A521.6.4.RB – Sustained Change

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Sustained Change
According to Brown (2011), organizational change implicates the modification of the organization’s existing structure, system, and culture where the primary focus is accelerating the company’s efficiency and effectiveness, guaranteeing its survival.  Change in an organization is inevitable.  New initiatives, new leadership, technology improvements and need to be ahead of the competition are all factors that drive ongoing changes in the way organizations work. 
As one of human resources leader for Florida Hospital Central Florida Division – North Region, I belong to a semi self-managed work team.  We are composed of Directors of HR professionals leading the HR team of FH Waterman, Fish Memorial, Deland, Memorial Medical Center, New Smyrna, Flagler, and my organization, FH HealthCare Partners.  We meet bi-weekly with our Regional VP of HR to brainstorm on best practices for the region, reviewing policies and procedures, employee engagement, etc.  The team is assigned to tasks that fit our individual expertise and skills.  We go back to our own facilities empowered, engaged and are given the latitude to accomplish personal and HR department’s responsibilities.
Like Andy who ran out of choices but to take the leap of faith to jump on from a 15-story like building towards the water with a burning fire to save his life, I once faced the same situation at work.  Andy had to move forward and admitted that then, there was no turning back to save his life.  In my HR department, that was what I faced when I discovered that conflict within my department existed.  I was blinded by my overwhelming responsibilities at work, home, and trying to finish my master’s degree that my eyes were opened when one day my five-member staff called in for an emergency meeting.  All the while, I thought that my self-managed team was functioning very well.
Since I joined Adventist Health System, I have always promoted an open door policy that my staff was brave enough to call for an emergency meeting.  During the meeting, I encouraged everyone to be open and listen with an open mind.  No one is allowed to interrupt when someone was talking.  All five team members have to honestly share what they feel and at least give one positive recommendation on how we can improve teamwork and be more strategic in our processes and help our staff perform productively.  At the end of the meeting, we found out that defining our responsibilities were critical and it was vital to the success of our department to cover for each other when one is overwhelmed with work and personal life and that was including myself.
I have learned that resolving conflict is not only a standard function of a leader in the workplace.  I had a diverse team with a different culture, belief, and religion.  Conflict within my team was inevitable.  Defining to my staff that it is okay to agree to disagree, but we have to take personal differences outside the workplace.  We are all equal, and trust and respect for each other are significant to the success of our team.  When one cannot persuade the other to see it their way, the other has to let either the matter go or simply leave the room and discuss the issue when both are ready to listen with an open mind.
In hindsight, the lesson I have learned with the burning platform is essential that I envision the crisis and modify my behavior before the explosion.  So, if I would like to pursue a position of an external leader for self-managed work teams, there are competencies that I would need to possess.  I must be consistent in creating a culture of trust and confidence to my team, fostering ethical behavior of high standards and must be able to open to positive and negative feedback from my team and colleagues and have the flexibility and be open to change.  Lastly, when under adversity, I must possess the standards of behavior of resiliency to have the ability to lead under pressure efficiently, always focused and remained optimistic and persistent.
Conclusion
Organizational change does not happen in an instantaneous event.  Instead, change is a process where when individuals experience it in their organization, they move from what they are familiar with to the unknown and through a period of transitional changes, they arrive at a desired new ways of a set of behaviors and actions to accomplish the organizational task or a goal.  Treating change as the process is a successful component of successful behavioral change and successful management change. 
When a follower trusts a leader’s vision, it leads to empowering a follower with accountability, authority, resources, and opportunities to achieve his/her vision that relates to the unit or organization.  A leader, validates his/her commitments to the values of a) showing humility; b) displaying mercy and belief to the actions of his/her follower(s), and c) controlled discipline (Winston and Patterson, 2006).  Emotional intelligence is the way we manage ourselves and our relationships with the people we work with, people we encounter in our community, and our family and friends (Goleman, 2000).  A leader who practices emotional intelligence creates and sustains peace in the organization – not lack of conflict (Goleman, 2012) but a place where peace grows in the entire duration of a leader-follower relationship. 
References
Brown, D.R. (2011). An experiential approach to organization development (8th ed.). Upper
Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
Goleman, D. (2000). Leadership that gets results. Harvard Business Review, 78(2), 78-90.
Goleman, D. (2017). Leadership that Gets Results. Harvard Business Review 78.2 (2000).
Business Insights: Essentials. Retrieved from http://bi.galegroup.com.ezproxy.libproxy.db.erau.edu/essentials/article/GALE%7CA60471886/2f8d8eb8604f45af92933595d2659871?u=embry
Replymc (2010, Nov 24). Burning platform – the misunderstanding (part ½) [Video File].
            Retrieved from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1&v=KwRB0sHpN9E
Winston, B. & Patterson, K. (2006). An integrative definitions of leadership.
            International Journal of Leadership Studies. Retrieved from:
http://www.regent.edu/acad/global/publications/ijls/new/vol1iss2/winston_patterson.doc/winston_patterson.pdf.

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