{"id":560,"date":"2019-03-24T14:10:13","date_gmt":"2019-03-24T21:10:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0054\/?p=560"},"modified":"2019-03-24T14:12:20","modified_gmt":"2019-03-24T21:12:20","slug":"if-you-start-with-why-whats-next","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0054\/if-you-start-with-why-whats-next\/","title":{"rendered":"If you start with why, what’s next?"},"content":{"rendered":"

I always find it interesting to go back and revisit my writings from time to time. \u00a0I was particularly interested in revisiting my writing on my leadership style and seeing if it had changed much since the beginning of this course two months ago. \u00a0The short and dirty answer to the question of \u201chave your views changed\u201d is; not much and yet at the same time, so much. A single blog post could not do justice to cover it all. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

When I went back to my original post for this course, \u00a0I found that I had focused on the importance of reflection. \u00a0To do this properly, I expressed the importance of the leader’s role of understanding their \u201cwhy\u201d and how that would help guide them as a leader. \u201cAs I started to unpack all of this I started to find a theme. Reflection. If I am to discover what my WHY is, if I am to connect with my team, I will have to embrace a reflective leadership style\u201d (Flinn, 2019). \u00a0Here I am, eight weeks later, and I am standing by that sentiment. By understanding the guiding principle of why I am leading, I am setting a beacon for my team to follow, a mission to embrace, and a vision to align their own too. <\/span><\/p>\n

While it is essential to have an understanding of what drives you as a leader I have learned that it is just as important to have the proper tools in place to help lead or drive change when necessary. I am finding that understanding the why of change is just the beginning.<\/span><\/p>\n

So you have your \u201cwhy\u201d now what?<\/b><\/h2>\n

There inevitably comes a time in every leader’s life where a \u00a0change becomes necessary. The challenge of change is how do we as leaders help guide our organization through the change that may be necessary to grow the business or push the enterprise forward? \u00a0We must find out how we can have our employees buy into the new changes. We must put on the proverbial hat of a change leader as Al-Haddad and Kotner (2015) state, \u201cchange leaders are people with creative visions, \u00a0They need to understand how their employees perceive change and have them buy in\u201d (p.239). As in any and every healthy relationship, communication is a crucial element. Before implementing a change some questions need to be asked.\u00a0 How are you going to communicate to your employees the reasons for the change? How are you going to open up a feedback loop that allows your employees to communicate with you their concerns, ideas, and questions regarding the change? \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Why reinvent the wheel?<\/b><\/h2>\n

When it comes to developing a plan for change Al-Haddad and Kotner (2015), give a plethora of examples for different models of change methods. \u00a0Instead of trying to come up with a whole new plan on how to implement change on our own, there have been many models on how change can be implemented. These models had been tried and tested, and each has its particular strengths and weaknesses; yet at the very least with some research, a model could be a good fit for the particular context it is needed. Al-Haddad and Kotner (2015), however, caution that a model must not be followed too strictly as, \u201cchange methods need to be continuously evolving to align with the environmental factors\u201d (p.235). <\/span><\/p>\n

What\u2019s your problem man?<\/b><\/h2>\n

How often are we trying to put bandaids on gunshot wounds? \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Often when we are implementing a change in our organizations, we are addressing what we think a problem or issue is. \u00a0As President John F. Kennedy, paraphrasing GK Chesterton, said, \u201cDon’t ever take a fence down until you know the reason it was put up.\u201d \u00a0If we are proposing a significant change that may require the dismantling or at the very least a shake-up of the incumbent system, a full-scale investigation may be in order.\u00a0 It may be that the problem that is being addressed is the symptom of a broader issue. How well do I understand the problem? Conway, Masters, and Thorold (2017) proposed running through a systems analysis to understand the problem before trying to accomplish a solution fully (p.22). \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I wonder how many times the barriers that I have encountered in planning for change could have been identified and mitigated had a proper analysis of the real problem been carried out?<\/span><\/p>\n

Take me home country roads.<\/b><\/h2>\n

So with all these new insights, what does my learning in this course mean in practical terms? \u00a0As I progress through my career and become more involved at a higher level in my institution, I am finding that I am becoming more involved in change. \u00a0Recently I have become part of the open learning group, and an entrepreneurship strategy committee at the school where I teach. I see that I may have many opportunities to be involved in some significant changes in the future. As a fan of Simon Sinek\u2019s book and philosophy of \u201cStart with Why\u201d (2009), I have spent much time reflecting on what my guiding principles are and how they align to my practice. \u00a0What I have learned in the past eight weeks is there is a reason Sinek\u2019s book is called START with why. What happens next? In my position, I hope to be able to help guide the conversations in the direction of identifying the actual problem that needs addressing. Once the problem is identified, help find a model that can guide us through the whole process of implementing the change. <\/span><\/p>\n

It excites me to be at a level where I may have some influence in implementing some potentially significant changes. \u00a0I am also very thankful that I have some insight and tools at my disposal to help add to those conversations <\/span><\/p>\n

References<\/b><\/h2>\n

Al-Haddad, S., & Kotnour, T. (2015). Integrating the organizational change literature: a model for successful change. <\/span>Journal of Organizational Change Management<\/span><\/i>, <\/span>28<\/span><\/i>(2), 234-262<\/span><\/p>\n

Conway, R., Masters, J., & Thorold, J., (2017). From design thinking to systems change: How to invest in innovation for social impact. Royal Society of Arts, Action and Research Centre. <\/span><\/p>\n

Flinn, C., (2019). Reflection on reflective leadership<\/em>. [Blog post]. Retrieved from https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0054\/reflection-on-reflective-leadership\/<\/span><\/p>\n

Sinek, S. (2013). <\/span>Start with why: How great leaders inspire everyone to take action<\/span><\/i>. London: Portfolio\/Penguin.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I always find it interesting to go back and revisit my writings from time to time. \u00a0I was particularly interested in revisiting my writing on my leadership style and seeing if it had changed much since the beginning of this… Continue Reading →<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":96,"featured_media":563,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[94,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-560","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-digital-leadership","category-lrnt525"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0054\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/560","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0054\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0054\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0054\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/96"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0054\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=560"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0054\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/560\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":566,"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0054\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/560\/revisions\/566"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0054\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/563"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0054\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=560"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0054\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=560"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0054\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=560"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}