Page 243 - Just Promoted A 12 Month Road Map for Success in Your New Leadership Role

228 Just Promoted!

the growth-stultifying disease of “things as they were before, or things as
usual.” Continue to explore different ways to help people move toward goals.
Be wary of comments such as these:
■ “We’re not ready for this yet. Maybe we should slow down. Things are
changing too fast.”
■ “Why spend the money? It’s too expensive. We have spent a lot of time
and money, and we are not much better off.”
■ “That’s not our job. So-and-so ought to be doing that.”
■ “Things were better before the changes.”
■ “Why try this? We considered it three years ago and rejected it. It didn’t
work.”
■ “We’ve never done it this way. I’m not sure it’s better.”

Keep interest in the changes high. Reinforce them. Alert your team to
watch for signs of slippage and to nip them. Where a change is not working
out, be prepared to raise the issue rather than to just let things drift back.
Actively manage the implementation so changes are reinforced. Identify imple-
mentation problems, and handle them promptly so those problems do not dis-
credit the renewal process. Be prepared to intervene yourself or to get a direct
report involved in solving burgeoning problems.

4. Always use your diagnostic and problem-solving skills to “sniff out” what
is going on. Stay visible, and listen, listen, listen! Get into the work areas. Know
your people’s names. Be familiar with work processes and equipment. People
will appreciate your skilled ear, and you will accumulate valuable information
to help you lead your organization more effectively.

5. Organizational health maintenance is essential! Never forget that what
you have gained in the first year of your renewal can be lost in a few weeks if
you allow old habits to return. We have seen that bad habits, individual or
organizational, are very hard to change. They also easily return. Just as
reformed smokers quickly can again become smokers, so can organizational
disease quickly recur.
The last several decades have seen an emphasis on personal disease preven-
tion, wellness, and health maintenance. Organizational leaders can learn much
from these social phenomena involving personal health management, wellness,
and prevention. It is much easier to maintain organizational health than to incur