Realising Change

In a previous post Managing Change I wrote about two ways that change can be affected – forced change (F-Change) and nurtured change (N-Change).  The role of management for each of these is vastly different.  For anyone seeking to instigate change the polar opposite approaches might be:

F-change		N-change
Demand	insist on perfection	Listen	to staff opinion and objections and follow up
Lead	from the front, because no-one else has the required vision	Deliver	resources, feedback and follow-up in time
Direct	decide who is capable and who does what by when	Arrive	to key meetings and show willing to engage with staff
Assert	assert your authority to make change	See	for yourself
Dictate	the way things are done	Encourage	learning, ideas, creativity and improvement from and by all
Divide	apportion tasks on a need to know basis	Empower	decision making by assigning responsibility with accountability
Conquer	all fears and misgivings that staff may have	Acknowledge	be humble and avoid arrogance
Delegate	assign accountability to key staff	Create	opportunities and chances for staff to shine
Impose	your will on all to achieve the desired outcome	Connect	ideas and suggestions across teams, departments and groups

As in anything, there is more than one way to skin a cat, but in my experience leaning towards one of these extremes rather than the other leads to innovation, staff satisfaction and lasting change. 

“All great changes are preceded by chaos.” - Deepak Chopra