Leading a business transition through a cultural change, to deliver dramatically increased value, is a tough assignment. Getting the people side right can make all the difference. Business transitions are times of heightened emotion where perceptions, feelings and hunches trump logic.
Everyone's decision making is emotional, not rational...subconsciously under the control of their emotional brain (limbic system), not their analytical (neocortical) brain. When people make decisions, their decisions are not just about rational data weighing of the pros and cons. Buying a car, choosing a mate, selecting a new home, following a career path, perceiving how the world works is all decided emotionally. Emotion is always operating below the surface and the executive doesn't recognize how important his or her feelings are at the time of the decision. That is why it is important to help leaders of organizations to be emotionally stable, free from the fear of failure, when making important decisions.
Albert Einstein once said, "We should take care not to make the intellect our god; it has, of course, powerful muscles but no personality. It cannot lead; it can only serve."
Transiformational leaders know and science has discovered emotionality's deeper purpose: the timeworn mechanisms of emotion allow two human beings to receive the contents of each other's minds. They are using the power of emotion to get managers to innovate through taking risks on-the-job.
Yet, after years of cost-cutting initiatives and growing job insecurity, most executives don't feel like putting themselves on the line. Add to that individual performance incentives, where a one-year term determines a large bonus, and investing in risky long-term payoffs takes a back seat. Most managers postpone risky decisions for fear of failure---to not make the incremental mistakes that can lead to innovative successes. That's why it is difficult to make the shift from a play-it-safe corporate culture to an innovation-driven culture.
Here in Metro Detroit, the automotive industry is talking about innovation-driven cultures that are imperative in today's globally competitive world. But where are the fearless transitional leaders that can instill the confidence of automotive industry executives to innovate? When will the Lee Iacocca’s of the 1960s and 1970s reappear to overcome the present corporate paralysis? Changing the organization's culture requires recruiting or promoting emerging leadersand helping them get up-to-speed quickly.
Lee Iacocca's career within the automotive industry illustrates how emerging leaders can change corporate cultures to walk the talk of innovation. When the over hyped, oversized and overpriced 1960 Edsel failed in the marketplace, Ford Motor Company needed to listen to new ideas from within the company. The introduction of the 1964 Ford Mustang was an innovative product tuned into customers' call for stylish affordability. Iacocca went on to become president of the struggling Chrysler Corporation where his streamlining measures and new product innovations, including the first innovative front-wheel drive Dodge Caravan minivan, made the difference between failure and success.
When an industry or company is restructuring to survive in the global economy, executives are all driven by the fear of not surviving the transitional period and this fear can adversely affect their decision-making abilities. The turnaround won’t be complete until the fear of failure is confronted in the minds of the executive survivors.
After a corporate restructuring, it is important to provide newly recruited or promoted executives with access to inside mentors and outside executive coaches who can help their perceptions to evolve. Executives often leave a coaching session feeling calmer, stronger, safer and more able to manage within their corporate culture. With every mentoring or coaching session, the executive learns to self-coach—reducing the dependency on the coach. The executive’s leadership capacity grows and becomes a natural part of the self, like knowing how to ride a bike or tie one’s shoes.
Executives are then ready to guide the cultural transition by instilling confidence in each employee's ability to meet and overcome workplace challenges. Confidence precedes competence. Each employee must first believe he or she can succeed by developing a winning attitude reinforced by skill-building practice.
As each person's talents are built into strengths and then merged with others, a positive energy emerges. This energy force builds and reinforces each individual's confidence to create a critical mass. Then it is the leader's job to keep the momentum going; so as not to lose the positive energy flow.
"Where Have All the Leaders Gone?" (Simon & Schuster's Scribner imprint)