Page 10 - February 7, 2021 KarmaLead Competencies

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LEADING THE PEOPLE SIDE OF CHANGE
Organizations change people transition. It is not the changes that do you in, it is the transitions.
Change scholars have expanded on the concept of transition, suggesting that while the starting point
for change in organizations is typically a focus on the outcomes, while the starting point for transition
is not the outcome, but on what individuals will have to give up in order to leave the old situation
behind; what they must “LET GO”. Skilled change leaders understand what is ending for people, why
they might resist change and how they can coach them through the transition. Further, change
leaders help people deal effectively with the loss they are feeling and help them see the purpose
clearly and the part they play going forward.

SYSTEM THINKING
A system is a set of things – people, cells, molecules or whatever – interconnected in such a way that
they produce their own pattern of behaviour over time. A system is more than the sum of its
parts.(Meadows, 2008). Viewing organizations as systems by seeing the whole organization and its
relationships is very important during times of change. If everything is connected in your organization,
then a change in one part of the system will affect another part of the system, increasing the danger
of unintended consequences. Skilled leaders become excellent system thinkers. Systems thinking is
a set of analytic skills used to improve the capability of identifying and understanding systems and
viewing the organization as a whole system, not just its parts. (Arnold & Wade, 2015)