Abstract

We live and work in a world that is constantly changing which drives today’s organizations to embrace a philosophy of hiring people that can lead employees through change in order to survive. Companies are forever changing due to internal and external forces such as, new technologies, competition, new ideas, profitability expectations, new leadership, and employee turnover. Organizations expect leaders to be a catalyst for change, therefore, the leader cannot afford to stick his or her head in the sand whenever change is occurring and hope the situation will quietly pass them by. Learning to manage high-velocity change is one of the most important leadership skills for a person to master for themselves, their employees, and the organization. What Leaders Need To Know About Managing Change
Many of the changes that occurred in the last 18 months were unpredictable, or at least unpredicted, like the crash of the housing market, the collapse of numerous home mortgage and lending institutions, the near meltdown of the big-three U. S. automakers, and the millions of unemployed workers. The implication of the unpredictable nature of change for organizations is clear: although in many cases they may not be able to anticipate change, they can always be fast adapters (Lawler, et al., 2006).
In uncertain and rapidly changing environments, organizations are challenged to accomplish two often-conflicting objectives: performing well against a current set of environmental demands and changing themselves to face future business environments (Lawler, et al., 2006). To meet these objectives, the organization must be able to count on the leaders at all levels to understand and adapt to these ever-changing environments.
Simply stated, the challenge for organizations is to perform so well and change so fast that they string together a series of competitive