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Change Management and Theory U Leadership

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 International Journal of Global Business, 9(2), 102-110, December 2016 102

Change Management and Theory U Leadership

Victor S. Sohmen, Ph.D., Ed.D.
Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA, USA
vsohmen@drexel.edu

This paper is rooted in the enlightening concepts of Theory U Leadership as propounded by Otto
Scharmer (2009). This revolutionary theory urges the leader to suspend superficiality,
judgmental attitudes, and preconceptions. The leader is encouraged to delve deep into the self
and unravel the ‘blind spot’ of leadership to reveal the true source of the inner self. This is best
accomplished by deep and empathic listening with an open mind, open heart, and open will to
‘presence’ (presence + sense) the emerging future even as it occurs. This essay abstracts a
critical aspect of leadership—that of leading organizational change—and applies it to key tenets
of Otto Scharmer’s Theory U Leadership. The foray is based on the premise that there is an
essential symbiosis between change management and Theory U Leadership. This change has to
be inclusive, collaborative, and sustainable in order to have optimal impact in the ecosystem and
in the global arena. For future research, a deeper understanding could be sought of the
application of Theory U Leadership to leadership tasks for innovative, inclusive, and sustainable
change through systemic and systematic change management.

Keywords: Theory U Leadership, presencing, open mind, open heart, open will, systems thinking
 International Journal of Global Business, 9(2), 102-110, December 2016 103

“A leader is best when people barely know he exists; when his work is done, his aim fulfilled,
they will say: we did it ourselves.” (Lao Tzu, 605-531 B.C.)

Introduction

Historically, the perennial adventure of leadership has been fraught with excitement, chaos,
uncertainties, and what may be coined herein as a metamorphosis of reality. Leaders
courageously transform present reality into a new and altered state of envisioned reality. This
change in the environment is made possible by the drive, dynamism, and determination of the
leader to convert vision into reality. Thus, the destination of the leader—and those who follow—
is a picture of irrevocable and often unrecognizable change in the world within the leader’s
sphere of influence. It is obvious then that leadership is a deliberate endeavor actuated by vision,
ambition, purpose, and values—and even a deep sense of destiny. The ensuing change is a
corollary to this endeavor, indeed a consequence for better or for worse.

The most commonly recognized source of leadership involves the influence that leaders exercise
over their followers to effect salutary change (Neck & Manz, 2013, p. 2). In view of the reality of
rapid change around us, this paper seeks to identify how change management links with several
concepts in the literature supporting Theory U Leadership by Otto Scharmer (2009):
sustainability, systems thinking, presencing, and globalization. Further, the relationship of
change management to an identification of issues to be addressed will be presented in conclusion
for future research on the application of change management to Theory U Leadership.

The Essence of Change Management

The leader is a traveler with a personal vision and sense of destiny who attracts followers to a
compelling cause. The leader’s choices are fueled by the ‘creative tension’ (Senge, 1990) of the
leadership persona resolutely negotiating the chaos and messiness of the process of change to a
relatively stable destination (Wheatly, 2007). As leaders, we are constantly standing at the
crossroads of a future we can rarely predict or control—but can only imagine through the
mediation of our mental models (Johnson-Laird, 1983; Norman, 1983). Especially in times of
opportunity, chaos, uncertainty, and danger, leadership becomes manifest. We know this from
the Situational Leadership theory. As the person with the right mixture of vision, courage,
competence, and sense of urgency who emerges, the leader attracts followers and shepherds
them to a new destination.

The process of change from the old order to the new is not easy, as our future is strongly rooted
in our present and past. The status quo is all too dear to us! Kenneth Craik (1943) even suggested
that the mind constructs small-scale models of reality that it uses to anticipate events based on
the past and present. Yet, changing these mental models is necessary to articulate change within
ourselves and in others. This process is greatly aided by visioning possibilities of change through
 International Journal of Global Business, 9(2), 102-110, December 2016 104

creativity as a catalyst to a transformational mindset. Indeed, the power and creativity of a

transforming vision through models of reality drive sustainable change (Burns, 2008, p. 313).

