With all the leadership change materials that have been written, published and presented, you would think that we would have it all down pat by now.  Yet, every day we see that certain kinds of change are always easy to make; increasing and decreasing budgets, maintaining strategic alliances, arranging a merger—The fact is that these bold strokes are not what create sustainable change in the organization; it is the long marches that pay off.

Long-term, effective organizational change requires people to adjust their behavior.  As a top manager or executive, you can allocate resources for new product development or reorganize as a unit.  Regardless, you cannot order people to use their imagination to solve the budget crunch or to work collaboratively with other members on the team, in the department, or within cross-departmental problem-solving teams.  

So here we go.  Change-adept organizations share three key attributes; each associated with a particular role for leaders. 

The imagination to innovate.  It is difficult, even counterintuitive to spend energy innovating during extreme times.  Effective leaders help develop new concepts that set the organization apart, and are looking forward, even in the midst of (potential) crisis.

The professionalism to perform.  Competence to lead, develop and add organizational value in an ever-more-demanding climate is essential.

The openness to collaborate.  Leaders make connections with partners who can extend the organization’s reach and enhance its offerings.

The fact is that organizational change compelled by crisis is usually seen as a threat, not an opportunity.  So unless it is absolutely necessary, in difficult times, stay the course and make small adjustments where necessary.

According to the author of “On Leading Change” (Jossey-Bass, 2002), there are seven classic techniques that leaders can bring to a changing organization.

1.       Tuning in to the environment, through creating a network of listening posts, such as partnerships and alliances that allow you to gather and share information.

2.       Challenging the prevailing organizational wisdom, through what is called “kaleidoscope’ thinking; a way of constructing patterns from fragments of data available and manipulating them to form different patterns.  Can you look at all of the available information and consider it in a new way? 

3.       Communicating a compelling aspiration.  Changing anything requires a strong and genuine conviction, since there are so many forces to overcome.

4.       Building Coalitions through the involvement of people who have the resources, knowledge and political clout to make things happen.

5.       Transferring ownership to a working team.  Once your coalition is in place, you can enlist others in the implementation.  As a leader, you must remain involved, and don’t expect your managers to take over all of the proceedings. 

6.       Learning to persevere.  Everything can look like a failure in the middle.  One of the major mistakes that leaders can make is to launch plans and then leave them.  Stay with your crew.

7.       Making everyone a hero.  Recognition brings the change cycle to its logical conclusion, and also motivates people to attempt change again. 

These techniques are effective not only in facilitating change within organizations but also key to sustaining high performance in less turbulent times.