Kotter and Rathgeber, in their simple fable, Our Iceberg is Melting, described a scenario which involves leading through change. The authors’ fable has a lot of lessons for leaders who wish to lead successful organisational changes. According to Kotter and Rathgeber, successful organisational change requires a step by step approach. The authors suggested an eight-step procedure for leading organisational change. The authors used a colony of penguins as the characters in their fable. The Penguins, unknowingly, employed the eight-step procedure to implement a successful change. According to the authors, a challenge which is well-handled can lead one to prosperity but poor handling of challenges lead one and others into risks.
In the fable, the majority of the Penguins knew the iceberg had been there for very many years and that it was to last forever. The iceberg was their home, and the surrounding sea was full of food. They expected food and comfort to last forever. The Penguins never thought one day there would be adverse conditions which can put their lives at risk. As a result, the Penguins found there was no need to change anything or to put in place any measures to protect them against any future risk. The Penguins, however, had learned that to survive, they must coexist as a colony/ a family. In this scenario, the authors equated penguins to people in modern organisations. According to them, people in organisations hardly see the need for change. The people fail to identify successfully what need to be done or even try to make it happen.
In the colony, there was one unique penguin known as Fred. Unlike others, Fred was good in observations, generation of ideas, and making of conclusions. He was not only curious but also very observant. Fred had the characteristics of a present day leader. From his observations, he had found out that there is a high probability that the iceberg, their home, will melt one day. Because of his leadership qualities, he knew he must do something before disaster strikes. Like in a typical organisation, some suggestions were not taken seriously by other penguins. For example, one penguin commented that their home was getting fragile, but the rest of the Penguins dismissed him.
The colony also had leaders, comprising the Leadership Council, with various responsibilities. Fred tried his best to explain the risk of melting iceberg but most of them could not understand, or they just dismissed his views. Some members of the leadership council showed interest in Fred’s explanation of the impending risk; some members were not interested at all, but others openly expressed their opposition to any Fred’s explanation. The resistance to change is a scenario in many modern organisations where people resist changes. Fred and a few others tried their best to convince the other members of the Leadership Council to understand the dangers of the melting ice but their explanations were met with a lot of resistance. Through their persistence, the Penguins eventually got convinced that there was a problem, and there was a need to work together to mitigate the risks. Fred and Alice, members of the Leadership Council, acted as leaders in the present day organisations. Leaders help in developing the vision and mission of the organisation. They identify threats and opportunities and rally support from the people in the organisation. To gain good support, leaders, like Fred and Alice, need to convince other leaders and people in the organisation to work together for a common goal. Eventually, the Penguins acknowledge there was a problem and that they need to collaborate to avert the impending disaster. The Penguins introduced teamwork and teamwork are highly emphasised in modern organisations.
The concerns regarding the risks of melting iceberg were resolved when the Penguins identified another safe iceberg in time. Although many penguins are we sceptical about the forecast of melting an iceberg, they eventually accepted that they were under threat and that they had to act. The way they finally accept to handle the issue was impressive. The persistence of the Fred and Alice also helped the colony work together eventually. Many aspects of Kouzes Posner leadership framework apply in this case. For example, all the five aspects of exemplary leadership are found in this fable which includes inspiring a shared vision, modelling the way, encouraging the heart, inspiring a shared vision, and enabling others to act (Leadership Challenge). In this fable, some of the characteristics of an effective leader are persistence, persuasiveness, creativity, observant, good judgment, motivation, visionary, high aptitude, patient, and optimistic.
Works cited
Kotter, John and Rathgeber Holger. Our Iceberg is Melting: Changing and Succeeding Under any Conditions. New York, NY: St. Martin’s Press, 2005. Print.
Leadership Challenge. The Five Practices of Exemplary Leadership® Model. Wiley, 2016. Web. 9 July 2016.