The paradox of change—why change is a constant

Over the centuries—and especially in recent decades of technology-infused developmental

surges—society has magically rearranged itself into radically different scenarios of the 21st
century. Change, in both its less threatening incremental forms, and in its turbulent
manifestations as propounded by Schumpeter (1951), has significantly altered our environment.
When we consider the paradoxical cliché that change is indeed a ‘constant’, it is surprising that
people resist change, as suggested earlier. This dilemma is graphically captured in the theories of
chaos and organizational change by Margaret Wheatley (2007). In our prevailing, volatile global
environments—political, technological, sociological, cultural, legal, and economic—uncertainty,
chaos, and rapid change are the order of the day. We just need to reach out and embrace them!

The tirelessly inquisitive Greek philosopher Socrates said that the secret of change is to focus our
energies, not on fighting the old, but on building the new. It is undeniable that change is
inevitable, and the key is how to handle it successfully. Consequently, initiated change has to
resolutely travel through organizational barriers and time, deploying resources to diffuse this
change sustainably for lasting impact. This is supported cogently by many theorists. Fullan
(2011) in his pragmatic Change Leader has asserted that the essence of the change process is the
capacity of organizational leadership—in light of uncertainty, chaos, and rapid change—to
generate organization-wide energy and passion through action. Change is action-oriented and not
merely a theoretical concept: it has to be pushed persistently with a forward momentum by the
leader who initiates and spearheads the change (Kotter, 1995).

Despite pockets of resistance, relentless and enthusiastic actions, as well as constructive and
efficient dissemination of information, are needed. The paradox of change is that even when the
benefits become discernible, change is not easy at any level. Indeed, people resist change due to
cynicism, fear, assumptions, and pre-judgment: they are afraid to fail or face the unknown and
the uncertain. The status quo is therefore preferable to the less adventurous who fear embracing
an entirely new perspective.

Change management is by default also a process that intuitively involves learning, with due
allowance for some failure as a catalyst in this learning process. After all, change cannot take
place without the participants learning about what should be the outcome, thus outgrowing what
prevails today. As business becomes more complex, challenging, and globally competitive,
excelling in this dynamic environment requires more understanding, knowledge, pragmatism,
and collaboration than one person’s expertise and experience alone can provide (Senge, 1990).
Collaboration is thus critical for change to gain momentum. For lasting impact therefore, astute
change leaders examine and drive their own, and others’ best practices.
 International Journal of Global Business, 9(2), 102-110, December 2016 105

Leveraging leadership for successful and sustainable change

Despite the classic but simplistic unfreeze-change-refreeze model of change popularized by

Lewin (1947), leveraging leadership for successful and sustainable change is indeed complex.
This is partly because it is anything but linear. In his eight-step model of change, Kotter (1995)
debunks ineffectual attempts at organizational change in the industry, and expands on the
paramount need for sustained momentum of the change process. He underscores the essential
urgency, dynamism, vision, synergy, and empowerment needed to enable change to percolate
and travel throughout organizational layers towards permanency. This not only demonstrates the
complexity of the change process, but also the need to leverage the change through sustained and
tireless leadership efforts.

In The Six Secrets of Change, Michael Fullan describes how “good theories travel across sectors
of public and private organizations, and they apply to geographically and culturally diverse
situations” (Fullan, 2008, p. 14). To understand the process of leveraging leadership and change,
we will need to weave strands of theory that overlap and interact to enhance our understanding of
sustainable change. By integrating visioning, systems thinking, mental models, the learning
organization, and sustainability, we begin to see the tapestry woven in the complex
organizational phenomenon of leading and sustaining change. For this, adaptive and
transformational leadership processes are brought to bear on the leadership task.

Theory suggests that mental models are deeply ingrained assumptions, generalizations, or even
pictures of images that influence how we understand the world and how we take action. We are
constantly seeking ways to improve a plurality of mental models—and thereby enhance the
quality of dynamic decisions on which they are based. (Johnson-Laird, 1983; Senge, 1990).
Mental models are thus essentially incomplete and parsimonious knowledge structures with
fuzzy boundaries, and that allow an individual to construct perceptions of a discernible system
(Craik, 1943; Johnson-Laird, 1983; Norman, 1983).

These mental models or images cannot remain hidden for long, but have to be impelled by
“training wheels” if necessary, to become visible through necessary pragmatism (Senge, 2012,
pp. 164, 177). In the process, we often convert objective evidence from observation into
subjective assumptions which could distort reality and result in incorrect decisions and actions. It
can safely be surmised therefore that the leveraging of change through leadership for
constructive transformation of reality in the organization involves concretizing the leader’s and
followers’ mental models through energetic and actionable reality. It is therefore necessary to
suspend judgment (Scharmer, 2009), enter into collaborative dialogues, and then make our
decisions. As a consequence, we foray into the evolving future as it emerges.

