority across all types of organizations, but studies consistently show between 50 and 70% of planned change efforts fail. This statistic doesn’t bode well for organizational ambitions if critical change is (at best) just as likely to fail as it is to succeed. Why is this true, and how can organizations improve the odds of success?
Change leadership is about the phases of change—and the emotions associated with those phases—that people must navigate when change is constant. Change leadership requires leaders, and the organization as a whole must address beliefs and mindsets and develop the practices and behaviors that help people adapt to change. In contrast to change management—which is an outside-in process with a focus on structures, systems and processes—change leadership is the inside-out element of meeting the change challenge. It’s about enlisting people in change and keeping them committed throughout, in the face of uncertainties, fears, and distractions.
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Three Levels of Change Leadership:
Change leadership operates on three levels – self, others, and the organization.
Self
How do I personally deal with change? What is my current change challenge? What is my role as a change leader and what do I need to do differently? What is my default leadership style when faced with driving significant change? How do my change style preferences impact those around me? How do I ensure we have leadership capability for change throughout the organization?
CONSERVERS accept the current structure, systems, and processes. They are champions of incremental change and strong advocates of continuous improvement within the established business model.
ORIGINATORS like to challenge current structures, systems, and processes. They are champions of expansive business model change and tend to focus on new possibilities, vision, and direction.
PRAGMATISTS tend to focus on getting the job done. They are champions of change that is functional and often see merit in the perspectives of both conservers and originators—as long as a clear business case exists for one approach or the other.
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How do I help my people through change, especially when they have no control or choice? How do I understand—and respond to—the different perspectives, feelings, and responses people have to change while achieving alignment with organizational aims? How do I build relationships and persuade supporters, detractors, and fence-sitters to get onboard with the changes I am tasked with?
Change begins with understanding. What is the need for change? Will it be evolutionary or revolutionary in nature? What is the scope? What is the urgency? What communities, stakeholder groups and change agents need to be taken into consideration? Who are the people leading the change and are they aligned and committed? What is the level of commitment?
The vision is formed, the change terrain is mapped, and plans are created. The core team and early adopters begin to engage employees in decisions about the change. At this stage, deciding about how to frame the change initiative, build relationships, motivate others, and create alignment and commitment are key leadership functions.
Change may continue and solidify . . . or it may fall off or fail to take hold. Change leaders must discern what is working and what isn’t in order to maintain focus, energy, resources, and support to ensure change sustains over time. Learning—what has and has not been effective in the change process—and adapting future plans to ensure progress are critical to success.
Communicating and taking steps to enact that the change begins. The rollout may be slow, or fast-paced, but leaders should recognize that no matter how quickly they choose to move, people still need time to adapt to change. Change leaders must show commitment to the change initiative—and, above all, to the people who are affected by the change. Cracking the code of change is an emotional undertaking, which requires relationship-building across an interrelated web of change agents.
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The Organization
How do I lead change in the context of the larger organizational culture and political realities? How do I forge a network of change agents throughout the organization? How do I influence up, down, and across the organization? How do I ensure that change is right for my team as well as right for the organization? How do I ensure we have leadership capability for change throughout the organization?
BALANCE STABILITY AND CHANGE. Energy must be expended on both of these poles in order to keep the organization imbalance
PERSUASION SKILLS ARE ESSENTIAL. Influence is about gaining not only compliance but also the commitment necessary to successfully drive change. It is also about mapping out the critical change agents that must be brought onboard, and defining what “buy-in” looks like from each stakeholder that will lead to a successful outcome.
BE RESILIENT. Resiliency helps people handle the pressure, uncertainty, and setbacks that are part of going through change. Managers need to build their own reserves and resiliency, in support of their mental and physical health. They also can guide others to face change in healthy and sustainable ways. This is increasingly important as people experience the cumulative effects of ongoing and often turbulent change.
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Dale Carnegie in his groundbreaking book How to Win Friends and Influence People said that the only way to get someone to do something is if he or she wants to. Psychologists tell us that people generally cannot be forced, cajoled, or embarrassed into performing to our expectations. The most effective volunteers are those who earnestly accept your organization, have a vested interest in its success, and see themselves as connected to the organization.
We’ve talked about motivation from the beginning, and this week we’ll look at volunteers. Why? Volunteers budget time commitments strictly, with family, civic, and religious interests competing for “leisure time.” No one can afford to have their time wasted. The proliferation of U.S. nonprofit corporations means greater competition for volunteers. Recruitment and retention of volunteers increasingly reflect generational attitudes, needs, and behaviors. If your organization is one that makes use of volunteers, the volunteers can function as the canary in the coalmine, telling you what you need to know about the overall health of the organization. If they’re happy – everyone is happy. If you start losing – or hemorrhaging – good volunteers, then you know it won’t be long before your paid workers start to follow suit.
The good news is that more people are volunteering, as high school service requirements introduce youths to volunteerism. Corporations, including law firms, find that volunteering is a part of the overall business strategy, and lawyers in particular have a strong history of pro bono service. It’s in the best interest of any non-profit organization to develop strategies to capitalize on identifying volunteers, training them, and including them in the association’s mission.
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Here are some practical tools we can all remember and use to develop volunteers:
Establish clearly articulated goals for volunteers. The ability to communicate effectively and win cooperation requires that we understand the goal and directly communicate that to volunteers.
Show the volunteer what success looks like. A key to motivating volunteers is focusing on success. Be prepared.
Encourage excitement and interest by acting as a role model for volunteers. Nothing more beautifully illustrates commitment than a committed person. Practice what you preach. Enthusiasm is contagious.
Give honest, sincere appreciation for volunteers’ efforts. Suggestions here could include certificates made in-house at your bar association or a volunteer recognition luncheon or breakfast.
Train your volunteers. If they don’t know what is expected of them, or if their time is used inefficiently because they were unsure of how to complete a task or work has to be re-done because it was done incorrectly the first time, motivation will plummet.

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