Discuss two strategies that can be used for leading change. How do these strategies increase stakeholder support and create momentum for a change initiative to be successful? Why might you want to consider including the most vocal critic of the change initiative in your guiding team?
Discussion 4-2
Numerous factors determine the success of a change initiative. One of these factors is the type of strategy that a leader implements to drive change. According to Zainol et al. (2021), the strategic viewpoint of change holds that a company that does things differently is more likely to succeed than one which does things the same way. The purpose of this discussion is to describe two strategies that can be used to lead change in an organization. The author will further discuss how the chosen strategies encourage stakeholder support and why it might be important to consider including the most vocal critic in the guiding team during change implementation.
A leader must be careful to choose strategies that encourage stakeholder support in every change initiative. One of the best strategies to consider is effective and constant communication. According to Errida and Lotfi (2021), communicating change constantly and effectively promotes successful change by creating readiness for change, reducing resistance, and encouraging support from different individuals. Effective and constant communication increases stakeholder support and creates momentum for a change initiative to be successful by ensuring that the needs of stakeholders are identified and effectively addressed (Kotter & Cohen, 2002). The other strategy is creating and developing a guiding coating. The success of every change initiative depends on the availability of a competent team with relevant expertise, power, and skills to drive change (Errida & Lotfi, 2021). Creating and developing a guiding coating increases stakeholder support and creates momentum for a change initiative to be successful by ensuring that members of the guiding team are adequately prepared to perform the assigned roles and they properly understand their roles and responsibilities (Kotter & Cohen, 2002).
An organization should consider including the most vocal critic of the change initiative in their guiding team. Vocal critics are valuable sources of information concerning how a company is performing. They normally speak up very quickly on issues that are going well during change implementation. Therefore, by including the most vocal critic in the guiding team, an organization benefits by getting to know issues that need to be corrected and improved before things get worse (Kotter & Cohen, 2002).
References
Errida, A., & Lotfi, B. (2021). The determinants of organizational change management success: Literature review and case study. International Journal of Engineering Business Management. doi:10.1177/18479790211016273.
Kotter, P., & Cohen, D. S. (2002). The heart of change: Real-life stories of how people change their organizations. Boston, MA: Harvard Business Press. ISBN-13: 978-142218733
Zainol, N. Z., Kowang, T. O., Hee, O. C., Fei, G. C., & Kadir, B. Bin. (2021). Managing organizational change through effective leadership: A review from literature. International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, 11(1), 1–10. https://hrmars.com/papers_submitted/8370/managing-organizational-change-through-effective-leadership-a-review-from-literature.pdf