Have you ever found yourself in a group with your colleagues, waiting to for your leader to roll out an important new "change initiative to support a vision?" What sort of approach did the executive use to get everyone motivated and on board with the new ideas? If you are like many people, you may have left such a meeting wondering, "Why the heck did I just waste all that time?" That executive may have fallen into the trap of trying to "wow" you with data and statistics supporting the need for change. After all, there must be a good reason behind the need for change, right?
For your assignment, reflect on your personal or work situation. Share how you have or might now use “a burning platform” in a story to gain the support of your followers to achieve sustained change.
In the video, Galoppin (2011) gains insight that a burning platform needs to become an emotional issue in order to be authentic. This is because it allows the followers to become personally invested in the change that becomes a motivating realization instead. The driving force behind the change is that the price of the status quo is greater than the cost of the transition. This allows the change to not become temporary, but rather permanent from the drive of the business imperative. The sustainability needed for the change reaches full realization through the need for it rather than the want of it. Instead of coming from a place of panic and fear, the most effective method is to come from commitment and courage. Leaders can utilize a burning platform as a catalyst for enduring change if they are able to reach on an emotional level of why it is needed.
The case of the burning man has been utilized in one form or another when attempting to create change in my workplace. Galoppin (2011) notes that change can come from anticipated problems or in an attempt to benefit from an opportunity. For my workplace, this usually comes from optimizing on opportunities to improve efficiencies rather than a dramatic change in a systematic way. The burning platform that was used aimed to move away from using handwritten laboratory bench sheets to an automated process where barcodes were scanned and entered in electronically rather than transcribed. This was in an effort to limit human error and to improve legibility and record keeping for the laboratory. There was nothing inherently wrong about the status quo, but rather this was an opportunity to utilize technology to become more proficient and professional as a national laboratory.
Many employees that work at the laboratory have been there for years and are not too fond with changes, especially dealing with technology. It is something that I have learned when trying to train them up on utilizing the programs and processes that they thought to be more of a hassle than efficient. Even though it was a bit rough implementing the change, it became more smooth after the kinks were worked out in terms of software interface and data processing. A big part of this was being able to make the team see the importance and value of sustaining this change. Some issues may come up and will take some time to resolve from our programming team, but after those problems were fixed the use of the software became more user-friendly. With implementing change such as this, I have found that the best way to utilizing a burning man type of story is to use adaptive leadership in order to connect with followers.
The central point of adaptive leadership is for the leader to focus on the followers and what they need to adapt to the change. Northouse (2016) notes that leaders should be engaged with mobilizing, motivating, organizing, orienting, and focusing on the attention of other. This ties into the behaviors of a leader in regards to the situational challenges that may surface. Whether the issue is technical, adaptive, or a mix of both, the leader is able to provide certain actions to transition the follower through pending change. As a leader, you may ask, “Why do people fear and/or resist change?” Change be stressful from moving from the status quo because it is uncertain. There is the uncertainty of success and the possibility of failure, rejection, and the unknown. However, without attempting change, we are unable to take a risk for that could be for the better. The transition can be managed by a leader to control the stress the change may bring and can do so by providing the support needed in dealing with the change. Change is inevitable and is sometimes necessary for organizations to progress.
Another question could be, “What do people need in order to accept and deal with the change?” One of the most important things that a leader can do when change is being implemented is to have a holding space that allows the follower to feel safe during the change. It allows the followers to vent off any frustrations or pressure that may exist with the change and can allow the leaders to regulate how the change is implemented. One thing I would like to mention is that people need a forum to be able to voice their opinions of the change being implemented. This can be constructive to the leader as well because it may address some oversight that may have been missed by leadership.
Lastly, leaders may ask, “How do I implement change in the workplace?” Leaders have to weigh the pros and cons of change and how it will affect their followers and will need to utilize some form of adaptive change to be effective. A leader can start by painting a clear vision of the change and what it would bring to help followers acknowledge what may happen. As long as the change has a sense of meaning that makes sense then followers will be able to follow through with the change. Another important part on behalf of the leader is to be a part of the change leading the initiative as an exemplar (Weston, 2015). A leader can lead by example and can show what is expected with the change and can show how to proceed forward making the disruption seem less threatening. Overall, using a burning platform can serve as a means to show employees the different future possibilities that they may encounter.
References
Galoppin, L. [replymc]. (2011, November 24). Burning platform - the misunderstanding (part 1/2) [Video File]. YouTube. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KwRB0sHpN9E
Northouse, P.G. (2016). Leadership: Theory and practice (7th ed.). Los Angeles, CA: Sage Publishing.
Weston, B. (2015, February 23). 10 tips for dealing with change positively in your workplace. LinkedIn Corporation. Retrieved from https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/10-tips-dealing-change-positively-your-workplace-ban-weston/
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