Survival focused Transformation
the banks needed to change operations fast to ensure that every customer interaction is squeaky clean in both intention and execution
It is hard for employees to be receptive in this scenario because they are already beat down after months and years of cost cutting, layoffs and bad news. A lot of them have already moved on, the ones remaining are left to pick up the increasing amount of work and they are too overwhelmed to think straight.
In this situation a combination of Commanding, Pace setting and Democratic leadership could work really well.
Commanding involves short term blocking and tackling to get the organization to where it needs to get to and then Pacesetting to expect high standards from everyone. These styles cannot last very long though.
Re-invention focused Transformation
We have heard of countless examples of companies that experiences resounding success who were disrupted out of their mantle. Blockbuster and Kodak are some of the examples of these. These companies were blindsided by their own success.
Typically when a disruptor shows up, the first response is denial, then double down on things that made the company’s successful to begin with and churn the cycles faster. It is hard to argue with success and to self reflect when we are enjoying success based on our behaviors. But these are exactly the times where we do need to take a look at ourselves and what is out there in the market place to see what we are missing.
Visionary leadership combined with Coaching would work perfectly in these scenarios.
Vision moves people towards a new set of shared dreams.
Starting a group of people to explore new things, looking out in the market place for what is out there in parallel industries, coaching and encouraging people to have some free time to experiment things on their own and explore are strategies to come out of the situation. Adopting the strategy of disrupt or you will be disrupted.
Leadership styles have the ability for form and transform company cultures. One thing is for certain, as with civilizations, company cultures have to evolve with times to stay healthy and vibrant. Leaders have a big part to play to guiding their organizations through changes.