It’s August.
Where did the time go? Seriously. How is it August?
As we move into the heart of the 2nd half of 2021, there is no playbook for what we just went through
and where we are about to go. It is literally changing every day, every week, every month.
With this constant, chaotic, and intensive change, the skills of change leaders are being depleted and change leaders are desperate to gain new skills and tools to be effective.
Over the past few months, I have been privileged to be working on several new change leadership simulations including our new, Practical Change Leadership business simulation being created in conjunction with Dr. Elizabeth Moran who is writing a great new book on the topic.
Change Leadership in 2021 and Beyond
Although there are an infinite number of definitions of Change Leadership, here are a few highlights to get the discussion and thought process going. Change Leadership is:
- Preparing, equipping, and supporting your people through change so they are psychologically safe and able to deliver value.
- How we energize and mobilize our people around a change that will ultimately deliver improved results and outcomes.
- Enabling our people to be successful in the change journeys we assign them to and put them in.
- How we respond to the knowledge that change ultimately happens one person at a time, and collective outcomes depend on the culmination of groups and teams of individual transitions.
- Ensuring that solutions, however they are designed and delivered, are ultimately embraced, adopted and used by employees going through the change.
After many months of observation, research, and building Change Leadership solutions for our clients, the big “aha” about Change Leadership is that effective Change Leadership is not just the tools, templates, processes, assessments, meeting, and communication programs. It is about helping people to be successful in their own changes so the organization succeeds in executing the changes.
3 Things You Can Do as a Change Leader to Help Your People Succeed
1) Manage their expectations
Change is uncomfortable. Change is exciting. Change is unexpected. The best thing you can do for your teams and people going through change is to manage their expectations. That means sharing with them what is going to happen, how it is going to happen, and when it is going to happen. When they have questions, answer their questions openly and share the information that you can. When they ask if their jobs are going to be eliminated, answer them with what you know and do it humanely.
2) Communicate, Communicate, Communicate
There is no such thing as over communicating during change. Take every opportunity to share, define, and let people know what is happening. The best Change Leaders don’t just respond, but also confirm to make sure that everyone who has questions is getting the answers they need and hearing what you are saying (not just what they want to hear).
3) Be Sincere, Humble, and Transparent
As stated earlier, the most important part of being a Change Leader is being humane. You must do everything possible to be sincere, humble, and transparent. Lying or telling mistruths will only make it worse. If you are incapable of having hard conversations, then you either need to learn quickly how to do it or stop being a manager.
In summary, the change is not going to stop. Being a change leader is only going to get more difficult. I hope these insights and tips can help you feel more comfortable and become more effective.
