Leading Change from the Middle
Yesterday we completed the Spring session of our on-campus Stanford Advanced Project Management (SAPM) program with students from all over the world, Global Fortune 100 firms, and innovative non-profits. (Note–apply or register for the SAPM Summer session June 12-17 here.) I had the privilege of working with Tim Wasserman, IPS Learning CLO, Shirzad Charmine of Coaches Training Institute, and Dr. Behnam Tabrizi, author of Rapid Transformation: A 90-Day Plan for Fast and Effective Change, in delivering Leading Change from the Middle. The book and Behnam’s research served as one of the anchors for the course.
We had a fantastic, energetic, enthusiastic class with folks from around the world. The class comraderie added to the vivid discussions we had around a variety of case studies as well as guest lecturer from HP. One student, an Aussie working in Switzerland, even had her young baby and husband with her.
Some ideas and concepts from the course discussions include:
- Change yourself first, than help others
- Fast is better...always.
- Be willing to change...transformation requires agility and adaptability.
- Though working from the middle, top executive support is required.
- Purpose matters--principles first...then methodology.
- 90 days is not long, work fast, work smart