As the world continues to evolve and become more unpredictable, change leadership is becoming increasingly vital for any organisation’s success. Change leadership is the ability to influence and inspire action in others in response to periods of growth, disruption, or uncertainty. For change leadership to be properly implemented, it requires vision, forward-thinking and the ability for individuals to be agile and responsive to constantly changing business environments.
There’s no doubt that change leadership is hard, but it is not impossible. As Machiavelli wrote, “There is nothing more difficult to take in hand, more perilous to conduct, or more uncertain in its success, than to take the lead in the introduction of a new order of things.”
As human beings, we are wired for comfort, often making us resistant to change. In the modern workplace, change is inevitable. It is rare for large organisations to avoid undergoing a change in their life cycle; a change that fundamentally shifts the way their business operates. Regardless of the cause, strong leadership is the key to successfully implementing both small and large-scale changes in a business.
Whether you’re a sole-trader, small business owner, or CEO of a multinational company, change leadership is something to be comfortable with, leadership expert Slaven Drinovac said. Core skills to become a successful and influential transformational leader, include the ability to:
- Lead and influence both peers and other leaders
- Anticipate and respond to change with agility
- Effectively communicate and collaborate with others
- Establish trust with others and demonstrate empathy by putting people first
- Build and sustain momentum through effective team building
- Identify and overcome hurdles towards change
- Take risks, be creative, innovative and decisive
The concept of leadership is understood from two perspectives: you either got a leadership title and lead or you got no leadership title but you still lead”, Slaven says.
Leadership is often about choice and every individual or organisation has the capacity to shape their future. Greek philosopher Heraclitus once said, “The only constant is change”. This is more true now than ever before. Change is a guarantee, how you approach change is up to you. Keep in mind that focus on long-term goals is key when implementing effective change.
“Great change leaders focus on people and processes,” says Slaven. “Change leadership is all about working together to create a shared understanding of what change is required and the best way to make that happen.”
At its core, change leadership is essentially learning how to effectively communicate, collaborate and commit to the change being implemented. In a world with continually fluctuating political, medical, and financial climates, businesses ignoring the need to establish effective change leadership throughout their organisations can never hope to succeed in this world of uncertainty.
For businesses and leaders not just to survive, but thrive, the time is right to place more emphasis on transformational leadership strategies.
As founder of MindHous, academic at Australian College of Applied Professions and current president of ICF Australasia Queensland a subsidiary of the world’s largest association of professional coaches, Slaven has surfaced as one of the top Australian leadership experts, encapsulated in The Australian Business Journal. He has been instrumental in helping clients and teams he leads develop awareness of their current behaviours and strategies, which helps them achieve their goals.
Being himself a visionary, Slaven works with others on becoming visionary change leaders, one leader at the time.His message resonated in Asia via Leadership Stories podcast and publication in India’s most read online Media on Human Resources HR Katha.
