Transition Leadership: Navigating the Complexities of Organisational Change

© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020

C. HayesTransition Leadershiphttps://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-42787-0_1

1. Introduction

Catherine Hayes¹ 

(1)

Transition Dynamics, London, UK

Keywords

Integrated approachComplex dynamicsTransitional spaceOperational functioningLeadership practicesMultiple transitions

Introduction

In today’s global business world, navigating and working with the complexities of continuous change has become the norm. Fuelled by the advancements in technology, successfully navigating and working with the inherent complexities of organisational change has become an essential leadership requirement. This core leadership task involves working with many interdependent changes and transformation processes, projects and programmes all happening simultaneously, over the short and longer term. The driving force is the need to go faster, to sustain competitive advantage in a continuously evolving environment.

This interdependent approach to organisational change requires multiple transitions. Transitions are often led without insight into the impacts of operational and human functioning. Leaders find themselves grappling with a multitude of facets, within both themselves and the functioning of their organisations that they have to take into account to achieve desired outcomes.

The tendency for organisations today is to focus on the more tangible technical and structural aspects like technology, processes and systems. The common practice is to utilise structured methodologies in an attempt to manage the complex dynamics of change to drive and achieve successful outcomes. Frequently overlooked is the basic principle that it is human responses and relationships with transitional processes that can derail progress, not just the methodology and or technical aspects.

Admittedly the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) is gaining a rapid pace in organisations, business and society. Despite AI’s progress, organisations cannot yet exist without the effective functioning of their people, a basic principle that is often unseen. If we take people out of organisations, all that’s left are fixed assets. Robotics and computers still have a way to go to replace the requirements for effective human functioning in organisations.

Increasing demands are being placed on leaders and line managers to successfully implement complex change programmes to meet operational and regulatory requirements while balancing and maintaining shareholder value. One way that organisations are attempting to overcome this challenge is to engage large consulting organisations to design their change programmes. They then become disappointed, demotivated and often overwhelmed, when the frameworks and 55-page manuals that they have paid vast sums of money for do not quite match perceived reality.

Leaders find it difficult to grapple with the requirements and practical realities of the ‘how to’ navigate the multifaceted processes of transitions to translate strategies into successful outcomes. The ideas, methods and approaches for successful implementation seem intellectually achievable at the outset. And yet, a different story emerges when they attempt to implement strategies. Even with a road map, organisations and leaders find it challenging to navigate their way through the complexities of transitions to deliver effective transformations. There is also the additional factor that an objectively designed map may not be fit for purpose when it comes to trying to translate it into practical application.

Another aspect that compounds these challenges is that traditional transformation skills and methods of facilitating organisational change have been built on a different world paradigm. The term ‘change management’ creates the impression that somehow change can be controlled and contained, a term that facilitates the expectations of certainty. Leaders of today have underestimated and overlooked the capabilities and skills they need to successfully navigate their transitional challenges. The general oversight is how many facets, that leaders both within themselves and their organisations are required to take into account, to achieve desired outcomes. The impact is that they get in their own ways and unintentionally derail their change and transformation agendas.

Facilitating successful transitions in organisations has become an essential leadership requirement, and yet, leaders are continuously challenged to work with the multifaceted complexities of the transitional space. Leaders struggle to hold the different responses to uncertainty, competing tensions and related responses to ambiguity that are generated while stepping from what is known into an unknown future.

An Integrated Approach

While delivering on tangible outputs is essential, unfortunately, many organisational transformation programmes are failing to realise their full potential, wasting valuable financial and human resources. The primary reason is that leaders and organisations don’t know what they don’t know about how to navigate environments of continuous change. What I have discovered over the years is that successfully navigating organisational change in today’s environment requires the integration of three key factors:

1.

Operational Functioning – insight into how the organisation operates. Particularly how a combination of mind-sets and capabilities combined with preferences and motivations influence the performance and culture or organisations.

2.

Transitional Space – understanding of the complex dimensions and dynamics that transitions evoke and the capabilities to work with them.

3.

Leadership Practices – core skills, knowledge and approaches for working with environments of continuous change (Fig. 1.1).

