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O P I N I O N
A sense of urgency
For a firm to find the transformative, positive change it’s looking for, leadership needs to be intentional and steadfast in its commitments.
M anagement – planning, budgeting, staffing, organizing, controlling, and problem solving – helps you deliver consistent, predictable results. Leadership is all about establishing direction, aligning inspired people to create change. You need harmony between the two to grow your organization. How’s the balance of management and leadership in your firm?
Greg Kanz
Project-based, professional service firms naturally gravitate toward management. Architecture and engineering firms need to plan, budget, staff, organize, control, and problem solve day in and day out. Leadership, on the other hand, is more risky, laden with lots of ambiguity. Jen Bennett, vice president and office director for Shive-Hattery’s Quad Cities (Illinois) office, says leadership must be intentional. “Creating change takes sustained focus,” she says. “A vision or strategy is implemented with leaders driving the process with discipline over time.” Bennett’s roadmap for change is from John P. Kotter’s book, Leading Change , which outlines an eight-step process for achieving important effects: 1)Establish a sense of urgency. Study the market
and competitive realities, identifying and discussing crises, potential crises, or major opportunities. 2)Create the guiding coalition. Form a team with enough power to lead the change. “Creating change takes sustained focus. A vision or strategy is implemented with leaders driving the process with discipline over time.” 3)Develop a vision and strategy. Your vision and strategies help direct the change effort. Keep your vision clear and easy to communicate. 4)Communicate the change. Constantly communi-
Jen Bennett GUEST SPEAKERS
See GREG KANZ, page 12
THE ZWEIG LETTER October 29, 2018, ISSUE 1270
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