Change Leadership
3 Keys to Take Aways
Change yields to a disciplined process.
Choose
your levers
of change wisely.
Resistance is a constant, but it can be overcome.
What goes through your mind when you hear the term “change”?
How about the people you lead?
Research on How People Answer That Question
What are your teams experiencing?
• Exciting
• Frightening
• Uncertain
• Anxious
• Apprehensive
• Opportunity
• Transformation
• Cynicism
• An Excuse
Stages of Change
The stages cannot be skipped, but the speed through them can be increased.
Process and pace matter.
In the best organizations this is a continuous
cycle AND a
core competence.
A Framework for Leading Change
The Levers of Change
In Order of Impact as a Force Multiplier for Change
Organizational Culture
• Culture effects everything
• It is too often allowed to form at random
• Intentionality = Change Impact
• The first step to enabling change
Operating/
Accountability Model
• Changing the way
you do business
• Must align with and enable culture
Organizational Structure
• The weakest lever, but the one most often pulled first; erroneously
• “Don’t expect structure to do culture’s job”
• The final piece of solidifying change
Eight Steps of Change
Do Not Skip, Nor Reorder Steps
Calibrate Pace
1. Establishing a Sense of Urgency
2. Forming a Guiding Coalition
3. Creating a Vision
4. Communicating the Vision
5. Empowering Others to Act on the Vision
6. Planning for and Creating Short-Term Wins
7. Consolidating Improvements and Producing Still More Change
8. Institutionalizing New Approaches
Prepare for
Resistance - Top 10
Which are you encountering most acutely?
Reasons for Resistance and How to Lead People Past Them
Loss of Control
Common feeling
“I didn’t ask for this, it is being imposed on me.”
Leadership tactic
Involve them in the planning of how the new model will work.
Excess Certainty
Common feeling
“Will this work?”
Leadership tactic
Create a sense of safety and probability of success by clearly articulating the processes the underpin the new model
Everything Seems Different
Common feeling
“Nothing looks familiar to me anymore, how do I
fit in?”
Leadership tactic
Keep focused on a single change until it is fully implemented. Position all of the things that must change over time as integral components of the single, overarching vision of the future.
Caught by Surprise
Common feeling
“Where did this come from and why?”
Leadership tactic
Sow the seeds of the change early. Involve them in discussions on what you are considering and why. Solicit reactions and thoughts.
Loss of Face
Common feeling
“I helped create this and now its being called out as wrong; therefore, they’re calling me out as wrong.”
Leadership tactic
Celebrate those aspects of the past that are worth acknowledging. Articulate that the world/industry has changed which is requiring that we change along with it.
Concerns About Competence
Common feeling
“Can I do it? I knew how to be valuable in the old model. Can I be equally valuable in the new model?”
Leadership tactic
Clarify for them how you will guide and coach them to be highly valuable in the new model.
More Work
Common feeling
“It’s going to take too much effort to change. I just need to keep getting things done.”
Leadership tactic
Practice capacity management; the “Zero Sum Assumption”
Ripple Effects
Common feeling
“Other people are going to push back and resent
me as I implement change and require them to do
the same.”
Leadership tactic
Include those effected by the change in the early planning stages
Past Resentments
Common feeling
“You (or some other leader) has wasted my time before with changes that accomplished nothing and I’m not going there again!”
Leadership tactic
Engage in conversation about past change efforts that did not go well, why, and what can be done to make sure this time is truly different.
Sometimes the Threat Is Real and They Are Afraid
Common feeling
“Nothing is certain anymore. Our success is uncertain. My personal success is uncertain. I’m afraid of failure.”
Leadership tactic
Be honest, transparent, fair, and take the time to coach them in the new ways.
Leading Change
You Did Not Initiate
How to establish Buy-in While Maintaining alignment, Credibility, and Stability – 3 Principles
1 Understanding and Communicating the “Why”
Clarify with whomever made the decision their precise reasons why.
Probe deeply, not with the attitude of challenging, but with an authentic desire to fully understand what you need to communicate.
Communicate the difficult truth.
Reference that this is a difficult situation and any progressive decision will necessarily yield some negative consequences.
Maintain your authenticity and credibility.
Explain the concept of “Value Complexity”; complex decisions inevitably support some organizational values while compromising others.
Do not downplay the negative consequences; acknowledge and explain them.
2 Show Empathy
Avoid being exclusively “facts and logic” in your communications.
Assess the persona
of your audience to determine what they most care about; tailor your communications accordingly.
Separate your audiences by persona to heighten the relevance of your communications to each audience.
3 Generate Positive Energy
Highlight all of the
ways the organization and therefore, your
team will benefit from this decision.
Articulate the likely negative outcomes to
the organization if this decision had not
been made
Enable dialogue about the decision.
Let people ask questions, express emotions, and offer ideas on how to make this decision work and/or mitigate its negative impacts.
Resist feeling like you need to resolve their concerns; there is tremendous leadership value in just listening to
their feelings.
Give them some sense
of influence.
Facilitate discussion on how they can optimize culture and performance after the decision.
Change Creates
Uncertainty
Four principles for leading in uncertain times
Principle 1:
Embrace the Discomfort of Not Knowing
Common Context
Our brains are hardwired to see uncertainty as a threat.
This is especially true for high
achievers who have built careers on having answers.
Reframe
Embrace the discomfort of not knowing as an expected and normal part of the learning process.
Shift from an emphases to “know it all” to one of “learn it all.”
Principle 2:
Let Go of Perfectionism
Aiming for
perfection is futile.
In a complex environment, context is continually shifting.
Aim for progress.
Expect mistakes.
Know you have the ability to
course correct.
Let go of fear-based assumptions.
“If any of these fears come to reality I won’t be able to recover.”
It is the rare circumstance where recovery is not possible.
Principle 3:
Resist Oversimplification and Quick Conclusions
Instead of acting on the desire for a quick resolution, balance the need for action with a disciplined approach to decision-making.
Get into deep perspective of the factors driving the core problem.
Analyze potential solutions in a structured way.
Guard against bias.
Principle 4:
Don’t Go It Alone
Uncertainty can cause a sense of isolation.
Principle 4:
Don’t Go It Alone
As complexity and volume of work increases a too common tendency is to double-down on individual effort.
Instead, reach out to your network, and beyond, for insight and perspective.
A CEO; “When I’m trying to make sense of a complex issue the first thing I do is reach out to people whose opinions I value and whose experience is in some way different from my own.”
3 Keys to Take Away from Today
Change
yields to a disciplined process.
Choose
your levers
of change wisely.
Resistance is a constant, but it can be overcome.