Successful Change: Leadership’s Role in Attaining and Sustaining
Organizational Resilience through Transitions

By Mary Jo Asmus

Attaining and sustaining organizational resistance during mergers, acquisitions, downsizings and other organizational turmoil is necessary to assure successful movement from transition (the journey) to change (the vision). A deficiency in organizational resilience can result in prolonged transition or unsuccessful change. Corporate leaders must utilize all of their leadership skill sets to assure organizational resilience during times of major business upheaval. However, there are some key leadership skills that assure that the transition successfully converts to change in as smooth a way as possible.

Expert leaders will find that the skills they have are well suited to these situations; these are the “servant leaders” who comfortably lead by standing beside the individuals within an organization and allowing and encouraging them to be their best. In a time of corporate turmoil, a servant leader with the personal presence to serve an organization’s needs enables the organization to make successful transitions to change.

What are the key skills required of a leader that will support organizational resilience during corporate transition?

1. Presence: A leader who is “present” will exhibit self confidence, transparency, optimism and responsiveness. All of these traits will assist the leader with responding to key issues and building support, obviously important to achieving organizational change. It should be noted that being present can be the most difficult skill to sustain at a time when a leader may be contending with her personal reaction to a transition and change.

2. Communication: It is more important than at any other time for a leader to honestly communicate her vision for the future (post-transition) and to assure that the organization understands the vision. Important questions that must be answered and communicated include: What is the vision? What is the benefit to the organization of the change? What is in it for me? What is my role? Why are things changing? What are the barriers to achieving the vision? How does the leader feel about the change? All of the issues around the change should be confronted and communicated in an open and honest manner.

3. Empathy: The leader must accept that employees deal with changes from a very personal perspective. This means that individual emotional reactions to the change will run the gamut from resistance to resignation; from confusion to acceptance; from to subtle sabotage to support. A servant leader will acknowledge and empathize with the entire spectrum of reactions that individuals experience (including herself) during transition but will refuse to get dragged down into the negative ones and continue to be “present” and supportive (see #1).

4. Collaboration: Expert leaders recognize the need to bring individuals and teams together to collaborate during a transition to successful change. It is widely accepted that including and involving employees and teams in change management will provide them with greater control over their work environment, resulting in a more successful change. A leader must identify key individuals/teams that will be responsible for implementing the change and coach them to champion the vision.

5. Coaching: Leaders who exhibit coaching expertise will listen actively, be responsive, show a focus on results, demonstrate confidence that employees will handle the change, encourage positive action, and celebrate successes. A leader who coaches employees will find that employees will discover their own answers to the issues and barriers involved in transition. This engages employees in the vision thus setting the stage for a more successful change.

Leaders may find it difficult to guide the organization in the midst of their personal concerns about the transition and change. Savvy leaders find that the positive backing of an executive coach can provide them with the support they need to carry them through the tough times. Aspire Collaborative Services is experienced in providing support to executives and their teams as they negotiate their way through transitions that require complex leadership skills and a focus on maintaining organizational resilience.