NURS 8302 Discussion: Evaluating and Sustaining Change Discussion: Evaluating and Sustaining Change Change Management and Change Leadership

NURS 8302 Discussion: Evaluating and Sustaining Change Discussion: Evaluating and Sustaining Change Change Management and Change Leadership

Although the terms change management and change leadership sound relatively similar, people erroneously think that these terms are interchangeable. Change management seems to be somewhat of a “universal” umbrella term which is widely utilized to reference a set of basic tools, mechanisms, or structures used to ascertain implemented change remains under control (like not going over budget) with the intention of minimizing the disruptions, impacts, and distractions that often accompany change (Kotter, 2012). It involves the selection of strategies to facilitate the transition of individuals, teams, or organizations from a current state to a new desired state (National Association of County and City Health Officials [NACCHO], n.d.). Change management is associated with changes made on a small scale. Change leadership, on the other hand, is the driving forces, visions, and processes that fuel large-scale change, and is utilized to make change processes move faster, smarter, and more efficiently (Kotter, 2012). The distinction between these two terms in their purest essence is that change management is managing change while leadership change is leading the change initiative. More specifically, a change manager is responsible for the change process, such as articulating the required steps and actions needed to the responsible parties in an effort to achieve the desired outcome(s) while minimizing negative outcomes (Society for Human Resource Management [SHRM], n.d.), while the change leader is more of a visionary and is responsible for inspiring and influencing faculty, staff, students, and other stakeholders to exert effort to change for the greater good (Smith, 2017). Change leadership is the process of working together to develop the shared understanding of change required to execute the strategy and how to best implement them to achieve the desired goals (Center for Creative Leadership [CCL], 2020). It is clear effective leadership is essential for successful change, and ‘change-capable’ leadership is non-negotiable.

Leadership Approaches and their Relation to Process and Sustainment of Change

In order to achieve and sustain organizational change, change must be led, not managed. It is almost as to say that the leadership approach which best supports enduring organizational change is one of leading by example. Change leadership promotes leaders to proactively design and implant an organizational culture of collaboration and change that is sustained for the long run. To me, this is reminiscent of last week’s discussion on transformational leadership. Transformational leaders work to change the system while maximizing their team’s abilities, they serve as role models for their followers/team members and challenge their followers to overachieve and outperform by empowering them to perform at their very best. The leadership approach which is adopted and implemented has much to do with the degree of success with organizational change. Contributory factors for the sustainment of change include organizational culture, climate, organizational structure, size, and readiness for change (Ehrhart et al., 2018). The transformational leadership approach utilizes planning structures, sets goals, and then works to create new systems by gaining buy-in from their followers to adopt common goal(s)/vision(s) to achieve improvements that benefit all pertinent stakeholders, via the use of team communication, cohesiveness, collaboration, and effective and efficient team-building (Ali et al., 2021).  When collaboration and change are integrated into the organization’s fundamental culture, the result is a system that can embrace and endure change.

Change leadership, much like transformational leadership requires the leader to give up a certain degree of control in order to empower others, and it requires trust and an organizational culture that is permissive of ‘failures’, because there are times when

Discussion Evaluating and Sustaining Change

proposed changes may not succeed on the first attempt, and so not succeeding on the first attempt should not discourage leaders and their teams to give up and come complacent with routine and outdated approaches/methods. Leading by example is important to the development of trust and buy-in within an organization. It demonstrates that the leader themselves are not afraid to take on the proposed change and work their hardest to make sure that the change is successful. Leading by example promotes the process and sustainment of change by demonstrating that the proposed change is feasible. Sustainable initiatives hinge upon the pa