Leadership Followership Alignment - Branch

Leadership and Leadership and Followership AlignmentFollowership Alignment

Ways to work together.

ObjectivesObjectives

Explain concepts of leadership-followership alignment.

Demonstrate the importance of leadership-followership alignment.

Show ways an organization can strengthen alignment in their organization.

The Lewinian Model (1951)The Lewinian Model (1951)

The Lewinian model has been considered by many to be the “theoretical foundation” for all change/alignment theory.

His model is broken into three stages: Unfreeze – Change – Refreeze.

The goal is to re-align one’s thoughts perceptions and feelings.

UnfreezeUnfreeze

• This is the initial stage. Its purpose is to question or doubt the old way of doing things within the organization.

ChangeChange

In this stage, leaders train their followers to possess competency of a new pattern of behavior.

ChangeChange

• Learning anxiety is the biggest barrier with this stage.

ChangeChange

• In order to create alignment the leader must make the followers feel encouraged and safe.

RefreezeRefreeze

• This stage integrates and reinforces the new patterns into the personality of the people and the group standards of the organization.

RefreezeRefreeze

• Without this personal and relational refreezing, the change will “set off new rounds of disconfirmation that often lead to unlearning.”

Objections to the Lewinian Objections to the Lewinian ConceptConcept

March and Olsen object to the logical assumptions within the three stage model.

Objections to the Lewinian Objections to the Lewinian ConceptConcept

They suggest that organizational change does not always adhere to a linear progression.

Model AdjustmentModel Adjustment

Lewin’s model also assumes a strong resistance to change. But today that resistance is not very strong at all.


Beer and Nohria would suggest that, due to our current economical climate, we are sloshing around in the unfreezing stage.


A better sequence would be freeze-rebalance-unfreeze.

Consequences of non-alignmentConsequences of non-alignment

Argyrs’ warning (1977): If we resist aligning and learning better ways of working together, then we will face “a crisis precipitated by some event … for example, a recession.”

Consequences of non-alignmentConsequences of non-alignment

Here are several examples of Argyrs’ warning becoming reality when govt. and business organizations refused to adjust and align their economic models.

1630’s Speculative Bubble1630’s Speculative Bubble

Half of the Dutch economy was caught up in tulip trades during the 1630s.


According to Justin Fox, this was the first documented speculative bubble.


The value of tulip bulbs was matching that of houses because people thought they could buy and resell them at higher prices.


A similar bubble began during the 1920s were everyone was investing in the stock market.


This time was called the roaring twenties but at the beginning of the 30s the stock market began to correct down.

This led to a depression that lasted over 10 years.

Attempts at AlignmentAttempts at Alignment

After the Great Depression, the government came up with three regulations:


FDIC Insurance — it's safe to put your money in banks.

Glass-Steagall [Act of 1933] — separated investment banking and commercial banking.

Some SEC regulations.


The states, by and large, went 50 years without this boom and bust cycle.

Greenspan and OTC DerivativesGreenspan and OTC Derivatives

From 1955-1987, Alan Greenspan was president of Townsend-Greenspan & Co., Inc., an economic consulting firm in New York City.

Greenspan and OTC DerivativesGreenspan and OTC Derivatives

Alan Greenspan served as the Chairman of the Federal Reserve from 1987 to 2006.

He argued for deregulation.

Misalignment Returns Misalignment Returns

Glass Stegall Act was repealed (99) after several attempts throughout the 80s and 90s.


When companies and government officials began pulling regulation apart, we got the S&L crisis (80s).


Ten years later, Long-term capital management.


Brooksley Born argued for regulatory alignment but she was silenced.

There was no oversight in a dark market where OTC derivatives doubled under Greenspan.

Misalignment ReturnsMisalignment Returns

From 2001-06, we had Enron


The Troubled Asset Relief Program (T.A.R.P.) 2007-08.

Another result of resisting alignment.


Housing Bubble (2007-08)


In 2005, Robert Shiller warned other economist of this real estate boom and suggested alignment and intervention.

Kotter adapts Lewin’s modelKotter adapts Lewin’s model

Ways to Strengthen AlignmentWays to Strengthen Alignment

Kotter and Schlesinger suggested six methods to strengthen alignment between leaders and followers that resist change.

Each method has advantages and drawbacks.

Education + CommunicationEducation + Communication

This is commonly used when there is a lack of information.

Followers will often help with the implementation

This can be very time consuming if lots of people are involved.

Participation + InvolvementParticipation + Involvement

This is commonly used when the initiators do not have all the information.

Those who participate will be committed to change.

Participation + InvolvementParticipation + Involvement

This could also be time consuming if participators design an inappropriate change.

Facilitation + SupportFacilitation + Support

This is commonly used when people have adjustment problems.

No other approach works as well for adjustment problems.

This can be time consuming expensive, and it can still fail.

Negotiation + AgreementNegotiation + Agreement

This is commonly used when people coming into alignment will clearly lose out in a change and they have considerable power to resist.

This can become too expensive if it alerts others to negotiate for compliance.

Manipulation + Co-optationManipulation + Co-optation

This is commonly used when other tactics will not work or are too expensive.

It can be a relatively quick solution to resistance problems.

It could lead to future problems if people feel manipulated.

Explicit + Implicit CoercionExplicit + Implicit Coercion

This is commonly used when speed is essential and the change initiators possess considerable power.

It is speedy and can overcome most forms of resistance.

This can become risky if it leaves people mad at the initiators.

Biblical AlignmentBiblical Alignment

The Bible supports the idea of followers working together and aligning with the vision of the leader.

In Ephesians 4:11-16, the apostle Paul uses the metaphor of a body.


We all have different functions but if we resist alignment the entire body cannot work.


Later in this letter to the Ephesians, Paul mentions that those in positions of leadership should also align to followers.


Both sides should make the necessary adjustments and alignments to successfully handle change.

Eph 5:21 “submit to one another”

This is a very beneficial model in our current prosumer business era.