Change is occurring everywhere today due to the pandemic, protests, and economic failures.
Many team members that have been silent are now standing up and speaking up. This can be intimidating for even the strongest of leaders because change can be difficult whether or not you believe in it.
You can view change as a phoenix rising out of the success your company has already experienced. Or, you can hide behind the numbers, policies, and “the way it’s always been done,” and hope no one notices.
The truth is, leaders must manage the change or it will manage them.
How Do You Get Out of the Way?
Embrace, Don’t Fear of Change. This is a must and required to be a leader, especially in today’s new world of work. Learn to embrace change and be part of its evolution instead of allowing it to happen by default. Be the leader that guides teams forward by encouraging innovation along the way.
It’s Not Personal. When team members are standing up and speaking up, it’s not about you. It’s about changes they believe are required of the company’s systems, policies, and/or practices. When you set aside your ego, biases and judgments, you will hear what needs to be heard. Then, you can ask questions to brainstorm ideas that build change and create win-win-win outcomes.
Develop Mindful Resilience. We all get triggered by certain words, facial expressions, or gestures. Mindful resilience is when we develop a conscious awareness of our triggers and address our reactions in a positive manner. It’s starts with you, as the leader, taking responsibility for your triggers when they occur so they don’t get in the way. Remember, clarity of what triggered your reactions is required before you can create win-win-win outcomes. Work with your executive coach or therapist to guide you through these triggered reactions that can get in the way of leading and managing change.
Get Over the Need to be Well-Liked When Making Decisions. It hurts your credibility. Many leaders are afraid to upset others and it is reflected in their decisions. However, change requires fearless leadership to make the tough decisions and manage worthwhile change. Work with your executive coach as a trusted sounding board and focus on understanding the impact your decisions have across the company and with your customers. Include team members in decision-making processes by using facilitated brainstorming sessions. Give them a voice and listen to what they are saying! You’ll be amazed by their ideas and insights.
Make Your Feedback Positive. Recently a group of people were providing feedback on a project by saying, “I don’t like this or that.” When asked why, they said, “Just because I don’t.” This type of feedback is meaningless and not helpful to a project manager or team. As a leader, discover “why” by asking non-accusatory questions. Otherwise, you and your team will fail to stretch and develop the skills required to make better decisions.
Questions to get the conversation started:
- Tell me more about why you don’t like this idea.
- Interesting…could you tell me what you’re hearing or seeing about this idea that has you say “no”?
- What would make it a “yes”?
Getting out of the way and leading change will make you a better leader. Your career will thank you.
©Jeannette Seibly, 2020
Jeannette Seibly is an award-winning executive coach and keynote speaker. For more than 27 years, she has been an expert in guiding leaders to excel at leading by embracing change. The new world of work has started. Are you ready? Contact Jeannette to improve your strategic hiring, coaching, training, and managing processes. Don’t forget to listen to her podcasts on Anchor.FM or YouTube.com.
Change can be a difficult process for everyone! As a leader, learn about your style to see how well you have managing it! Contact Jeannette about the CheckPoint 360oassessment.