Fig. 1.1

An integrated approach to organisational change

My experience is that these three factors apply to individuals, teams and organisations as a whole. The focus of this book is to shine light into the transitional space and share the core leadership practices that facilitate successful transformations. Complex organisational leadership aspects that are broadly accepted in principle and at the same time, something that in practice are not straightforward tasks. This book provides depth of insight into the hidden dimensions of the transitional space, illuminating why transitions are challenging, what to do with them and how to work with them. The intent is to fill in gaps of the existing organisational change literature and explore new concepts of transitions.

This book includes practical approaches for working with the complex challenges that transitions evoke. The content has been designed to be a resource for supporting change leaders to gain insights into approaches for creating sustainable transition capabilities in their organisations. Sustainable practices for leading and effectively work with the on-going task of navigating the different territories of continuous change that organisations face in our world of today and tomorrow.

Invitation for Readers

The philosophy that underpins this book is that it is difficult to lead others through transitions if we cannot lead ourselves. Knowing how we as change leaders respond and relate to transitions is the key to unlocking the door and providing support for others and ultimately, organisations. Reflecting on my own personal insights and supporting the developmental experiences of organisations, I have found that leaders of today tend to have applied learning preferences. We gain the most from learning and developing new capabilities by applying concepts and perspectives to the practical realities of our own experiences. As a practitioner-researcher, I find new theories and perspectives intriguing. Theories are even more useful when I can apply them to inform my world experiences, acquire knowledge and facilitate the development of new capabilities and skills.

The invitation to you as a reader is to compare and contrast the content of this book with your own transition experiences. To explore how the concepts and approaches for working with transitions contained in this book are similar and different to those of your closest relationships, colleagues and/or the teams that you may be leading and working within. Plus, how might these concepts and approaches apply to your experiences of organisations as a whole?

Each chapter focuses on exploring a key transition-related topic, the relevance and importance to the leadership agenda and organisational effectiveness. A self-inquiry section at the end of each chapter provides resources for supporting practical application of the concepts to your own lived transitional experiences.

Part I

Insights into Transitions

Part I provides insights into the dynamics of transitions. Chapters 2, 3 and 4 focus on exploring the complex dimensions of transitions and the unseen challenges that leaders face while trying to work with the dynamics of individual, team and organisational transformation agendas. Multifaceted aspects that when overlooked can cause leaders and their organisations to unknowingly and unintentionally get in the way of their abilities to navigate change to deliver effective outcomes in today’s environment.

© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020

C. HayesTransition Leadershiphttps://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-42787-0_2

2. Transition Perspectives

Catherine Hayes¹ 

(1)

Transition Dynamics, London, UK

Keywords

TransitionsTransition blindnessTransitional spaceImpermanenceWestern mind-setTransitional processes

Introduction

One of the many learnings from my organisational practice has been the importance of understanding context. I find that it is challenging to explore a concept without having insight into the broader context that it resides within. This chapter highlights why leaders and their organisations find the process of navigating the dynamics of change complex and challenging. It begins with the concept of transition blindness, and how the factors of oversimplification, haste and impatience that are prominent in our society today contribute to its impact, and why it has become a common leadership and organisation ailment. We then explore literature on transitions that inform current change leadership practices. These combined perspectives unveil how the concept of change management is built on the primary needs for simplicity and control. The core principles of a historical Western frame-of-reference honed over many decades, which unfortunately now is no longer fit for purpose for successfully navigating the complexities of change in today’s organisations.

Transition Blindness

One of the most common challenges I observe organisations facing today is that they underestimate, overlook and often avoid the transitional space. As leaders focus on achieving results, being compliant with regulations or laws and organisational change agendas, they have a tendency to launch from intention straight into implementation. The impact is that leaders and their organisations suffer from the symptoms of transition blindness (Fig. 2.1).

Fig. 2.1

Transition blindness in practice

Transition Blindness Key Symptoms

Several factors contribute to the condition of Transition Blindness:

Oversimplification

While navigating the complexities of their change agendas, organisations have a tendency to lean towards simplistic terms. Unfortunately, an unseen and unintentional impact of oversimplification is that it can facilitate tunnel vision. Change and transformation programmes are often given labels, like technology, process, people, regulatory, law, risk, compliance. The impact is that the utilisation of simplistic labels facilitates a dedicated focus for execution and delivery. The outcome results in a narrowly focused lens that leaders use to direct their attention and consolidate the impact of their efforts. The practical impact is what leaders look for is what they see. Leaders then find themselves surprised when something they hadn’t seen or incorporated derails the progress or success of their change projects and transformation agendas.

