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    You are here Home » leadership

    Leading Change – Lessons for New Leaders from Satya Nadella

    Last updated on Jul 24, 2014 by Dan McCarthy · This post may contain affiliate links

    Guest post from Randy Ottinger:

     

    Today’s Microsoft
    is not the same company we saw a year ago when Steve Ballmer was at the helm.
    Since Ballmer’s successor, Satya Nadella, took over the CEO role in February of
    this year, change at Microsoft has come swiftly. Executives have been
    reshuffled, organizational priorities have shifted and the culture at the very
    top of the company has change. Many of these shifts, and the reasons behind
    them, are unveiled in Nadella’s recent open
    strategy memo to staff
    . While not all the changes are easy –see last week’s
    announcement the
    company would cut 18,000 jobs
    – they are plotting a bold new course for what
    has traditionally been a more conservative organization.

    The question
    that likely occurs to many observers of the shifts at Microsoft is to ask “What
    is Nadella’s vision for change?” How can new leaders at organizations large and
    small help stir things up in a positive way that produces new innovations,
    generates new energy and engages staff?

    While no one
    formula fits all situations and contexts, I believe that there are a few key
    steps to achieve impactful change:

    Know your destination and plot a clear
    course

    Ambiguity can
    be a killer when a new leader comes on the scene – if not addressed immediately
    it can slow momentum, derail progress and lead to disengagement amongst staff. Under
    Ballmer’s tenure, Microsoft suffered
    from a lack of direction
    that, while not hurting the company financially,
    made the longer term future of the business murky at best. Nadella, by contrast,
    set a strong direction from day one, clearly
    laying out
    a destination in his focus on “mobile-first, cloud-first”
    technologies. It’s a clear, simple drumbeat that his team can rally around.
    Now, he’s tackling the second piece of the puzzle with his open memo on
    Microsoft’s strategy, where Nadella lays out the numerous tactical changes he
    has in mind to reach that destination.

     

    Get the right team together

    In any
    organization that needs to make a break with the past, the new leader will need
    to work quickly to ensure the team at the top shares a vision for the
    organization’s future. While this doesn’t necessarily mean wiping the slate
    clean, it’s important that the relied-upon employees are rallied around the
    same cause and focused on the same goals. In many cases, it may be necessary to
    make a few staffing changes to build the base of support critical to new
    leaders accomplishing their goals.

    In Nadella’s
    case, within his first few months, in line with the future destination he had
    plotted for the business and his new focus on certain product classes, he adjusted
    staff within the marketing team and mixed up the leadership in the device and
    cloud divisions of the company.

    Not just top down, but bottom up too

    At the same
    time, as a new leader, it’s important to ensure your future vision takes into
    account a diversity of viewpoints, and that your course aligns with the
    character and capabilities of the organization. Nadella is known as a
    quiet listener and team player within Microsoft
    , but it’s this understated
    leadership style that has allowed him to sound out his ideas with colleagues,
    and learn from others at all levels within the company.  By seeking engagement from the organization
    as a whole, it’s possible to get the team, even those contributors at the
    lowest levels, focused on the destination. Nadella’s focus now on
    “productivity” rather than more traditional ‘consumer’ or ‘business’ technology
    segments may be a reflection of what he’s learned in his internal conversations
    – a departure from past
    siloed thinking
    , while still recognizing the character of Microsoft’s
    leading software and hardware products, which tend to blur the lines between
    work and consumer technology.

    Engage the organization with quick
    wins

    To fully
    cement the change you aim to accomplish as a new leader, quick wins are crucial
    for building momentum. Early successes back up your goals, can help persuade
    the non-committal within the organization, and encourage those already on board
    to push for more progress. For instance, Nadella drove home his mobile/cloud
    and productivity agenda early in his tenure with the release of Office for
    iPad, the elimination of licensing fees for Windows on smartphones and smaller
    tablets and the release of hybrid
    cloud management tools for Azure
    .

    For new
    leaders, driving organizational change can be challenging at best – you need a
    team captain and cheerleader rolled into one. But the leaders who set a clear
    course, rally a team, ask for input and prove their case are the leaders most
    often successful in rejuvenating stolid organizations and re-energizing tired
    workforces. I predict this will be true for Nadella.

    About the author:

    Randy
    Ottinger is an Executive Vice President at Kotter International, a firm
    that helps leaders accelerate strategy implementation in their organizations.
    He previously spent more than 20 years as a high tech executive for companies
    like: IBM, McCaw Cellular (Claircom), and Captaris. In addition, Randy is an
    established author as well as a legacy leadership expert.
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