Organizations tend to resist change. Various authors have described this resistance as "destructive inertia" or "dynamic inaction" or perhaps just plain old "stuck in a rut - and content to stay there." I once reported to a VPAA whose favorite expression was "maintain the status quo," or in the words of Senator Rawkins from Finian's Rainbow, "Forward to Yesterday!"
Well, in this day and age, resistance to change can be deadly, yet many of us work in large and complex institutions and organizations that make change difficult at best. Yet, change we must.
An interesting book by John P. Kotter, Leading Change, discusses problems of change and implications for leadership in 21st century organizations. Kotter states (p. 26) that "...successful change is 70 to 90 percent leadership and only 10 to 30 percent management." He calls upon leaders to truly become leaders, rather than managers.
Management, he says, tends to be concerned with Planning and Budgeting; Organizing and Staffing; Controlling and Problem Solving. Contrast that with Leadership that involves Establishing Direction; Aligning People; Motivating and Inspiring.
As middle managers, how many times have we arts administrators simply managed rather than led? Rather than Organizing and Staffing, shouldn't we focus on Aligning People to produce the best results? Of course, we don't work in a business-model environment. We must take a "both-and" perspective, not an "either-or" stance. There are times when we manage, and times we must lead.
Kotter's book is a well-written and fast-paced book, and includes discussions of problems of change and some solutions, an eight-stage process for creating change, and leadership implications for the 21st century. If you are called upon to be a change agent for your program, this is a good resource for ideas and suggestions.
Leading Change was published in 1996 by the Harvard Business School Press. ISBN 0-87584-747-1.
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