Change Leadership & Change Management Go Hand-in-Hand

Change Management is not a one-time project, but an ongoing business capability.

Change Management is about mentoring the human side of the business through profound, unsettling change. Change Management has a very wide scope and is a relatively new area of expertise. From a management perspective, First, distinguish between change management and change leadership: the former is being about guiding strategy, systems, and process while the latter is about influencing people and culture. To be successful leaders, you must face and handle both. they are both important to make a change not a one-time project, but an ongoing business capability.

Change leaders need to focus on building a culture of change: The issues that will prevent change from happening are likely to be the leadership vision, communication, and style. Senior leaders need to gain an in-depth understanding of changes, especially at the strategic level. Change is supposed to happen. Resistance is supposed to happen. However, many senior leaders honestly don't understand what their role is, don't want to discuss publicly due to the criticism they will get. The big challenge is for the managers to change their own behaviors to allow their teams to do the change that is needed, especially if they are “hands on” in their style. Change is inevitable, and change is a strategic imperative. From top-down, taking the time to know who you are and what you like and the big WHY about the changes at first things first.

Change Management needs to be people-centric, shouldn’t just put emphasis on change tools: Unless you get the people side right even the most awesome plans and technical expertise still fall over! The implementation of any significant change process usually succeeds or fails because of the leadership of that change process. Leadership and management are two distinct and complementary systems of action and they have to be integrated seamlessly. Precontemplation, contemplation, preparation, action, maintenance are the logical steps in managing change scenario. Walking people through the process of resistance is key. The change should be based on planning strategy; there is long term mythology for big changes & short term mythology.

The change objectives must be well defined, understood, and accepted through planning: Planning is a good way to achieve change if the planning effort is integrated with the normal management practices.A strategy for "change" should focus on betterment. Change for the sake of change doesn't help anyone. The most important factor for positive change is flexibility in planning, decide to be prepared for inevitable change, clear roles and responsibilities, and authority to adapt and act as reality changes plans. Invest in change before it happens. Change leadership and change management need to go hand-in-hand - both the process and influencing people and culture are critical, defining the desired result BEFORE plowing into any effort, and facing inevitable questions, learning styles, technology issues (and so on) through anticipatory preparation.

Be sure to provide a metric for all to gauge progress and benefits: This is critical to keeping the long-term commitment to and justification for the course correction. Change processes underpin organization’s change capability. Hence, pay attention to the processes under the surface, in order to be aware of them, as an organization. Change is a constant. Platforms support constants. Change is not an event. Events can be managed top down. Change can be supported top down, but change cannot be fully managed or controlled top down, it has to be proactively made bottom up. You have to define the change situation and the desired result before plowing into any effort, from measured progress to critical survival. Know what is an acceptable outcome, what resources the change and how urgently to act. Make change sustainable. When victory is declared too soon, undesired organizational behaviors return, and the transformation becomes another flavor of the month initiative.


A changeable organization is to creating organizations where change is the norm (though not for its own sake) and happens the whole time thereby delivering faster and increasing market share. Change can not be just another thing that needs to be accomplished. It has to be woven into communication, process, and action of the organization. And it is an ongoing business capability built through the effectiveness of change leadership plus the efficiency of change management.

Posted in: Change Management