It is such a joy for us to teach Transformational Leadership to highly talented leaders from around the world, all MBA students at the interational HHL Graduate School of Management. Why? Because our „Transformational Leadership Programme“ is an intense 3-day journey that enriches their leadership journey by focusing on the most important starting point: self-leadership. It is about…
- The Psychology of Change
- Leading Yourself into Transformation – and
- Leading your Organisation into Transformation.
Thus, it is all about the real „hard“ stuff of change, that is the cultural „soft“ stuff… way beyond „technical“ change management. It is a challenging journey! Here are the key learning steps and questions for every leader who wants to cope with the transformation challenges ahead…
The Psychology of Change
Today, companies and institutions have to thrive in a world that is characterized by volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity – lasting success becomes an „adaptation game“. A key success factor is the capacity to effectively manage transformational change. Exposure to permanent change, however, creates substantial pressure and stress for those who lead and cope with change: Leaders as well as the people they lead. This is why permanent change does not only require managing „technical problems“ effectively, i.e. structures, processes and systems. Leading transformation requires most of all a deep understanding of the „adaptive challenges“ that influence mindsets and behaviours…
- In which way do psychological factors and dynamics influence the response to change?
- What are key triggers of either embracing or resisting change – on the individual and on the collective level?
- What are the key levers to overcome barriers to change?
- How can the leader create an environment to make change happen?
Leading Yourself into Transformation
To be an effective leader, in the end there is only one single person to lead: Yourself. This is even more true when facing the challenges of transformation. Transformation leadership is not only the result of a strong vision and purpose, a clear strategic perspective or superior problem-solving and communication skills. We see the world not as it is, but as we are. This is why leading transformation in complex organizational contexts starts with understanding yourself in depth. Self-awareness and self-reflection are the key practices for outstanding transformation leaders…
- What experiences in life shaped your inner theatre?
- What are the basic assumptions that drive your response to change?
- What does it take to get yourself in emotional balance?
- How can you practice self-awareness in order to keep focus and thrive on change?
Leading your Organisation into Transformation
Culture eats strategy for breakfast: Leading an organization through transformational change means much more than setting the strategic direction and putting effective structures in place. Transformation leadership today means most of all building adaptive high performance and high purpose cultures – by creating shifts in mindsets and behaviours. This requires overcoming routine thinking (cognitive biases) and resistance to change (competing commitments). Transformation Leaders have to develop and communicate a concrete, compelling and inspiring transformation story in order to mobilize all relevant individuals across the entire organization…
- How do you lead your team and your organization into a growth mindset?
- What does it take to inspire others for positive and lasting behaviour change?
- How do you tell a convincing change story to trigger commitment?
- How do you lead towards fundamental culture transformation?
These are some of the key questions every leader has to cope with to successfully thrive in our constantly changing and challenging times.