Encyclopedia of Leadership

HOW TO USE THIS LEADERSHIP TOOL

“Never underestimate the magnitude of the forces that reinforce complacency and help maintain the status quo.”

—John Kotter, LEADING CHANGE

There is no easy answer here, and it would be misleading to characterize these approaches as

either-or. Breakthrough change is difficult, and there are times when no number of small wins

will ever add up to the large-systems change that is necessary for your organization. This is

because the status quo in organizations has a way of powerfully rejecting, absorbing, or cor-

rupting incremental changes. To quote a popular phrase, “Your organization is perfectly

aligned to get the results that it is currently getting.”

WEB WORKSHEET

Think of some needed changes in your leadership area. Use the workspace provided here

to assess whether a Small Wins or a Breakthrough approach would be most appropriate.

148 SECTION 5 TOOLS FORLEADINGCHANGE

Where/when to use:

✔ Senior management is not ready for or

supportive of breakthrough change.

✔ You need to build credibility for change.

✔ Risks of failure are catastrophic.

✔ The sum of incremental changes will add up

to a large-scale change.

Checklist of things to consider:

❑ Clarify the overall change goal or vision before you

break the change into chunks.

❑ Be sure that small wins will move you toward the

overall change that is required.

❑ Turn over chunks to project teams.

Small wins approach

Where/when to use:

✔ Your back is against the wall: Change or go

out of business.

✔ You have tried “more of the same” and it

isn’t getting the overall results needed.

Checklist of things to consider:

❑ This kind of change requires commitment at the

highest level.

❑ Must be led by a strong steering committee.

❑ Requires a crisis or a sense of urgency.

❑ Requires the breakup of current functions; some

leaders will not succeed.

❑ Since many old systems will no longer support the

change, you must do thorough systems and

stakeholder analyses.

[☛5.6 Aligning Systems, 5.7 Stakeholder Groups]

OR Breakthrough approach

Benefits of this approach: Benefits of this approach:

Potential change Small wins approach Breakthrough approach