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February,
2010 Welcome
to Leadership Hand™, a monthly e-newsletter 1. You Must Teach Employees to Drive a Stick A senior leader in the aerospace industry told me "I'd really like to help my employees through this." "This" referred to the uncertainty about NASA's future with the new direction the President recently announced. As he talked about the significant transition and its implications, I realized he was adept at adjusting to radical change. He was unconsciously competent. The likelihood was high, though, that there would be great variation in the adeptness of his workforce. This leader had developed the skills and attitude to navigate transitions. To use an analogy borrowed from the auto industry, after being a competent driver of a car with automatic transmission, the leader had learned to drive a stick shift, and that's exactly what he needed to teach his employees to do. Ever learn to drive a stick shift? Remember the jerking accelerations, the stalling out, and the harrowed look of the person in the passenger's seat who had offered (or was cajoled) into teaching you? With more time and experience you had a sense of mastery. During challenging driving conditions, you could more skillfully drive your car, downshifting for better traction and upshifting when you were past the hard parts. During our conversation, the NASA leader developed a vision for his role as change agent with his employees. He wanted them to view the current situation as an opportunity to develop a lifetime skill--the ability to actively manage transitions, adjusting to changing conditions as they occurred--whether these transitions were professional or personal. To again use the auto analogy, the leader was actively "shifting gears" according to new conditions, versus relying on "automatic," which only adjusts to changes in speed. With the vision firmly in place, our phone conversation ended and the leader then developed the details of its implementation. I have no doubt about its efficacy. If you are faced with a similar situation and your employees are still struggling to embrace the transition, you might share this quote from Joseph Campbell: "We
must be willing to get rid of the life we've planned, Beth Hand
© Copyright 2010, Beth Hand. Beth Hand, MBA helps leaders and organizations increase their effectiveness and satisfaction, now and for the future. She can be reached at (+1) 703.820.8018 or via her website www.leadershiphand.com. 2. Reprint Permission This is a copyrighted publication. You are welcome to reprint an issue on a non-exclusive basis provided you:
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© Copyright 2010, Hand Associates and Beth Hand • All Rights Reserved Hand
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