Leading the change: The I.M.P.R.I.N.T. factor

We are still looking at how a leader at the head of change can leave an imprint (I.M.P.R.I.N.T) on the organization. For a leader who desires to leave an imprint in the organization, Management style is key. Management is the anchor of all processes in the organization. A great leader saddled with crippling management structure and style will achieve nothing. Management deals with the maintenance and coordination of structures and resources that exist in the organization. For management to be effective, however, structures and processes must be subordinated to vision. Unfortunately, in many organizations, the reason change becomes so difficult is because management has become so unwieldy that running the system has become more important than fulfilling the overall purpose of the organization. This leads to a lot of redundancy as many functions are literally duplicated as routine soon breeds complacency and complacency breeds boredom. As the organization gets bigger, positions are created to accommodate existing and incoming staff. For this reason, many promotions are more titular than functional. Any leader that desires to change such an organization for good must of necessity tinker with the management style and its attendant structures by streamlining functions and processes. Some units need to be overhauled while some may need to be created and moribund units shut down.  Management must be designed around a corporate objective and anything in the system that does not align with or is not leading to the realization of that must be jettisoned.

The next factor is Productivity. Where routine has crept in, productivity tends to dwindle. Productivity must never be confused with activity. If he looks closely enough, the leader of change soon discovers that there are several activities within the organization that are nothing but motion without movement in any given direction. If he cannot eliminate them totally, he must strategically prune down such activities to the barest minimum. Many organizations spend hours on seemingly interminable meetings that consume time, material resources and man-hours that do not necessarily contribute productive value to the organization. Too many committees can lead to a situation of too many cooks spoiling the broth!

From time to time, benchmarks must be set for all activities and processes in the organization to ensure their credibility and contribution to corporate productivity. Productivity is also a function of motivation. In this regard, the leader of change must develop necessary strategies for motivating his team for optimum service delivery. More often than not, people assume that increasing salaries is the most important source of motivation. Good as increments may be, they do not necessarily translate to higher productivity. It’s only a matter of time before Murphy’s Law (expenditure will always rise up to match or surpass income) catches up with such increases and the agitation for more pay reemerges!

A recent survey on the top ten employee motivations revealed that more money came out as part of the bottom five, subordinated to issues like a conducive working environment, leadership motivation, a great team and a higher purpose for work that brings fulfillment! I visited the corporate headquarters of a client recently and saw that it housed a library, a gym, and a restaurant where staff had lunch for free! Moreover, the CEO seemed to have strategically worked himself out of work! I was amazed at the quality of rapport between him and his executive team. Little wonder that the company, in spite of the harsh operating environment in Nigeria, has been steadily increasing its profit profile over the years!…continued

Remember, the sky is not your limit, God is!