By Rosabeth Moss Kanter
© Copyright 2005 by Rosabeth Moss Kanter, rkanter@hbs.edu.
Here's a lesson of leadership so common that I've seen it repeated in hundreds of innovations and change projects in every industry and field.
It's "Kanter's Law": Everything looks like a failure in the middle. Plans don't unfold exactly as designed by the chief executive, the central administration, or the local manager.
Every new idea - the addition of a math enrichment program, a new teacher-led college counseling initiative, a move to block scheduling - can easily run into the unexpected before it becomes routine. Problems that crop up in the middle, before the effort is fully implemented, tempt leaders to give up, forget it, and chase the next enticing rainbow.
But stop the effort too soon, and by definition it's a failure. Stay with it through its hurdles, make appropriate adjustments, and you are on the way to success. Here's why the middle is miserable, and what to do about it.
Forecasts fall short.
Plans are based on experience and assumptions. When attempting to innovate, delays are almost a law of the universe - and the more so, the more complex and different the project is. It's difficult to predict how long it will take or how much it will cost to do something that has never been done before.
And when resources and time are tight, as they are in schools, project heads are under pressure to under-state requirements, knowing that they'd never get approval if they asked for everything at ground zero. Slipped schedules shouldn't be fatal flaws.
Make sure the project group is sufficiently dedicated that they're not easily discouraged. Don't start an effort without champions and sponsors at a higher level who can help secure additional resources, beg for additional time, or figure out creative ways to stretch what there is.
Unexpected obstacles pop up.
Everyone knows that a new path is unlikely to run straight and true, but when we actually encounter those twists and turns we often panic.
It's a mistake to simply stop in your tracks. Every change brings unanticipated consequences.
Teams must be prepared to respond, to troubleshoot, to make adjustments, and to make their case. Events disrupt even the best-laid plans - e.g., the turnover of school superintendents threatening to derail school site-management team projects. Rigidity is the enemy of change. If an organization gets cold feet at the first sign of difficulties, then it is unlikely to succeed at new ventures. If success or failure of a project rests on one factor only, without room to explore other approaches, then the effort is doomed from the start.
Success requires flexibility - to redirect the project around obstacles or to deal with a new challenge. Principals singled out by their districts as innovators told my research staff that they had the benefit of supportive administrators above them who offered help at difficult moments. "They did not freak out. They got closer to us," one leader enthused. "They gave both the attention and support that were needed for us to execute."
Momentum slows.
After the initial thrill of getting a project off the ground, harsh reality sinks in. You do not have solutions to the problems you face; the multiple demands of your job are piling up; the people you have asked for information or assistance are not returning your calls. After longer-than-normal work days, the team is tired. Conflicts surface. Team members discover their differences in work styles or points of view. When teams get stuck, you can break the logjam by shuffling assignments, breaking into subgroups, and trying a different tack. Spirits soar again when success is in sight. or the local manager.
Organizations often hold exciting launch meetings at the start and blowout celebrations at the end but forget morale-boosters in the middle. It can be as simple as pizza delivered to a project meeting, local celebrities visiting for pep talks, or the leader's reminder that the group is doing important work. Critics get louder.
The final truth behind Kanter's Law is often the most frustrating. You talked to key stakeholders in the beginning - teachers, administrators, parents, even students. They nodded, and you thought you had support. But now - just when it looks like the effort might succeed - objections pile up. Now, just when you're so close to implementation! Why now?
When a project begins, the vision is just rhetoric, the resource requirements modest, the intrusions non-existent. Then the unfolding project makes the consequences concrete. If this works, it will requires more money or force other people to change. "You think you've got an agreement, and later you find the whole thing is stuck in arguments," a leader told me. "Maybe it's just one little detail you assumed that everybody understood but they didn't."
His solution: assume nothing, communicate everything, and repeat it often. Leaders can steer projects through the middle by reminding people of the vision and confronting the critics. That means sticking with it. One mistake leaders make in introducing change is to "launch 'em and leave 'em" - making decisions and announcements but neglecting the hard work of middles. But even the most miserable of middles can produce happy endings if you remember these simple lessons.
Be flexible.
Make sure the idea is still viable.
Keep selling.
Involve your supporters.
Nurture your team.
Communicate and over-communicate. Expect obstacles on the road to success, and celebrate each milestone. True leadership involves persistence and follow-through. Rosabeth Moss Kanter holds a chaired professorship at Harvard Business School. She is the author of 16 books, including her recent bestseller, Confidence: How Winning Streaks & Losing Streaks Begin & End, published by Crown.
Find her frameworks for leadership in public education, developed with Dr. Barry Stein of Goodmeasure Inc., at www.reinventingeducation.org.
The Reinventing Education Change Tookit is based on the work of Dr. Rosabeth Moss Kanter of Harvard Business School as developed and extended by Dr. Barry Stein of Goodmeasure Inc.
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