Leading – Not Dragging: 5 Insights into Leading Change. By Arnie Wohlgemut
You’ve seen it. You’ve lived through it. (I hope you haven’t been tempted to do it.) I’m talking about charging ahead of your team, making changes that leave them dumb founded. I get the sensitivities. Organizational change has many fragile layers. Rarely will your whole team cheerlead your plan to success. There may even be wisdom on dispensing information slowly and strategically.
But over and over again I see leaders, leadership teams and boards of directors announce significant change with little or no detail.
Here’s the announcement (you may have heard this before): “The leadership team is excited about the upcoming changes. We look forward to new opportunities. We are confident that these changes are critical for long-term growth.”
With assurances that the leadership team is on it and “have discussed this at length with the board” or “this has been in the works for months”, the rest of the organization is left totally in the dark.
Working alongside leaders and implementing change for more than 30 years, I have developed a code of conduct when leading change:
1. Communicate. Communicate. Communicate
Humans are naturally inclined to fill in the blanks. It’s in the DNA. When it appears that only part of the information or the real reason for the change is not public, people immediately form small groups in the attempt to find the reasons. That means the imagination of the team is unleashed to develop multiple scenarios of the upcoming change, inserting stuff from their own life experiences or worse.
If you are unable to share upcoming changes, keep mum. Don’t hint. Don’t allude. Don’t give people content that is filled with holes.
As you integrate change, strategically plan the communication. Give as much information as possible – but don’t just give random information. Strategically position the information you release to augment the positive impact of the upcoming change.
2. Connect with the influencers.
In the popular TV show “BULL”, Dr. Jason Bull calls these influencers “Sneezers”. What they say spreads like an uncontrolled sneeze.
Reach out to the influencers and arm them (no pun intended) with facts and information. They can be supportive if you will let them.
These individuals are key. When they know they are trusted with critical and ‘insider’ information, they use their influence circles to spread it. Since they enjoy being influencers, they will also correct miss-information as soon as they encounter it, which is what you want.
3. Connect with those that are perceived to have influence.
Know your team. There are people who don’t stand at the front lines or even speak up in public settings, but they influence the team. Their success, education, experience, networks and even their personality gives them their status. Their opinions become the opinions of others.
Engage these individuals in the discussion and possibly the decision process. That way, they will influence with facts and content that is reliable, not simply add to the rumour mill. They could influence how many early adopters you have.
4. Strategically plan your communication.
Avoid asking people what they think or what thoughts they have. Especially if you have no intention of listening. If you ask questions, do so wisely, making sure the person, team or group is able to reflect on the situation objectively.
Ask better questions. Understand that the most important information they are looking for is how the change will impact them personally. How will this impact your team? Is there something you believe we should consider? What recommendation do you have that will lead to success? What impact will this have on those we serve, our clients or customers?
5. Take advice seriously.
If someone has the courage to stand up and answer your good questions, respect them and the advice. Avoid giving immediate feedback, give yourself time to consider their advice.
Don’t brush them off or answer superficially. Acknowledge the individual and the advice directly and be sure to give feedback why or not their advice was used. In my experience this is very powerful and empowering to this person and those watching.
Bottom line: build an engagement and communication plan. Your goal and the goal of the people affected by the change, is for the good of the organization/company. If your plans don’t get you closer to your goal, adjust the plans.
Just one last piece of advice. This isn’t your personal plan. Remember that. Critique isn’t of you, it’s a healthy process of collaborative excellence. The ultimate goal is to achieve the vision set for the organization/company.
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