9 Cultural Norms That Foster Continuous Change and Improvement, Part VIII: Inclusivity and Belonging
How can we create organizational cultures that enable shared and agile approaches to enacting significant…
“There is nothing more difficult to take in hand, more perilous to conduct, or more uncertain in its success, than to take the lead in the introduction of a new order of things.” –Machiavelli
This is part one of a two part series that speaks to the profile of Great Change Agents and the leadership competencies that are required to become a great (not good) Change Agent – a Change Agent who becomes the heart and soul, together with other Change Agents s/he recruits, to drive disruptive and enduring departures from the status quo.
First, a few words on the profile of great Change Agents. Courageous and driven by the need to simplify complexity and ambiguity, they are generally high-potential, high-impact leaders who recognize that an organization can and must continuously improve.
I speak from more than 20 years of experience as a serial Change Agent. While it wasn’t by design, I’ve consistently pursued roads less traveled in the course of my career, starting off, for example, as a professional equestrian, having graduated summa cum laude with an Economics degree and ultimately becoming a serial Change Agent as an operating executive.
Having been entrusted with the leadership of several disruptive transformational initiatives in corporate America, today I work with leaders and leadership teams whose business models need re-imagined and executed with excellence, and leaders who themselves are at significant inflection points in their careers.
I derive a great deal of pleasure and satisfaction from working with, for example, the CEO and leadership team of a high-growth company that is having to re-examine its cultural norms, organizational structure, various management and communications disciplines and many of its policies and procedures to stay ahead of the rapid growth and deliver with excellence.
I’m also working with a senior leader at a large bank who is re-imagining the organization’s brand strategy and internal and external communications processes. That leader is now in the process of a significant restructuring to position for the break-through execution of the strategy. And I’m coaching a senior leader at a large financial services institution who was brought in from the outside to bring its vast global security operations into the 21st century – against a backdrop of a highly change-averse culture.
We hear a lot about the importance of Change Agents to any kind of transformation. Yet 70% of attempts at disruptive departures from the status quo fail. What distinguishes good change agents from great change agents – the heart and soul to enacting disruptive and enduring changes to the status quo?
Now that you have the profile of a great Change Agent, are you ready to take the next step? Download my five secrets to becoming a Change Master.
And stay tuned for my next post that will speak to the leadership competencies great Change Agents (vs good Change Agents) need to build and strengthen to achieve high and enduring impact when a significant departure from the status quo is needed.