Leadership Commitment

Lack of leadership commitment is the third in our series of Top Change Challenges we’ve observed. When a leader decides to make a change they usually initiate it and hopefully provide adequate funds. That is not sufficient for successful change.
Successful change requires leadership commitment. Leadership commitment requires courage, communication  and concentration.

• Courage – lead by example through ongoing personal change. By having the courage to change yourself you model behavior for others. You must have courage when leading change to remain unwavering in your support of successfully accomplishing the change.
• Communication – this is a vehicle that the clear definition of success (the goal) is shared and aligned within the organization. Repeated communication is required to reinforce your commitment and maintain momentum. Many things can distract from the accomplishment of the change and without continuous communication it’s easy to lose sight of the goal.
• Concentration – leadership commitment involves making a personal decision to support the change no matter what. It is incongruous to ask for change in others while failing to exhibit the same level of commitment. Concentration requires maintaining focus throughout the change not just at the beginning. Leadership commitment is about concentrating on the long term goal versus short term personal survival.

Leadership commitment is not easy and at times there may be personal consequences when leading an unpopular change. However, leadership commitment is what separates true leaders from people in positions of leadership. Next time you are put in a situation to lead a change evaluate your commitment level. Don’t move forward without courage, communication and concentration on change success.