Leading Others Through Change
CET7049
Workbook 1
During this module you will be given the opportunity to develop your knowledge and skills around leading others through change. This is a natural progression from Module CET7049 that looks at strategic visioning and diagnosis tools and models.
We will discuss:
- Leadership in times of change
- Transactional to Transformation Leadership
- Appreciative Leadership
- Stakeholder Analysis
- Supporting Staff embracing Change
- Capacity Building to cope with uncertainty
- Dealing with resistance to change
- Emotional Intelligence
- Influencing Skills
Week 1: Leadership Styles
What has been your experience of change?
Good ExperienceWhat were the factors that made it a good experience? / Poor Experience
What were the factors? What did it look like? What did it feel like?
Great Man Theory
“Great Leaders are Born, not made”
/ What are your thoughts on this? Do you think you’re either a natural born leader or not?
Can you think of any other examples? /
Trait Theory
The characteristics of many leaders - both successful and unsuccessful can predict leadership effectiveness.
What would these traits be likely to include?
What are the advantages of this theory?
What are the disadvantages of this theory?
Other Theories to Explore prior to workshop – how are these different to the above
Contingency LeadershipSituational Leadership
Quiet Leadership
Servant Leadership
Week 2Leading People through Change
Pixar Birds on a WireFurther to watching this Youtube clip – what are your thoughts with regards to leading people through change?
What is going on?
Is there anything familiar?
What are the challenges?
What are the concerns?
What are potential reasons for resisting change?
Strategies for leading others through change (Ken Blanchard (author of The One Minute Manager)
Watch youtube video (
Week 3 Your Leadership Style (reflective practice)
Reflections on leadership experiences: Based on the above theories, how much plays out in your own leadership style. Think about traits, personality preferences, achievements, outcomes, processes, communication style etc
Summary from reflective diaryWeek 4: Situational Leadership Styles – to focus on people or task more?
Reflect on the following models with regards to your preferred leadership style
What are the advantages of using this style what are the potential pitfalls
4.1 Hersey and Blanchard
The Situational Leadership theory, developed in the 1960s by the late Dr. Paul Hersey and Dr. Ken Blanchard, proposes that the most effective and successful leaders are able to adjust their leadership styles to fit a specific situation. Why would a leader need to do this? A leader MUST be able to do this because the variables of a situation can, and often do, change. Let’s take a closer look at these variables and how changes that impact these variables create unique situations that must be handled with a flexible approach to leadership.
People – Who are they? What are their skills and level of expertise (competence)? What is their confidence level and level of commitment (maturity?)
Task – What is its nature? Is it simple or complex? Are the processes that support this task brand new or well known?
Environment – Is there stability or is the organization in a state of flux? Does the culture promote conservative behavior or does it encourage the people to take risks
Diagram taken from
With regards to this modelWhat is your more usual preferred style?
What style of leadership would be better for organisational change?
What style of leadership would be more preferable for followers?
4.2 Blake and Mouton Situational Leadership Model
Blake and Mouton’s grid is based on two behavioural patterns.
Concern for People: This is the extent to which a leader is concerned about the well-being of his employees. If the needs and interests of the team members are considered, and steps are taken to advance their personal development, the leader is said to be high on the concern for people. On the grid, 'concern for people' is plotted on the y-axis. Each axis ranges from 1 (Low) to 9 (High).
Concern for Production: The 'concern for production' behaviour pattern is plotted along the x-axis. This takes into consideration the importance that a leader places on productivity goals. The emphasis here is on achieving organizational goals and high productivity at any cost.
Impoverished (indifferent) style is about evasion, whereby managers have low concern for both people and production. This style is used to preserve job and protecting selves from trouble. Behaviours might be to avoid being held responsible for mistakes and less risk in decision making.
Accommodating (country club) style has a high concern for people and a low concern for production. Managers using this style pay much attention to the security and comfort of the employees, in hopes that this will increase -performance The resulting atmosphere is usually friendly, but not necessarily very
Productive
Authority style is dictatorial controlling and dominating. With a high concern for production, and a low concern for people, managers using this style find employee needs unimportant; they provide their employees with money and expect performance in return. Managers using this style also pressure their employees through rules and punishments to achieve the company goals. This dictatorial style is based on Theory X of Douglas McGregor, and is commonly applied by companies on the edge of real or perceived failure. This style is often used in case of crisis management.
The team style contributes and commits. In this style, high concern is paid both to people and production. As suggested by the propositions of Theory Y, managers choosing to use this style encourage teamwork and commitment among employees. This method relies heavily on making employees feel themselves to be constructive parts of the company
Where could you place yourself?
With regards to Hersey and Blanchard:What is the dominant culture and values in your organisation?
How does this impact on organisational change?
How does the dominant style in your organisation fit with your own values and personality?
"Leadership is the art of getting someone else to do something you want done because he wants to do it."
~ Dwight D. Eisenhower
Hersey and Blanchard
Blake and Mouton
Any other models you want to bring to workshop that aid to thinking of leading in times of change
[1]