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204 Just Promoted!

force immediate compliance with policies about which she felt strongly. Sec-
ond, she felt it was easier to hire back selectively rather than to fire selectively.
One positive outcome of this tactic was that she captured everyone’s atten-
tion in a hurry. However, she did not anticipate that work would stop and
morale plummet. The threat of potential job loss caused great resentment
among high and low performers alike. The high performers who were asked
to stay were hurt and defensive that they had been forced to go through such
an exercise. Many became distrustful, even though Elizabeth had had no
intention of letting them go. What she did reminded them of their vulnera-
bility and shook them from their feelings of security and complacency.
Indeed, a number did begin looking for jobs elsewhere. A period of general
malaise ensued, and Elizabeth had a difficult time reestablishing trust and
support for herself. Some who stayed never did recover from the shock to
trust her completely.
The most effective approaches to organizational planned change stress
high levels of employee participation. The incoming leader will never have a
more opportune time to build optimism and hope for the future than during
his or her initial months on the job. Equipped with the knowledge of the typ-
ical forces that will undermine change, you can approach renewal with a core
of practical principles. These principles should become goals of renewal as
well as a means to achieve the objective of a fully functioning organization.
They directly counter the dynamics and forces resistant to change. They
include the following:

1. Involve people. Build from employees’ individual and organizational
strengths. Help them identify opportunities to develop solutions that will
ensure higher productivity and organizational effectiveness. Your use of a
steering committee and task forces during the diagnostic process should get
you off to a good start.

2. Model a true commitment to results. Managed with energy, enthusiasm,
and true leadership, high expectations most often beget high results. Lead-
ing for results must be a core value pervading all that is done well. There must
be no misunderstanding that the primary goal is better organizational per-
formance—derived from better results as individuals, as work teams, and as
a total organization.