http://www.europeanbusinessreview.com 81It is well known that everything in life changes and the only
constant thing is change per se. So, in order for organisations
to survive, prosper and remain competitive, they need to
change. Much has been written about the role of leaders
to bring about change (radical and incremental) to their
organisations. Nonetheless, few explored how leaders
can lead a dual transformation type of change. Here,
the author will shed light on and discuss the challenges
encounter leaders who lead dual transformation.
D
ual transformation is a type of change when two major
transformations are being undertaken simultaneously.
Transformation A considers repositioning the core
business model to the modified marketplace. Transformation
B is about creating a separate disruptive business through inno-
vation to become the source of future growth.^1 Apple is a good
example of this. In 2007, Steve Jobs has led Apple, through
dual transformation, to be ahead of the game. Apple devel-
oped their core business by introducing new Mac computers
that massively increased its market share (Transformation A).
Simultaneously, Apple penetrated a new business by launching
its revolutionary iPhone that changed the way people use and
perceive the value of mobile devices (Transformation B).
Leaders face numerous challenges when they lead
changes in their organisations. In times of dual transfor-
mation, the number and the intensity of the challenges are,
more or less, doubled. These are related to their tasks such
as sense-making, visioning, relating, sense-giving, enabling
and supporting, and sustaining the change. Here, I will
focus on sense-making and sense-giving.
Sense-making requires mental representation of leaders’
environment to understand what they perceive as important
and why.^2 However, sense-making is not a one-off activity
as situations change and thus leaders need to continually be
aware of and then reflect upon how new developments may
affect the agenda for change.^3 Leaders continuously engage
in the process of sense-making by seeking data from various
sources, using observations to design small experiments to
test ideas, and through involving others in diagnosing current
issues to get different perspectives. In other words, it is a way
of research to find out the ‘truth’ and make sense of it. But,
at the end, every research has its limitations.Leading ChangeSENSE-MAKING AND SENSE-GIVING:
THE CASE OF DUAL TRANSFORMATION
BY YAZEED ALHEZZANI