Recognizing the need for change and leading and managing the change process have been the tasks of leaders since the dawn of history. However, organization leaders in the first two-thirds of the 20th century often had the luxury of a 10- to 20-year cycle of stability in between major changes. In the last third of the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st century, many organizations are finding it necessary to reinvent themselves every three years. The current pace, depth, and range of change required of organizations is unprecedented. One result is a series of paradoxes that create significant challenges and opportunities for leaders. Without awareness of these paradoxes and a framework for addressing them within the organizational change process, most change efforts will fail.
As they seek to facilitate organizational change, leaders in the 21st century face the following paradoxes, seemingly contradictory statements that are nevertheless true:
PARADOXES OF CHANGE:
To respond rapidly... You must initially slow down. To go forward... You must look back. To succeed, you must facilitate a culture of change. Change exacerbates anxiety, confusion, and conflict. Conflict is essential to innovation and creativity. Conflict can destroy or paralyze change efforts. Change efforts must include diverse perspectives. The more diverse the perspectives the greater potential for gridlock. When you feel you've finished... You've just begun.
To succeed, you must facilitate a culture of change.
Change exacerbates anxiety, confusion, and conflict.
These paradoxes of organizational change require leaders to do “adaptive work” as well as “technical work.” In his book Leadership, No Easy Answers, Ron Heifitz describes “technical work” as work in which the problem is very clear, the solution is clear, and one can find the solution by going to a list or a text. Adaptive work, on the other hand, is work in which the problem is complex, the solution is not easily understood, and those who have the problem must be engaged in the process of solving the problem.
Let's examine five of these paradoxes and a framework Ki ThoughtBridge, in collaboration with Trustee Leadership Development, has developed to help leaders address them.
Next - Paradox 1