Leveraging leadership for change demands sustainability. This is the “capacity of a system to
engage in the complexities of continuous improvement, consistent with deep values of human
 International Journal of Global Business, 9(2), 102-110, December 2016 106

purpose.” (Fullan, 2005, p. ix). Unfortunately, the sustainability initiatives in general appear to
be internal and focused on the present (Senge, et al., 2008, p. 159). Therefore, the key to true
sustainability is for our actions to be future-oriented. Thus, according to Theory U Leadership,
we need to practice “presencing” by borrowing from the future to understand the present more
deeply. Indeed, we may thus shape the foreseeable future by deep listening in such a manner as
to avoid negative environmental effects or jeopardy for future generations.

The Importance of Leading Change in the 21st Century

Successful leaders who lead constructive change in the 21st century will be those who have the
ability to learn—and simultaneously create an organization of learning. Fullan’s Secret #Four of
the six secrets of change is: The Learning is the Work. The essence of this fourth secret concerns
how organizations address their core goals and tasks with relentless consistency, while at the
same time learning how to get better at what they are doing. (Fullan, 2008, p. 76). Life creates
more possibilities as it engages with windows of opportunity. (Wheatley, 1996). Indeed, when
these opportunities proliferate within the system, countless possibilities are spawned.

The nature of human systems is to ultimately find a semblance of order through the resulting
maze of chaos. To achieve this, systems thinking is needed for leaders of the 21st century to
leverage successful change in their organizations. Systems thinking is a cohesive model that
views all critical processes in an organization as interrelated and interdependent (Senge,
1990). Understanding such networked relationships is important in helping leaders implement
change in organizations. They can thereby produce desired goals and achieve a shared
vision. Systems thinking can be used to alter leaders’ perspectives on their organization, their
assumptions, and their ways of thinking. Thus, organizational effectiveness is improved. These
are important skills for 21st century leaders to manage in the world of ever-changing challenges.

Integration of the Change Process into Leadership

In Managing Transitions, Bridges & Bridges (2003) propose three phases for transition to guide
change agents through the uncertain journey of change: (1) Ending, losing, letting go; (2) The
neutral zone; and, (3) The new beginning. After people have let go of the past, they enter the
neutral zone—a juncture of risk, creativity, and opportunity. This is reminiscent of Lewin’s
transition phase between unfreezing and refreezing. This is therefore also a period that has to be
carefully managed to move into the new beginning phase which would “refreeze” the
organization into the novel state. In these three phases, Bridges & Bridges (2003) consider the
psychological, cognitive, and emotional transitions that must take place for members of an
organization or a process improvement team to change their behavior and navigate the process of
transformation. As Heifetz (2009) avers in terms of the adaptive challenge required herein,
Bridges & Bridges (2003) also focus on the emotional intelligence necessary to guide people in
organizations to make the relentless transitions required in the change process.
 International Journal of Global Business, 9(2), 102-110, December 2016 107

This aspect of emotional intelligence also finds harmony with Senge’s (2012) thesis that we live
in a ‘web of interdependency’. This is a practical application of systems thinking towards a better
understanding of the interdependent structures of dynamic systems. In essence, systems thinking
means: “stepping back and seeing the patterns that are, when seen clearly, intuitive and easy to
grasp.” (Senge et al., 2000, p. 23). It also allows leaders to see their complex organizations as a
network of interdependent constituents.

The concept of the “learning organization” resonates with respect to sustainable change
leadership. Senge (1990, p. 14) defines a learning organization as an organization that is
continually expanding its capacity to fashion its future. In a learning organization people
continually expand their capacities to create the future results they truly desire (Scharmer, 2009).
We can consider the tenets of Theory U Leadership highlighted in this paper to build the learning
organization—where innovative and creative patterns of thinking and practice are nurtured
(Bass, 1985; Burns, 2008). In an organizational environment we can inculcate and model
collaboration as a way of organizational life (Fullan, 2011), where people celebrate their
interdependency in a systemic network for continual learning (Senge, 1990).

In this context, the five disciplines that should ideally work as an ensemble are: systems
thinking, personal mastery, mental models, shared vision, and team learning (Senge, 1990). The
first three are personal, and the remaining two have plurality of application. Organizational
learning through systems thinking has the distinction of being the ‘fifth discipline’. It is also the
cornerstone of continuous improvement and feedback loops as it serves to make the results of the
other disciplines to work together beneficially (Senge, 1990).