Haste

Despite the best intentions of wanting to achieve positive outcomes, the focus to achieve results takes centre stage. In a rush to achieve, deliver tangible outcomes and show practical results, leaders can often be reluctant to invest time and effort exploring the transitional space. The impact is that essential complex or divergent aspects become hidden from sight. While the unseen aspects do not always challenge initial execution, they tend to crystallise as the change journey unfolds. The unintended outcomes can result in increased disruption and a wide range of operational dysfunctions that can be difficult to quantify as the change process gets underway. Leaders and organisations then find themselves having to cope with the impact of unnecessary complexities and ambiguities that can also inform harder to identify aspects like workforce morale, motivation and commitment.

Impatience

Acting into the symptoms of oversimplification and haste, straightforward tasks like clarifying purpose, conducting stakeholder and workforce engagement strategies become deprioritised over execution and delivery. The combined impact is often referred to as ‘resistance to change’, where the workforces are expected to adopt different operational practices, requiring the acquisition of new knowledge and skills without fully understanding the context for change. The outcome is that leaders become unable to see or grasp the specifics of what the transformation process requires. In practice it is no surprise that they then find the process of transitioning from old to new somewhat of a challenge.

The combined outcomes of oversimplification, haste and impatience create a complex web of interwoven dynamics that can erect a veil on the change agenda. Leaders then find that working with the real complexities of their organisational transformation agendas even more challenging than they need to be in practice.

Transitions: We Don’t Know What We Don’t Know

There is no doubt that the advancement in technology is facilitating the symptoms of transition blindness. With so much information immediately available at the end of our fingertips, we have become expected to have instant answers and clearly defined solutions to problems. If we want to know something, Google is our best friend, and as a result, there seems to be little patience and tolerance for not-knowing in today’s organisations. Unfortunately, Google does not have all the answers when it comes to navigating transitions. The key contributing factor as to why these symptoms appear in organisations is that we do not have enough knowledge and understanding about the complex dynamics of transitions. In particular how transitional processes impact the performance of individuals, teams and organisations.

In my 20-year quest to understand more about the complexities and dynamics of a vast range of organisational transitions, I have formed the view that transitions are complex, ambiguous and messy, what today is now more commonly termed as VUCA (volatility, uncertainty, complexity, ambiguity) , a term adopted by the US Army War College in 2002, derived from the theories of Bennis and Nanus (1985).

One of the main challenges of my exploration journey has been the shortage of literature about the multifaceted, complex dynamics of transitions in general. While this book is a practitioner resource, in the spirit of creating context, I find that it helps to at least have some highlights into the different perspectives on transitions. What follows is a high-level summary of my interpretation and discoveries of the literature and different perspectives on transitions.

Three-Stage Frameworks

Schwartz-Salant and Stein (1991) along with other Jungian analysts explore concepts of ‘liminality’. It is a term derived from the Latin word ‘limen’ meaning doorway or threshold. Liminality was first used as a term of discourse in 1909 to describe primitive initiation ceremonies of early adolescence. Folklorist Van Gennep (1960), in his text ‘Rites of Passage’, proposed three transitional stages:

1.

Separation

2.

Liminality

3.

Incorporation

Liminality as a concept is utilised in Jungian psychology to refer to a threshold between conscious and unconscious portions of the mind. The term ‘subliminal’ relates to the psychological territory that sits below the threshold of conscious awareness. Stein (1983) has drawn on the concept of liminality to describe the psychological impact of mid-life transitional processes.

I found the concept of liminality fascinating, from a psychological perspective, although not quite so easily transferable, to an organisational change practice, for several reasons. Firstly, even after studying six different psychotherapeutic disciplines, Jungian language took time to decipher and learn. It was not something I could just share and use with business leaders; it required significant translation into straightforward organisational terms. Although not an impossible task, a vital component was missing; I could not fully answer the question of what happens in the liminal space.

Bridges (2004) provided a glimmer of hope by proposing that transitional processes start with an ending and finish with a beginning, a concept that appeared to align with van Gennep’s and Jungian psychology’s perspectives of liminality. Bridges proposes that there are three phases in a transition process:

Phase 1

Ending, losing, letting go

Phase 2

Neutral zone

Phase 3

New