Leadership Skills and Strategies

for Managing Change

G. Michael Campbell

Abstract: Every executive has been tasked at one time or

another with leading a major initiative for the ­company.
These opportunities can lead to promotions and ­exciting
new challenges or to misfires that can set you back.
Frankly, change management is a fact of life in business
today. And change is happening at an accelerating rate.
The obvious conclusion is that executives must embrace
that fact and learn to manage change. In the political
environment at the senior levels, an executive cannot
afford to fail at delivering on the project. This article
­reveals how to manage the change initiatives in today’s
challenging corporate environment. It covers the n ­ ature
of each challenge and provides practical ­advice on how to
navigate the swirling currents that these changes incur.

Keywords: change management, communicating

problems, decision making, defining the change,
executing the plan, impact on the business, leading
change, managing problems, resistance to change, risk
management, stakeholders, working committee

G. Michael Campbell, has led many In leading a change initiative, the following leadership
large, global change initiatives
involving stakeholders from around
skills and strategies are key to success:
the world. He has authored three
books—Succeeding with Senior ■■ Working effectively with the person who will be
Management: Getting the Right Support ­responsible for executing your vision
at the Right Time for Your Project,
■■ Dealing with key stakeholders who will be impacted
The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Project
Management, and Communication by the changes you are making
Skills for Project Managers—as well as ■■ Understanding the readiness of the company as you
numerous industry publications. He is prepare to roll out the initiative
currently adjunct professor of business
management at St. Edward’s University
in Austin, Texas, the United States.
The purpose of this article is to provide you, the leader,
with practical guidance to address each of these facets.

Working with the Person Who Will Execute

Your Vision for the Initiative
As I mentioned in the first article in this series, as
an ­
executive, you have two responsibilities: manage

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 Leadership Skills and Strategies for Managing Change
business operations and ­prepare the busi-
ness for future success. The change initia-
tive is part of the preparation for the future.
As busy executives, we rarely have the lux-
ury of devoting our time exclusively to the
change initiative. ­Therefore, we must rely
on someone else to do much of the work
to implement the change initiative. How-
ever, we must recognize that our other col-
leagues in the ­executive suite are holding
us accountable to deliver the change. It may
seem obvious, but I believe it is worth say-
ing explicitly, that you must choose care-
fully when selecting the person who will
be your right hand in delivering the change
initiative. Generally, I always have chosen
someone who reports to me for several rea-
sons. Most importantly because they have
a track record that gives me confidence
that we can succeed together. I call them
my trusted lieutenant (TL).
In the political environment we operate
in, it is imperative for you to impress on
your TL that you cannot be surprised by
developments related to the change proj-
ect—particularly if problems arise. You
must impress on them that neither of you
can afford the potential damage if another
executive speaks to you about an issue that
has arisen and you are not aware of the
situation. Even if the issue is not resolved
yet, you need to be able to say “I know we
have a problem, but we have a plan to fix it.
Would you like me to keep you posted on
our progress?”
Sometimes in working with your TL,
■■ you may not have the answer to one of
their questions, but you can help them find
someone who does have that answer, and
■■ you can facilitate a meeting with key stake-
holders who would often be difficult for
them to access on their own.
Another consideration as you work with
your TL is that you must be aware that
they will often not have the full back story
on the discussions that led up to the deci-
sion to proceed with the change initiative.
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That is important for several reasons. Let
me explain.
In my experience, issues/problems are
inevitable as we try execute the plan. When
those issues pop up, I want to help ­resolve
them if it is appropriate for me to get ­involved.
But I want to set an expectation with my TL
that they should come to me not only with an
explanation of the issue, but also their thoughts
on the options to fix the problem. At the same
time, I don’t want them to waste time on bring-
ing me an option that the e ­ xecutive team had
­already rejected as we decided to sanction the
­initiative. That is why having the back story
is important.
So what are the questions and answers
that help you and your TL become aligned
as you begin the project? Here are the
questions that can provide you with cru-
cial background that will allow you to be
aligned with your TL.
How Does This Problem/Issue Impact
My Role and Responsibilities?
Here you are getting very precise about
what is at stake for you and people within
your span of responsibility. For example, if
this project or initiative is part of a change
in strategy or direction for the company,
your TL must realize that you are proba-
bly accountable to the president of the divi-
sion, at a minimum, if not the CEO.
Who Is Impacted?
The answer is crucial to help us under-
stand who the key stakeholders for our
change initiative are and is also probably
why you were the executive who became
responsible for overseeing the change.
Other key stakeholders may not have any
decision making role in the project, but
they may have veto power over some por-
tions of the project. Their satisfaction with
the solution will be a significant opinion in
whether the project is ultimately viewed
as a success. In uncovering the answer
here, try to get as specific or granular as
possible. For e­xample, in a project I led,
the goal was implementing a system that
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 Leadership Skills and Strategies for Managing Change
would impact the processes for reporting
expenses. The initiative was moving along
well until the vendor ­announced that their
company was releasing an upgraded mod-
ule for expense reporting. It would allow a
much more streamlined process that was
championed by the sales department. As
you can imagine, the sales people wanted
to stop our project, so we could include this
new enhancement.
In briefing the steering committee, which
included all the key executives impacted
by the change, I explained what stopping
and restarting would mean in both time
and money. One of the impacts was to the
accounting department. Just understand-
ing that a change impacts the accounting
department was not going to be sufficient.
What the accounting department explained
to me and my TL was that the impact was
on their ability to close the books at the
end of the year. They were very worried
about the new system being stable enough
while they were trying to complete their
year-end reporting.
The steering committee understood the
concern and decided to complete the project
as planned. The company would install the
new enhancement as part of a new phase
in the second quarter of the following year.
Please consider when you are getting
your answers to these questions, in many
large companies, there can be a large num-
ber of people but they are grouped in multi-
ple divisions and subdivisions. Discovering
the target audience who will be impacted
by the change initiative is key to success.
How Does It Impact the Business?
Often this information may be included in
some way in the business case for invest-
ing time and money in this change. How-
ever, it is important for you to explain to
your TL the assumptions utilized to build
the business case. These are much more
specific in what the problem costs the busi-
ness and why. It is important to explain to
the TL who created the assumptions being
used in the business case.
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It is also important to understand how
big the change is. For example, for stake-
holders where the change is relatively mi-
nor, all you may need to do is communicate
the change to them. When the change is
much more significant, you will need to be
sensitive to other approaches to engaging
stakeholders. For example, you may need
to have a plan to train people in the new
way of working. You will need to e ­ nsure
they understand that the training will come
before the change is implemented and pre-
pare them to do their jobs after the change
is completed. As I stated in the earlier
­article, fear will create resistance ­because
no one wants to look incompetent as the
result of a change.
What Is Covered, and Not Covered,
by This Initiative?
It is very important that you consider
­answering this question. You must be clear
in your own mind because you will need to
communicate to others, who are impacted
by your understanding of what issues
are being addressed as part of this initia-
tive. For example, in one company where
I worked, I was responsible for implement-
ing a new process for vetting and ­releasing
new products being developed by the com-
pany. The problem we were trying to solve
was the seemingly long development c­ ycle
we faced in testing and releasing new prod-
ucts. It impacted our business because
some of our competitors were faster and
were building market share on their new
product before we could get ours into the
market.
I had decided that I would implement
a project office to standardize processes
and policies related to sanctioning, ­testing,
releasing, and supporting new products.
However, I talked with my executive col-
leagues to ensure they understood that the
project office would only apply to those
products in my division. I was happy to
share with them later our successes and
lessons learned, but I would not entertain
suggestions that their products be included.
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