Are You Encouraging the Change Leaders?
by Matt Monge
There’s a reason that real-deal change leaders are so valuable: there’s often not many of them, at least initially, inside organizations. Within the context of a change effort, that’s all well and good…at first.
You see, often meaningful change begins in the hearts or minds (and preferably both) of an individual or two, maybe even a small handful. However, it’s impossible for a legit change to take place and be sustained if only a couple of folks are passionate about it and committed to it.
In successful change efforts, the group of change leaders should grow over time. Without that group gaining mass and momentum, nothing much worthwhile is going to happen.
A lot of people will tell you that significant change can’t happen without the CEO leading the charge (not just passively “supporting” the change), and they’d be right; but it goes much further than that. Others from throughout the organization have to come together and develop a shared zeal for the change. Together, they have to be committed to helping make the change happen.