Alpha & Omega Case Choose the CEO Remaining group –You are the stakeholders presented with fait accompli –How do you feel? –What do you want to hear?

Barriers to Change? Personal ones? Organizational?

Possible Approaches

Vision Less important for developmental change Imperative for transformational change

Criticisms of Vision Too “touchy-feelly” for some Not for the real world BUT every change demands a goal & vision is the starting point

Kotter - 6 Characteristics 1. Imaginable 2. Desirable 3. Feasible 4. Focused 5. Flexible 6. Commicable

Daft & Lengel - Fusion Leadership Ascribe a “higher purpose” to vision –Speaks to the heart The best visions are widely shared –Community in vision Irresistablity –Pulls people into it –By appealing to the deeper selves

Above All Visions are visible - ie. Pictures A mental picture with astonishing impact –Martin Luther King’s “I have a dream” –McArthur’s - “I shall return” –John Kennedy’s - “A man on the moon”

Akers “Wake up call to IBM” Was it a vision? Or a threat? What would you have done differently?

Visions need to be Positive We don’t respond to negatives If we do it’s in a negative or fearful fashion Similar to our response to condign power We desperately want to be inspired

Senge - “Creative Tension” Created by a clear view of the present and of the current reality The desirability of change and the barriers thereto Knowledge of what it takes to achieve it

Drucker Leadership is vision!

Visions give Meaning Victor Frankl - Man’s Search for Meaning –Meaning was the key to survival of the holocaust Visions evoke a clear and positive picture of what it can be like Visions create pride, energy & a sense of accomplishment They are NOT “how to statements”

Some Great Visions Semper Fidelus Peace is our Profession We Serve Ad Astra per Aspera

Lewin Regardless of how great the new, you must abandon the old Ritual or Ceremony helps

British Airways Case The situation in 1980 –A national airline recently merged –Awful service –Unprofitable but subsidized by government Prevailing culture –Non customer oriented –No concern for finances –No concern for productivity

Why Change? Competition Economic Realities Government retrenchment

Was their Vision? Imaginable? Desirable? Feasible? Focused? Flexible? Communicable?

How’d they do? Key steps and sequence? Results? Adjustments?

Lewin’s Model & British Airways

British Airways Classic model of change How difficult to sustain?

Lessons British Airways shows it can be done Importance of vision You can’t soar with the eagles unless you think about flying