Leading Through Change
This post was originally published on November 5, 2020, on Instagram as part of Her Growth Collective.
Leaders often forget how stressful change is for our human brains. Even positive changes, ones that are generally considered good, create anxiety.
Why? For the same reasons we are all on edge waiting for the election results to come in. We don’t know what we don’t know. It’s the not knowing that feeds anxiety.
I’ve experienced or helped lead dozens, possibly 100+, change initiatives and mergers at this point in my career. When you are the one excited about change, it can be so easy to forget that not everyone shares your enthusiasm.
Any time you lead a group through change it’s important to use a human-centered approach (yes, even on my tech projects!). When done well, teams come together through the lows in a way that carries them to the highs.
How? Here’s a few tips to get you started:
Share your vision. Help people understand where you are taking them and what you believe will be better on the other side of change. Paint them a picture clear enough so that they can see how your vision has the potential to positively impact their lives in a meaningful way.
Be honest about potential downsides. As we’ve seen time and again with Covid, ignoring real and obvious risks damages your credibility. Instead, engage in honest conversation and invite people to help you mitigate or manage these risks.
Communicate and then over-communicate. Much of the anxiety brought on by change comes from not knowing and stress negatively impacts memory recall. Expect to communicate the same thing over and over again until you are sick of hearing the words come out of your mouth. Over-communicating helps your people remember important details, it builds clear and consistent messaging, and it alleviates anxiety by providing reassurance that someone is steering the ship.
Make room for people’s emotions but beware of bad apples. Give people space to grieve what they are losing and be annoyed that they have to relearn everything or they will never process their emotions and get on the same page as you. Many of the people you perceive as complaining are raising valid concerns in the only way they know how. Take the time to listen to them and problem solve with them and they may very well become your biggest advocates. At the same time, not everyone will get on board with the new direction. As we are seeing in this election, fear of change is a powerful force and not everyone will have the mindset needed to move forward. Once it becomes apparent that you have a bad apple on your team then set them free. They will be miserable and they will make everyone around them miserable. It’s also highly disrespectful to the rest of your team (who is working hard to bring your vision to life) to saddle them with the burden of someone who no longer wants to be there.
Never forget to pause and celebrate the wins. Change is hard and should be celebrated. Celebrate at key milestones along the way and make sure your people feel an abundance of gratitude for their efforts. If you don’t have a budget for team building celebrations, ask for one. If the answer is still no, get creative but never skip the celebrations.
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This post is written in partnership with #HerGrowthCollective, encouraging women to walk the path of self-development together.
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