Jeanne Crane Coaching and Consulting

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Testimonial

"Jeanne has terrific insight into organizations and what is needed at a given time to move that organization forward. Sometimes she suggests a direction I would not have thought to consider and other times she just reinforces what we are doing but it’s all valuable." DM

CHANGE

Some changes are planned; some are thrust upon us, requiring us to cope or manage them: and other changes ask us to open ourselves to possibilities beyond our present capacity to even imagine.

Change in real-time is often a mix of dynamics that does not lend itself to a particular model or set of steps. There are a number of templates that a leader or group can use that take them step by step through a change process. The key is choosing the appropriate model.

Sometimes a consultant can help you chose and approach and then need only be available as a coach to your process. Other times, you may determine that the outside consultant needs to step in at certain points in the process- e.g. launch it for you or help you address resistance. In certain situations, the consultant is needed to work along with your inside change team throughout the process.

In all circumstances, keep ownership of the process and partner with the consultant so that you are building internal capacity to live the change you have worked so hard to create.

Our 21stCentury Imperatives begin with three things---

Learning to embrace change
Taking risks to address the challenges and opportunities before us.
Collaborating and working together, especially when stakes are high.

ENVISIONING FUTURE POSSIBILITIES

Some of the questions you will want to consider:

Do you need to stretch beyond your present horizon?
Do you need to reinvent yourself and take a new approach to the work you do?
Do you need help seeking out best practices and new trends?
Do you want to forge a new path into 21st C and wonder where to start?
Do you need to articulate your vision so others will see and join in?
Are you swimming in possibilities and need help prioritizing among them?
Are there competing forces between those who want to continue assessing and planning vs those who wish to jump right in to implementation?
Is there resistance to change within your systems?
Are there organizational cultural issues that need to be released to free the system up so that envisioning a new future is even possible?

If so, consider getting help through consultation, coaching or facilitation.

OVERCOMING RESISTANCE

It is so ease to give in to the urge to squelch resistance, to defend the extensive plans, actions, risks you may have experienced in getting started.

BUT, working with the resistance is one of the most crucial aspects of effecting change.

The first major systems change where I encountered resistance was as part of a Cornell Industrial Labor Relations team helping a Fortune 500 manufacturing plant. Leadership was given 1 year to become profitable or close. We worked with a labor-management team to reduce 24 job titles to 4; undo the bottleneck and reduce overtime. But fear and distrust kept many from acting in their own best interest. The efforts needed to attain buy-in included one-on-one listening sessions, field trips to other operations, coaching, and negotiating contractual safety nets. (This is just one example of a change project where the process of overcoming resistance was the most critical part of the entire initiative.)

BE THE CHANGE THAT YOU WANT TO SEE IN THE WORLD - Gandhi

TRANSITION AND TRANSFORMATION

Transitional change is a matter of bridging to a desired state that can be seen and articulated to all those involved. Aspects may provoke anxiety or there may be some uncertainty. Nonetheless, the baton gets passed, the stream is crossed, and adjustments made through good, steady leadership.

This change is developmental and somewhat predictable, similar to an individual receiving a promotion or moving to a new neighborhood. Of course, predictable does not mean ease. Attention must be paid to all the components for success to be achieved.

Transformation change, however, makes a shift that is profound and often disruptive. There can be a period of chaos as the system finds its new equilibrium. Like a person having their first child, people may find that all their imagining and planning does not describe or explain the new sense of self as parent they experience. Everything else may be the same on one level but on another level everything has changed.

Transformational change requires transactional leadership skills as well as the skills of visionary leadership.