By Rosabeth Moss Kanter,
rkanter@hbs.edu.
We all prefer win-win situations. But when making big improvements in systems that are broken, leaders face tough, sometimes painful decisions. In the politicized world of public schools, they can find themselves pitted against entrenched interests.
Principals might have to tell long-time teachers that they're not doing the job against today's standards. They might have to remove their friends. If you're one of those leaders guiding sweeping reforms, you know that you have to do a great deal of this alone. You can - and should - surround yourself with supportive colleagues (at home, if not at work).
You can - and should - get the backing of bosses above you (top administrators, or if you are at the top, then the board or the public or the media). But ultimately, you are the one who has to face tough issues.
Turnarounds - raising performance of a declining school or system - are among those lonely situations. Those hailed as heroes when they arrive can become villains when they make unpopular (though necessary) decisions. So steel yourself. It doesn't make it easier if the situation isn't dire..
It would seem a lot easier to fix something that is just starting to crack, than to repair a system or a school so weak that it is on life support, on the verge of closing. But the opposite is often the case. Though it seems that problems can be easier to solve when the losing streak is not so long and the cycle of decline not too advanced, there also can be more resistance to the idea of significant change. The truly sick are desperate for any solution and too helpless to resist.
It is more permissible and a great deal easier at extremes of distress (though less humane) to slash, burn, destroy, cut, lay off and start over again. Under extreme distress, extreme measures can be taken; the truly obese get their jaws wired shut to prevent uncontrolled food intake, while the merely overweight must struggle through diets. But when there is no consensus that the underlying system needs to change, or that losses are anything other than bad breaks or a bad economy or poor communities and uninvolved parents, then turnaround leaders have a more difficult task.
"David Lee" knew that a case for change is hard when disaster is not imminent.. Perhaps that is why he felt so alone for the first year of his ultimately successful turnaround. He took over an organization with numerous unexamined problems that undermined performance.
But, like school principals and administrative division heads, he was in charge of only his piece and was not the supreme authority. And no one else seemed to think the place needed major change. Not his boss, who had brought him in without a mandate for change, and not the big boss several levels up. Certainly not the people in the organization, who were accustomed to being patted on the back and living a good life.
There were so many bad habits that he felt he needed to replace more than half of the administrators. His boss, sensitive to the difficulty and bad press of layoffs, told him he could replace only 10% of the people. Lee felt he had good reasons to get tough and clean house, so he went ahead and did what he could.
He closed an unnecessary program. He cut budgets for under-performing areas and eliminated some of the positions that were just fluff. He bargained hard with the union to get flexibility in scheduling. Now Lee felt he was unpopular with just about everyone.
Those moves were bold strokes, each commanded by a single decision of the boss. Each bold stroke cut expenses, certainly, but also ran the risk of further alienating employees or the public.
And getting good habits in place takes a lot longer than eliminating bad practices; it takes the long march of culture change in which many individuals change their behavior in order to head in the same direction. Once Lee cleaned out a top-heavy organization, he could empower talented people in lower ranks who had been stifled by the bureaucracy but who could now take on bigger tasks with greater self-confidence. Still, they had to develop confidence in each other, in order to work as a team.
Replacing workers' self-indulgent games with productivity targets and rewards for achievements would not be believed or show results immediately. Confidence could not be willed into existence fast. The noise from layoffs was so loud that, at first, it drowned out the message of empowerment he was also sending - that if people played to win, they would enjoy the rewards of success.
Lee was miserable for a year. He thought everyone hated him. They probably did. Gradually, allies surfaced who shared his strategic vision, often from the ranks of the newly promoted. Gradually his staff gained confidence in the system, because the methods they were learning through new training programs produced successes when applied on the job.
Finally, about 18 months after Lee arrived, morale jumped when results started to improve. In less than three years, performance was soaring at higher rates than for comparable organizations, and results were dramatic. Lee was successful in his turnaround, and later people who had been his worst critics became his admirers. So here's the happy ending for Lonely Leaders.
Success is a good way to attract friends. Once you gain a reputation as a courageous change leader, you will find yourself surrounded by people eager to work for you, admirers ready to copy your models, and supportive bosses who give you more opportunities for influence. You don't always have to be lonely to win the race. But you must be prepared to run parts of it alone.
--Rosabeth Moss Kanter holds a chaired professorship at Harvard Business School and is author or co-author of 16 books, including her latest bestseller, Confidence: How Winning Streaks & Losing Streaks Begin & End, recently published by Crown. Find her frameworks for leadership in public education, developed with Dr. Barry Stein of Goodmeasure Inc., at www.reinventingeducation.org. © Copyright 2005 by Rosabeth Moss Kanter. All rights reserved.
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