The classic 1957 film Twelve Angry Men was used to illustrate the concept of “cooking the
conflict” because a stream of challenges can push a dynamic organization into disequilibrium
and a state of flux; by calibrating the heat levels, the leader “cooks the conflict” until the conflict
is dissipated (Heifetz & Linsky, 2002, pp. 111-116). Change can thus be leveraged effectively.
The leader needs to ask tough questions, get people to come out of their comfort zones, and
actively encourage positive change. The strong leader also needs to delegate wisely, breaking up
seemingly insurmountable problems into smaller and doable parts by assigning clear roles and
using short time-frames. (Heifetz & Linsky, 2002, p.111).

Transformational leadership inspires followers to perform “beyond their expectations” (Bass,

1985). It is necessary to articulate and leverage sustainable change in a progressive organization.
Further, transformational leadership involves integrity and credibility on the part of the change
leader. The traditional view of leadership with a results-at-all-costs orientation is on the wane, as
contemporary theorists are underscoring the responsibility of leaders to ensure standards
of moral and ethical conduct. Leadership geared to lasting and salutary change must not only be
based on competence, but also on strong ethics while transforming a diversity of people toward a
mindset of sustainable change (Resick, et al., 2006).
 International Journal of Global Business, 9(2), 102-110, December 2016 108

In this regard, deeply and empathic listening with an open mind, open heart, and open will as
propounded by Scharmer (2009) should impel sustainable change. This approach precipitates the
deep empathy with followers that supports inclusiveness, accountability, and collaboration. Good
change leadership therefore involves not only competence, but also deeper, empathic
engagement and presencing—which enables us to connect to the deepest source of our self and
will to act from the emerging whole of the evolving future. In this context, discovering the ‘blind
spot’ of leadership, or the deep inner source from which we operate and relate to this emerging
future, becomes of key importance. In the process, followers are entirely on board with the leader
in a symbiotic relationship to effect change that is fully supported by all those affected by it.

Change Management and Leadership: A Symbiosis

Leadership involves change management as the leader takes followers from the present to the
future. Thus, there is a symbiosis between the two social phenomena of leadership and change
management. Development of personnel, introduction of technology, reorganization of
resources, commissioning of special events, and strategizing for market position—all these
involve change management. Enhanced understanding of Theory U Leadership (see figure
below) and how it is utilized can indeed be helpful in planning change management in emerging
leadership roles.

To amplify this, we learn that silence can indeed be golden. Observing in silence and listening
deeply and empathically with an open mind, open heart, and open will would be necessary to
understand the points of view of others who will be affected by the contemplated changes.
Through generative listening—the highest form of listening, much like tuning an instrument—
we drop our existing knowledge and beliefs, as well as attachment to any specific outcomes. We
thereby allow a new and changed future to emerge. Thus, the three impediments to listening—
voice of judgment, cynicism, and fear—are eliminated. The ‘blind spot’ of leadership, or the
aspects of leadership that are as yet unrevealed and deep within us, will become clearer to enable
more effective change management.
 International Journal of Global Business, 9(2), 102-110, December 2016 109

Theory U Leadership

Source: Scharmer, O. (2009). Theory U: Leading from the future as it emerges.

San Francisco, CA: Berrett-Koehler.

Conclusion

Inasmuch as change is fluid and dynamic, leadership itself is anything but a static mental model:
we evolve in our leadership skills and behaviors. Studying best practices will certainly serve to
nurture and hone our leadership abilities. With experience we begin to recognize the complex
nature of leadership and change, and the art and science behind leading masterfully. Indeed,
leadership can be nurtured through training and learning across a wide range of personalities.
The best leaders are visionaries and change agents who are dissatisfied with the status quo. As
reflected in Theory U Leadership, they suspend judgmental attitudes, listen empathically, and
practice presencing to tap into the emerging future. In the final analysis, leadership that leverages
amazing and sustainable change cannot happen by accident: it calls for vision, purpose, courage,
resoluteness, and a sense of destiny. For future research, a deeper understanding could be sought
of the application of Theory U Leadership to leadership tasks for innovative, inclusive, and
sustainable change through systemic and systematic change management.
 International Journal of Global Business, 9(2), 102-110, December 2016 110

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