Leading Change: Cultivating Agility Through a Dynamic Mindset
| Publication year | 2023 |
| Pages | 04 |
PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE
BY J. RYANN PEYTON
Change or Die. Many of us are familiar with this innovator's credo and its unforgiving ultimatum. It reminds us that we must be willing to embrace change, or at least accept it, because change is an inevitability that keeps our work, our organizations, and ourselves relevant. If the events of the past several years have taught us nothing else, it's that we live and work in a dynamic world. Despite the rule-laden systems and established culture and hierarchies of the legal profession, lawyers too must be dynamic because we do not operate in a world of permanency or stagnation. Yet lawyers have a reputation for being change averse.
We come by this reputation honestly. As people who are trained to see the pitfalls and problems with any new idea, lawyers are sometimes the first to shut down opportunities for change in the name of "protecting" from the unknown. While this may benefit our clients who value our role as devil's advo cate, it can also prevent us from serving as change leaders. But to survive in a dynamic environment, lawyers must learn how to incorporate a change mechanism into the culture of our teams, our organizations, and the profession.
Change Management Versus Change Leadership
Change is inevitable. Surviving or responding to change is a reactionary strategy familiar to many of us. It is in this "surviving" of change that change management happens. Change management is usually reactionary and consists of a linear process, with a single goal and preset checkpoints. "Change management can be seen as an intermittent project, with a discrete beginning and end, addressing one or two big-ticket items, such as restructuring the organization or implementing a new IT system."[1]
Change leadership, on the other hand, is proactive and supports a culture of growth and improvement. Change leaders are adept at "building the desire to change and the acceptance of change into the culture and the values of an organization."[2] Effective change leaders create a vision for the future that inspires others to support change rather than resist or fear it. The vision clearly shows why change is necessary, the benefits of changing, and how people will be affected in their work. This vision ensures that everyone not only understands the benefits of change, but also feels like a part of it and wants to achieve it.
The Importance of Agility in...
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