The relationship between leadership and change is a constant phenomenon. As change events occur, leadership must elicit change management strategies to successfully adapt its subordinates. I interviewed two colleagues about their leadership perspectives in change management around a common event called a reorganization. My department is provincial, so we have little opportunity to have in-person communications and leaders must engage in “leading virtual collaboration” (Harris, Jones & Baba, 2013, p. 932). Information must be disseminated through digital environments such as SharePoint, Skype for Business Communications, mass mail outs, recorded video interviews /discussions, etc. (Harris et al., 2013). With such a complex system, leadership has some difficult challenges to ensure successful change.
In a previous blog post I outlined some of the challenges leadership faced in the past around reorganizations including where the change was coming from, the absence of communication, and implementation that was far too quick (Linds, 2019). My colleagues’ understanding of the challenges reflected my own, however they did bring different perspectives around solving these challenges.
In my first discussion my colleague showed that leadership must set the values on which all projects, decisions and changes are to be made. In value-based leadership, leaders ensure “clearness of their values” (O’Toole, 2012, p. 6). If leadership sets a set of values, objectives and priorities (Antwi & Kale, 2014), it assumes “predictable integrity in all its actions” (O’Toole, 2012, p. 6). In our discussion, we agreed that the values should be discussed with the department and posted on SharePoint, printed in offices and part of team meetings to strengthen our common goals.
My second discussion largely focused on communication and support. With little leadership communication in the past, open dialog has been key to success. This reflects the first pillar in the 7 pillars of digital leadership in education, communication as “digital leadership is about involving all stakeholders in two-way communication” (Sheninger, 2014, p. 2) and dialog with leaders will allow for greater buy-in from subordinates (Castelli, 2016). We discussed how past reorganizations did not communicate the reason for the change. This lack of transparency of transparency draws on the seven pillars of digital leadership in education, because the second pillar, “public relations” (Sheninger, 2014, p. 3), requires transparency to avoid “negative rhetoric” (Sheninger, 2014, p. 3). The last two sections of our discussion focused on support and celebration. Previous reorganizations had little or no or support for people moving positions or teams. The Canada Health Infoway Change Management Framework states that”[e]ducation initiatives should begin in the early stages of the change process to promote understanding and support of the change initiative” (Antwi & Kale, 2014, p. 13). Not only that, but leaders who provide coaching, training and educational opportunities “help build self-esteem and confidence of followers” (Castelli, 2016, p. 224). Celebrations have the power to motivate and inspire confidence in the National Health Service Change Management Guidelines (Antwi & Kale, 2014). As leadership celebrates short-term goals, subordinates can be empowered and hesitation about change can be reduced (Antwi & Kale, 2014).
In my first discussion, my colleague outlined the framework she likes to modify to support change. She saw Prosci as a good method for assessing change, but for implementation she focuses on a model called HealthChange ® Methodologies (Janette. Gale, 2014). HealthChange ® includes many of the steps described in my second discussion. The first three phases are designed to gain importance and once a decision has been made to embrace the change, the second three phases are designed to build confidence to comply with the change (J. Gale & Bills, 2014). In my reflection, I have combined many of the perspectives discussed and developed a draft leadership framework around the values of the group, the catalyst for change, a review of what is needed, the planning and implementation of the change and back to the values of the group. With this framework, leaders have a strong ability to assess what is needed by the catalyst using a modified a Prosci framework; compare these needs with the values of the group, plan and implement the change using a modified HealthChange ® methodology; periodically reevaluate any changes needed to ensure success; and finally compare the values and note if the change has become part of the culture to update the values to reflect the new changes.
References
Antwi, M., & Kale, M. (2014). Change Management in Healthcare, (January). Retrieved from https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/4096/8d2ea62c423946f0089aacfb9d3f461035ed.pdf
Castelli, P. A. (2016). Reflective leadership review: a framework for improving organisational performance. Journal of Management Development, 35(2), 217–236. https://doi.org/10.1108/JMD-08-2015-0112
Gale, J. (2014). Methodology For patient-centred care and behaviour change support HealthChange ® Methodology Integrated Suite of Tools.
Gale, J., & Bills, C. (2014). Transforming practice into best practice. InMotion, Australian Physiotherapy Association, 30–33.
Harris, A., Jones, M., & Baba, S. (2013). Distributed leadership and digital collaborative learning: A synergistic relationship? British Journal of Educational Technology, 44(6), 926–939. https://doi.org/10.1111/bjet.12107
Linds, A. (2019). It takes all kinds of fruits to make fruit-cup: Mixed success in change management. Retrieved from https://malat-webspace.royalroads.ca/rru0058/it-takes-all-kinds-of-fruits
O’Toole, J. (2012). Notes Toward a Definition of Values-Based Leadership. The Journal of Values-Based Leadership, 1(17), 44–53. https://doi.org/10.2307/2929117
Sheninger, E. (2014). Pillars of Digital Leadership. International Centre for Leadership in Education., 1–4.
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