Day-to-day business problems often prevent leaders from taking the time to think, plan, and act in order to make the kinds of transformative changes that are needed in organizations. At the heart of change, John Kotter presents the case study “When Alligators Nibble at Your Heels” as an example of a leader who decided to deal with the crisis facing him and his organization before beginning to look for ways to transform the community. organization. . Kotter quotes Nick Pearce as saying that “you have to focus on putting out big fires and anything that can quickly restart those fires” before you can start working on a bigger transformation (Kotter, p. 25).
Yet the pace of work and change are happening so rapidly in today’s work environment, a leader runs the risk of using “putting out fires” as an excuse for not finding the time, energy, and focus to address the very real issues. what do you need. change within an organization. The felt need to focus on the fires, in fact, can derail any effort to implement change. “Many of today’s struggles for transformation are the result of leaders either not paying attention to the cultural, behavioral and mindset components of transformation or not addressing them in ways that have real impact” (Anderson & Anderson, p. 16).
Managers are often forced to deal with the business problems of the day. They feel their knowledge and experience is needed to help “put out fires” in their area of expertise. However, leaders recognize that they must focus on the business of building “fiery platforms” that help people and organizations realize the need for change, that force them to step out of their comfort zone and begin to change (Kotter , p. 27). This takes time, energy, and concentration. Using excuses that the organization has too many fires to put out only distracts real attention and encourages employees to fall back on the old way of doing things rather than focus on the change at hand.
References:
Anderson D. and Anderson L. (2001). Beyond change management. San Francisco: Jossey – Bass / Pfeiffer.
Kotter, JP and Cohen, DS (2002). The Heart of Change: Real Life Stories of How People
change their organizations. Boston: Harvard Business School Press.
