Driving change and risk management
School Senior Leader Level 7 Apprenticeship
Welcome & Introductions
(PowerPoint will be shared & a Podcast will be available for each session)
AIM & OBJECTIVES
Aim
To develop your understanding of how senior leaders lead strategic change, foster innovation and manage risk to achieve sustainable organisational improvement.
Objectives
• Explain the strategic leadership principles that underpin successful organisational change and innovation. (K4, K7)
• Evaluate how leaders manage risk, uncertainty and resistance when implementing change initiatives. (K17, S5, S9)
• Apply practical approaches to leading and influencing change within your own organisational context. (S4, B3)
You arrive at work tomorrow to…
…a message from your CEO…
“From next month…. …our organisation will fundamentally change the way it operates”.
A message from your CEO…
What’s the first thing that goes through your mind?
What questions would you want answered?
What would your team ask you?
Where do you see the risks?
Where do you see the opportunities?
• Catch up
Breakout
• Discuss the following prompts and prepare to give feedback
Discuss
• You now have ‘X’ amount of time before your team meeting.
• So….where do you start?
• What might you say to them?
• What are your immediate priorities?
• How might you balance reassurance with honesty?
• How would you maintain transparency and integrity without saying too much/too little?
……translucent leadership.
Why do organisations need to change?
Why do organisations need to change?
• Technological innovation and disruption
• Changing customer needs and expectations
• Economic pressures and financial sustainability
• Legislation, regulation and government policy
• Competition and market dynamics
• Environmental and social responsibilities
• Workforce expectations and demographics
• Organisational growth, restructuring and strategic priorities
• Geopolitical events and global uncertainty
The biggest risk may be… ...not changing
Leaders continually balance two questions…
What are the risks of changing?
What are the risks of not changing?
Inaction is a strategic decision in its own right…
Think about your organisation…
…has there been a time when delaying a decision or avoiding change created more problems than acting sooner?
Innovation begins with culture…
not technology
Innovation is more likely where people:
Feel safe enough to challenge existing ways or working
Are encouraged to share ideas and experiment
Learn from mistakes rather than hide them Collaborate across teams and functions
Understand how innovation supports organisational goals
Technology can support innovation…
…but culture is what enables it
• Catch up
Breakout
• Discuss the following prompts and prepare to give feedback
Discuss
In your experience (of yourself [be candid] and others)
What behaviours encourage innovation?
What behaviours unintentionally (or maybe deliberately) discourage it?
Adaptive Leadership (Heifetz & Linsky)
Distinguishes between technical problems and adaptive challenges
Reminds leaders that some problems require people to change, not just processes
Cynefin Framework (Snowden & Boone)
Encourages leaders to identify the type of problem they are facing
Suggests different leadership responses for simple, complicates, complex and chaotic situations
Antifragility (Taleb)
Challenges organisations to do more than recover from disruption
Explores how individuals and organisations can become stronger because of uncertainty and change
Leading when certainty isn’t available
Balancing evidence with judgement
Senior leaders rarely have perfect information
They make decisions using the best evidence available at the time
The cost of waiting…
The
greatest risk isn’t always making the wrong decision
Sometimes it’s making no decision at all
When change becomes a crisis
Not every change becomes a crisis
Every crisis creates change Perfect
Reflection and coaching
• Consider and reflect on the following prompts privately (5 minutes)
• Carry out a peer-coaching conversation (10 minutes, 5 minutes each)
Reflection and coaching
What do you personally find most challenging about strategically leading change and managing risk?
Consider
• Why is this particularly challenging for you?
• Which part of today's discussion resonated most strongly?
• Has anything challenged or changed your thinking?
• What might you explore or do differently as a result?
Reflection
As you return to your own organisation…
Take a moment to reflect:
• What is one idea from today that has challenged your thinking?
• What is one action you will take as a result of today's session?
• Which of today's concepts would you like to explore further?
AIM & OBJECTIVES
Aim
To develop your understanding of how senior leaders lead strategic change, foster innovation and manage risk to achieve sustainable organisational improvement.
Objectives
• Explain the strategic leadership principles that underpin successful organisational change and innovation. (K4, K7)
• Evaluate how leaders manage risk, uncertainty and resistance when implementing change initiatives. (K17, S5, S9)
• Apply practical approaches to leading and influencing change within your own organisational context. (S4, B3)
Further reading
• Dweck, C.S. (2017) Mindset: Changing the Way You Think to Fulfil Your Potential.
• Edmondson, A.C. (2019) The Fearless Organization: Creating Psychological Safety in the Workplace for Learning, Innovation, and Growth.
• Heifetz, R. & Linsky, M. (2002) Leadership on the Line.
• Kahneman, D. (2011) Thinking, Fast and Slow.
• Kotter, J.P. (2012) Leading Change.
• Senge, P.M. (2006) The Fifth Discipline: The Art and Practice of the Learning Organization.
• Taleb, N.N. (2012) Antifragile: Things That Gain from Disorder.
