The Five Stages of Radical Change and Different Leadership Styles

 History teaches us that many species survived not because of their intelligence or strength, it is their adaptability to change that helps them survive. Today’s business leaders are confronted with rapid and explosive changes that require them to sufficiently recognize what is necessary for change, in order to inspire their subordinates to adopt appropriate strategies. The key challenge facing leaders now and in the future is responsiveness to radical change. Moreover, today’s leaders also work with employees who are more diverse than ever before, and their customers are also spread worldwide. Multiple styles of leadership may be needed to effectively implement most forms of organizational change. 

For some leaders and employees, if we break down the process into three questions, why we need it, how to change it, and what should the company look like after the change, they understand why they need it but do not certainly know how to do it. Even though they do know all the answers to the three questions, they still have to work together as a team to achieve the goal and vision. Under such conditions, no single leader can have all the answers or all of the styles required to accomplish the myriad tasks confronting each day. Therefore, how do leaders communicate with, persuade, and energize employees in the process of change? It is preferable for leaders to develop the capacity to adapt their styles to the demands of situations, especially when their organizations are undergoing radical change. Now, let's get to know The Five Stages of Radical Change and the Different Leadership Styles first.

The Five Stages of Radical Change

i. Planning

This stage emphasizes creativity, garnering important information, identifying obstacles, considering alternatives, and selecting among those alternatives. 

ii. Enabling

The focus in this phase is on explaining the plan to those who will be involved in the change effort. In this stage, empowering employees provides needed assistance in preparing to launch the change process.

iii. Launching

This step is where the change effort commences, required to meet specified launch goals, achieve early results to demonstrate the value of the plan, and assess progress.

iv. Catalyzing

Here people become the focus. Making the change effort and rewarding small successes along the way to keep energy up in the change process.

v. Maintaining

This phase also emphasizes people. Persuasion becomes crucial and guiding people to continue their efforts and providing them with motivation and assistance.

Different Leadership Styles

According to The Leadership Style Inventory (LSI), which is designed to measure the unique leadership style of current managers, executives, and other types of organizational leaders, there are four basic styles, commanding, logical, inspirational, and supportive. 

The commanding style focuses on performance, short-term goals, productivity, and results-oriented. The logical style pertains to leaders who insist on covering all alternatives, using analysis, and for long-term goals. The inspirational leader is those who are able to develop meaningful visions of the future by focusing on radically new ideas. They learn by experimentation. 

A Real Story | A Unexpected Pandemic

One of my friends was running a coffee shop in Taiwan. During the pandemic of COVID-19, the revenue plummeted to a record low due to the massive lockdown. Many small restaurants in Taiwan were facing collapse during this period. Even more, her suppliers are also affected by the global supply chain. Multiple national lockdowns continue to slow or even temporarily stop the flow of raw materials and finished goods, disrupting manufacturing as a result. Right now, her major issues are the revenue was tumbling, the fixed costs and variable costs are still on the table, the supply of raw materials, and most importantly, her employees were worried about their jobs. She was struggling to keep her shop open while the operating cash flow was at a dangerous level. She discussed her concerns with me and I tried to work out a plan for her. 

A few weeks later, I came out with an idea, food delivery. I suggested that she can consider transferring her business to food delivery temporarily. In partnership with UberEat and FoodPanda in Taiwan, her revenue began to improve gradually. However, it was not as easy as it sounds to be. It required another expenditure to work with those delivery platforms and to set up the system. After that, she has to get her employees to learn it quickly while they were doubting whether this plan would actually work or not. 

During the planning stage, she has multiple challenges such as the packages and the new menu designed for the delivery. Since this stage emphasizes creativity to develop a new menu and identifying obstacles such as how to maintain the quality of the coffee and cake and considering alternatives such as closing the shop for a year. I recommended that she should explain the plan to her employees, don't lay off anyone, and tell them what her vision is. She agreed and prepare to launch the plan after successfully communicating with her employees. I think that since the logical style of leadership is particularly effective when the goal is strategy development, her employees actually became her solid support during the recession of her business. During this period, she also serves as an inspirational leader who motivated her employees to move toward the desired vision. I reckon that it is also a win-win strategy for them.

After that, the revenue of her coffee shop was back on track and even a little bit higher since the regular customers were back and her delivery services have become an extra income source. In this case, she only adapted a combination of inspirational and logical styles of leadership to lead through the change. I found it is pretty effective. However, it takes some time to communicate with her employees and to convince them of the plan.

References

LSI - Leadership Style Test | Psychological Assessments. (n.d.). Retrieved July 29, 2022, from https://www.psychological-assessments.com/leadership-style-test/ 

Reardon, K. K., Reardon K. J., & Rowe, A. J. (1998). Leadership styles for the five stages of radical change. Acquisition Review Quarterly, 2. https://my.uopeople.edu/pluginfile.php/1585144/mod_book/chapter/344618/reardon.pdf

What it takes to change a rotten organizational culture. Big Think. (2021, September 30). Retrieved July 29, 2022, from https://bigthink.com/influence-power-politics/what-it-takes-to-change-a-rotten-organizational-culture/