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Imagine you’re landing on the beach in war and I guess we could say you are like those poor unfortunate souls, the Cuban Freedom Fighters (if you’re old enough to remember that one) who landed down there during the Bay of Pigs and were slaughtered because in the last minute, maybe hours, President Kennedy withdrew his support.In the change wars going in across the land people aren’t killed but careers are, everyday. Let me explain the connection. When you start a change war you have to have a team and you have to give that team support. Every leader of course says they will, but in reality, just as in the Bay of Pigs, it is often withdrawn at a critical moment.A case in point was a few years ago when I was Vice President of one of America’s high flying companies my boss started a change war. Now the politics in this tech giant (who thought they had no politics) would rival Washington on their best day. Our CEO was from Europe so his former business unit over there could do no wrong and when they did you’d better turn your head quick. Well, that wasn’t my style.My boss had some bad blood with the supply chain folks from over there so he told me to lead the change wars and take no prisoners, including in Europe. Now I’d been around the block a time or two and had my share of limbs sawed out from under me so I worked hard at making sure he and the CEO were aligned with the changes. At every step of the way my boss assured me of his support with a straight face and with zesto. The CEO was less than straightforward but that was normal for him.Over the course of more than a year my team worked to study, analyze and present the case to close a massive, high tech warehouse that was an albatross around the neck of the organization. The battle included studies by my folks and two major big league consulting houses. In every case the answer was close it … the savings was in the tens of millions of dollars. In each case the European team found some little issue to delay the inevitable.Our manufacturing counterparts over there also reported in to my boss and their influential leader was behind us one thousand percent. I climbed further and further out on the limb of the change tree, looking over my shoulder mind you but being assured every step of the way that this was a slam dunk.The day came for the final decision. By now relations with the European crew were out of cold war status and downright nasty. But hey, it wasn’t my idea, I was just asked to lead the charge. But the wear a tear on me and my staff was pretty high. We’d need a break after this one for sure. When the meeting came I wasn’t invited. Now that is one big red flag.You’ll recall at the beginning I said my boss had some real bad blood with the supply chain head in Europe. So did the European manufacturing manager. When the dust settle the supply chain manager agreed to a move to a new site being opened in his home country in Europe, what a punishment for what he did, and the European manufacturing manager got a promise of a plumb new position over manufacturing and supply chain, a new combined organization. And my boss was happy because he had ‘paid back’ his nemesis in Europe.Now all the money and time and pain that we spent driving the changes never paid off. My boss in the end had been holding the saw all along and I didn’t see it. I’d only been with the organization two years at this point and the rest of the players in this charade had been there for years. In the end it was like many had warned me, the CEO protected his own in Europe and my boss was a weasel.But here is the principle, I call it Air Cover. When you send your troops to battle in the change wars be there and keep your word, provide air cover when the shooting starts. My team and I took a hit on this one because when the going got tough my boss went for compromise to get what he wanted, ultimately to have his nemesis removed rather than do what was right and close the facility saving the company and its stockholders millions of dollars.Air Cover, thinking through the changes and being willing to go to the wall in support of your troops once you send them to battle. Leaders today are failing in record numbers when it comes to this in organizations. If you want to lead successful change you keep your word, in other words – your words match your deeds. Anything less is awful, its not leadership.
Article Source: http://www.content.onlypunjab.com
Ed Kugler has been living change since the jungles of Vietnam where he was a Marine Sniper for two-years in the Vietnam War. He came home to a country he hadn't left and began work as a mechanic and truck driver. Since then he has worked his way into the executive suite of Frito Lay, Pepsi Cola and Compaq Computer where he was Vice President of Worldwide Logistics, a position he achieved with no college degree. Ed left in 1997 to consult and write. He is the author of Dead Center - A Marine Sniper's Two Year Odyssey in the Vietnam War and five other books and counting. He regularly consults with some o the nations leading companies on organizational change and coaches individuals to make the most of their lives. Ed is the father of three, grandfather to three and has been married to the same woman for 38 years and counting. www.nomorebs.com www.edkugler.com
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