People decisions regarding leadership are never easy ones. When results are lacking and you are disappointed with a leader performance, do you apply the phrase “ three chances and you’re out ”? Difficult leadership decisions apply to sport teams, businesses, non-profit organizations, and countries. “Doing the same thing and thinking or expecting to get a different result,” called the insanity quote, frequently misattributed to Albert Einstein, has become a popular way to describe a flawed or illogical approach. Change is needed OK ... but where do you start? Change the leader or the team? Or both?
Starting at the top is best. The team may also need change, but unless you start at the top, results will continue to be weak and even if some positive change occur, it will be slow and insufficient.
A new leader must of course be qualified, well selected and ready for action. When a turn-around is needed, a change of the leadership is the best first action.
In competitive sport, changing the coach takes first priority. Team changes and strengthening comes second. In business, my own experience has also reinforced this prioritization. Seldom, the CEO, President or General Manager that took a business downward will be able to take it up again. A change is most always needed. The same rule apply to country leadership. Prime Ministers and Country Presidents should be voted with the future in mind, not the past. A different leader in name and look but with the same policies, beliefs and strategies will continue to deliver disappointing results.
The difficulty does not lie in the “what” but in the “how to” of the change. The need for the change is usually obvious. In soccer, a striker that has not scored goals in a while, needs some rest on the bench. A business or organization that has been losing money or stagnating need a new CEO. A country that has been on the decline needs a new leadership.
The change is not necessarily a judgement on the present leader but on his/her performance. A big difference. The change is also motivated by what is needed going forward.
During a time of significant financial crisis, IBM's board of directors selected Louis V. Gerstner Jr. as the company's new CEO, the first person recruited from outside the company to lead IBM. Gerstner is credited with one of the most successful corporate turnarounds in history. Winston Churchill had an incredible role in inspiring Britain national resistance and securing Allied victory against Nazi Germany, but the English people elected to change Churchill after World War II, showing readiness for a peacetime government focused on domestic issues rather than wartime leadership.
When change is obviously needed, respond to the following questions: Why the change, what to change and what happens with no change, when to change, who to change, how to’s of the change and best of all “Follow your heart but take your brain with you.”
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