Everything rises and falls on leadership! The more you change, the more you become an instrument of change in the lives of others. If you want to become a change agent, you also must change. In simple leadership terms – if you want to continue leading, you must continue changing.

In my years of consultations, I have found that it’s not easy to change leaders. In fact, I’ve discovered that leaders resist change as much as followers do.

To be a leader, you must preserve all through your life the attitude of being receptive to new ideas. The quality of leadership you will give will depend upon your ability to evaluate new ideas, to separate change for the sake of change, from change for the sake of business and people.

The Leader as Change Agent
Once the leader has personally changed and discerned the difference between novel change and needed change, then that leader must become a change agent. In this world of rapid change and discontinuities, the leader must be out in front to encourage change and growth and to show the way to bring it about. He must first understand the two important requirements of the change, and understanding the attitude and motivational demands for bringing it about.

More often than not, though, when failure to change results, it is because of inadequate or inappropriate motivation, not from lack of technical smarts. A manager usually will be more skilled in the technical requirements of change, whereas the leader will have a better understanding of the attitudinal and motivational demands that the followers need. Note the difference: In the beginning the skills of a leader are essential. No change will ever occur if the psychological needs are unmet. Once change has begun, the skills of a manager are needed to maintain needed change.

A change can make sense logically, but still lead to anxiety in the psychological dimension. Everyone needs a niche, and when the niche starts to change after we’ve become comfortable in it, it causes stress and insecurities.

So before introducing change, we have to consider the psychological dimension.

When followers don’t like the leader who oversees the change, their feelings won’t allow them to look at the change objectively. In other words, people view the change according to the way they view the change-agent.

You’ve got to love them before you can lead them. When you love your followers genuinely and correctly, they’ll respect and follow you through many changes.

At times every leader feels like Lucy when she was leaning against a fence with Charlie Brown. “I would like to change the world,” she said. Charlie Brown asked, “Where would you start?” She replied, “I would start with you!”

That’s the problem, before we can change the world; we need to change ourselves first!

A leader’s success in bringing about change in others will happen only if the timing is right. People change when they hurt enough they have to change; learn enough they want to change; receive enough they are able to change. The leader must recognize when people are in one of these three stages. In fact, top leaders create an atmosphere that causes one of these three things to occur.

Creating a Climate for Change

• The leader must develop a trust with people.
• The leader must make personal changes before asking others to change – Great leaders not only say what should be done, they show it!
• Place influencers in leadership positions.
• Encourage the influencers to influence others informally.
• Show the people how the change will benefit them.
• Give the people ownership of the change.

You can make a choice today to change. And when change is successful, you will look back at it and call it growth.