Overcome Change Management Challenges With an INSEAD Senior Executive Programme
Synopsis The INSEAD senior executive programme equips executives with the skills and knowledge to lead successful organizational change. By transitioning from functional leaders to strategic partners, executives can effectively guide their teams and organizations through challenges and seize opportunities. |
Organizations in India find themselves constantly pivoting to the next best change management strategies to bypass and encompass factors disrupting the Indian business landscape. The disruption is attributed to factors such as technology inroads and macroeconomic aspects such as geopolitical fragmentation.
The main idea behind a change management strategy is to do business differently without altering the core culture and ethos of the organization. But the path is dotted with organization-level challenges. To address the same, executives must evolve from being functional leaders to senior partners who can themselves, their teams, and their organizations. The INSEAD senior executive programme aims to equip executives with the expertise and perspective to spearhead organizational changes in the Indian business landscape.
Top Three Change Management Challenges That Leaders Navigate
A CEB Corporate Leadership Council publication stated that almost one third of change management projects do not yield the expected output.1 The issue does not lie in the initiatives but in their delivery frameworks. Executives often overlook key factors or misplace their stress, which poses challenges that can derail the change management project. Here are some of these challenges that must be addressed at the onset.
The Dilemma of Shorter- or Longer-Term Change Projects
Leaders often place their trust in short-term change management plans, believing that longer projects may lead to stakeholder disinterest. However, in reality, longer projects provide ample opportunities for continuous refinement, leading to the best long-term outcomes.
Considering the Indian business landscape, which is subject to perennial disruptions owing to political changes, long-term change management projects are the best bet. They allow sufficient space for frequent reviews that capture macroeconomic probabilities that can potentially necessitate pivoting the initiative in its entirety.
Difficulty in Choosing an Optimal Force To Drive the Change
Executives often find themselves in a tough spot when choosing between professionals who are known for their operational excellence and those who exhibit effective team leadership. While a well-liked, capable manager may excel at maintaining the status quo, they might not possess the skills needed to drive organizational change.
Effective team leaders typically demonstrate strong problem-solving abilities, a results-oriented mindset, a methodical approach to tasks, a tolerance for ambiguity, organizational acumen, a willingness to take ownership of decisions, and a high level of motivation. The onus lies on senior executives to choose team leaders who will be fully committed to the project.
Disconnection Between Organization Culture and Strategy
Transformations that clash with established corporate culture are often met with greater challenges and lower success rates. Attempts to alter workplace practices or behaviors may face skepticism and resistance if employees doubt the organization’s commitment to supporting and rewarding these changes over time.
Strategic and targeted communication is the thread that ties the organization to the proposed change management initiatives. Leaders must carefully choose their words and tone to transform an executive decision for change—made in a glassdoor cabin—into the organization’s shared vision.
How Does the INSEAD Senior Executive Programme Prepare Leaders To Address the Challenges
As leaders continuously strive to adapt to the disruptive Indian marketplace, the INSEAD Leadership Programme for Senior Executives (ILPSE)—India helps them analyze the business terrain through multiple perspectives and design game-changing solutions.
The 14th edition of this program is rooted in the Indian business context. From its inception, the program has offered leadership guidance and a transformative experience that changed the professional and personal quality of the lives of over 600 executives.
The program facilitates engagement and discussions that could potentially be eye-openers for executives looking to address their change management roadblocks. Here’s how the INSEAD senior executive programme equips leaders to address these challenges in change management in the Indian business landscape:
An INSEAD Senior Executive Programme to Improve Cultural Sensitivity
Most Indian businesses have a global footprint, which means that the workforce is spread across the world. Managing organizational changes requires executives to have all the professionals on the same page while maintaining the utmost cultural sensitivity.
The faculty of the INSEAD Leadership Program for Senior Executives (ILPSE)—India comprises industry veterans and influencers across diverse geographies. Their expertise and diversity enable leaders to leverage their teachings from multicultural perspectives.
The blended setup allows participants to visit INSEAD campuses across three geographies. Apart from experiencing the learning ecosystem, executives get a first-hand experience of how organizations in other countries tackle communication challenges.
An INSEAD ILPSE Program to Bolster Organizational Influence
The program curriculum exerts substantial stress on soft skills that executives need in order to persuade their entire workforces, ranging from those who report to them to the top brass, for driving effective change strategies.
Leaders get practical experience of how to break silos and hierarchical boundaries to get their change management visions across. They also learn negotiation and persuasion skills to influence people they do not exercise direct control over.
Negotiation skills are key parameters for leaders’ development of entrepreneurial mindsets. Explores how an INSEAD senior executive programme equips leaders with the expertise and perspective to turn their vision into reality.
An INSEAD Senior Executive Programme to Drive Global Context
For leaders of multinational organizations, the INSEAD ILPSE is instrumental in shaping change management strategies in a global context.
This INSEAD senior executive programme leverages the diversity of its past participants and faculty to create a dynamic curriculum that is relevant to the global business landscape. By drawing on experiences from across the globe, the program goes beyond the Indian business landscape. This broader perspective helps participants understand the nuances of change management in different cultural, economic, and regulatory environments.
Benefits of an INSEAD Senior Executive Programme
The INSEAD leadership program has shaped and transformed the lives of leaders who have capitalized on their learning to scale new career heights.
Let’s hear from Neha Jain, Brand & Communications Leader, APAC, American Tower. She leveraged her INSEAD learning experience to transform the branding narrative with a cutting-edge corporate strategy. Her story is a testament to the practical impact of the INSEAD Leadership Program for Senior Executives (ILPSE)—India curriculum on professionals in the field of change management.
“The program deepened my understanding of the key drivers of success across functions, people and the organization. This understanding has allowed me to build more compelling and holistic strategic interventions that can successfully influence outcomes across stakeholder groups. I have also witnessed visible changes in myself as a leader through the journey of the program.”
In reality, organization-level challenges are just the tip of the iceberg of change management roadblocks. Leaders have to maneuver macroeconomic factors such as the domestic economy, socio-political conditions, etc., to evolve their strategies. Recognizing this pressing need, INSEAD designed a curriculum in a tri-country delivery format. The curriculum leverages global academic viewpoints and research findings for leadership skills that fit the needs of the Indian context. It lets executives view their change management plans from multiple lenses and create solutions accordingly.
Contemplating and executing a change management strategy in a business climate that is as dynamic as India’s is an uphill task but is also imperative. Even the most seasoned leader can falter while aligning with a diverse workforce, staying on top of the global market dynamism and navigating macroeconomic factors. This is where executive programs such as the INSEAD ILPSE weigh in. The program gives leaders the frameworks and tools to navigate their organizations’ change initiatives. These key leadership skills help them unlock the next career level that catalyzes their abilities to steer their organizations to success in India’s crowded and chaotic marketplace.
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