A MODEL FOR LEADING CHANGE IN THE PUBLIC INTEREST

Each of the four stages of leadership responsibilities is important. Effective change leaders need to analyze and address the factors affecting the change initiative throughout the change cycle. We present a “Leading Change in the Public Interest” model to assist change leaders in diagnosing, implementing, sustaining, and reinforcing change initiatives (see Figure 3.2). The model comprises the four processes or phases (diagnosing, strategizing, implementing, and reinforcing) as well as four factors that we believe change leaders should continually monitor as they proceed:

• Change complexity: the magnitude, scope, and fluidity of the initiative

• Stakeholders: those individuals and organizations that perceive they have a role in, or are affected by, an organizational change, including both internal and external stakeholders

• Sociopolitical environment: the context in which the change takes place.

• Organizational capacity: the organization’s ability to initiate and sustain a major change effort, which involves leadership throughout the organization, the organizational culture, change implementation mechanisms, and performance measurement.

At the heart of all efforts must be a continuing focus on the public interest.

FIGURE 3.2: A Model for Leading Change in the Public Interest

Change Complexity

We believe that change complexity should be the initial focus for evaluating the risk associated with a change effort. Change complexity must be assessed and anticipated both in advance of a major change and during the change process itself. A change that is too complex, is opposed by many stakeholders, and is undertaken where the organization lacks strong capacity will likely fail.

Change leaders and managers should assess numerous aspects of complexity, both to assess how pertinent or significant they are to the change effort and to determine how well prepared the organization is to address the implications of the complexity level. Assessing complexity in advance of initiating a change increases the likelihood of a positive result, although in an unpredictable, turbulent environment additional challenges to implementation also may emerge.

While there may be many ways to analyze the complexity of a change initiative, we believe that complexity can be assessed effectively by focusing on the magnitude, scope, and fluidity of a change effort. In other words, how big an impact does the change have on the organization as a whole, how deeply does the change affect the organization, and is the change initiative itself likely to be amendable in response to unexpected changes in the sociopolitical environment? We have created a checklist of questions to guide leaders and managers in assessing the complexity of a change effort, focusing on the magnitude, scope, and fluidity of the change (see Table 3.1).