In today’s world, change and chaos are inevitable, and there is no way around them. As a leader, you need to embrace the change and work your way out through all the mess!
“One of the tests of leadership is the ability to recognise a problem before it becomes an emergency.” —Arnold Glasow
The world around us keeps changing rapidly, and we are forced to make massive changes these days. If you continue leading with the same old traditional ways that your company has always used, it will most likely fail to succeed. Leadership through change is the ultimate solution to it.
What Is Leadership Through Change?
Leadership through change requires simultaneously optimising an organisation’s culture and making investments to enhance business growth. It creates experiences for individuals who develop new possibilities while combining them to initiate strategies that exploit the resources to triumph in the marketplace.
However, those who lead through change in the wrong way can face swift and painful consequences. In this regard, Transformational leadership lets you refine the change leadership into bite-sized chunks for effective implementation.
The organisations that dominate the market possess leadership traits of knowing how to lead effectively through change than anyone else and bring out the best in their employees during such an uncertain changing environment.
“Change leadership is the art and then the science of influencing people to engage in change and then navigating a journey together from their current state to a desired future state.” – Hawkes
Key Strategies for Leadership through Change
· Staying Purpose-Driven
If your company is facing turbulent times, you need to stay purpose-driven to lead through change successfully. If the organisational leadership lacks a sense of purpose, how will the employees stay on track? It is not just the company that depends on the executive leadership but its people as well.
It is acceptable not knowing what to do at the start; you might even end up being more stressed than you have ever been in your career. However, if you divert all your focus towards your purpose and creating a purpose-driven culture, all the “how’s” and “what-ifs” will eventually be answered.
· Taking Communication Seriously
You already know how crucial communication is; everyone keeps emphasising effective communication. Many organisations undervalue the importance of communication, mostly during the period of significant change.
Communication, when done correctly, results in significant relationships, which is essential for organisational health. Communication of all the changes and situations must be shared among all the departments to ensure effectiveness. When all teams coordinate with each other, they can perform at a high level.
Leadership through change requires leaders to communicate from a technical aspect while reinforcing the need for inspiration and acknowledgement of their people. So, the next time any change hits your company, no matter how small or big, make it a priority to take communication seriously and give your 100%.
· Consider Employees as an Asset and Invest in Them
Being a leader, you should know that your most significant assets are the people who work with you. These individuals are expected to carry out your objective and vision through each transition happening at your organisation due to change. It depends on them to make the transition successful or unsuccessful, so it is wise to invest in them.
Depending on your company’s size, try to invest in your people as much as you can. Successful organisations are passionate about building their people to attain a top position in the market.
The investment can be made in several different ways, like initiating team-building exercises, enhancing skill sets, bringing in experts, and much more. Adaptive leadership will help your company thrive through change and show your compassion towards your team.
· Persistence is the Key!
Honestly, no one likes change, especially your employees. Change initiates a sense of uncertainty, and your people will be tempted to slow down, give up and eventually lose the focus of the overall goal. As a leader, it is you’re your job to instil persistence until you succeed.
There is no doubt that it gets tough to move forward when you feel like nothing is being accomplished or the results are not as you expected them to be. This is where persistence comes in and rescues you. It is one of the most important leadership traits that let your organisation thrive during the phase of extreme change.
Successful Change Efforts
Change breeds fear and uncertainty, which often leads to unsuccessful efforts!
When people are not sure and lack the courage to embrace the change and take the necessary efforts, the successful transition becomes a challenge.
Center for creative leadership researched to figure out the competencies needed for change-capable leaders. They divided them into three major categories and called them “The three C’s of change” for leading the process along with the people.
Let’s take a look at the Three C’s of Effective Change Leadership. When united, these three C’s bring effective change leadership.
1. Communicate
As mentioned before, in every aspect, the most important factor is communication. But, a leader must know how to do it the correct way. Communicating the change, explaining the purpose and connecting it with your organisation’s values is the key to successful communication. When leaders explain the benefits of change, people tend to adapt to all the changes and stay motivated.
2. Collaborate
All the dominating organisations have a collaborative culture where they make the most out of each person’s skills and ideas. For organisational leadership, it is crucial to bring people together for each phase, including planning, implementing and executing change. Leaders who work across boundaries and encourage their employees to come out of their caves and refuse any unhealthy competition will most definitely succeed. Thought leadership involves doing all sorts of collaborations rather than including your employees in the change process when 80% of the planning is done.
3. Commit
Although change is difficult and no one enjoys it, the leaders who were able to negotiate it successfully were willing to step out of their comfort zone and become persistent and resilient towards the goals. Leadership skills include committing with beliefs and behaviours that supported the change. Along with that, they must devote most of their time to it and keep their focus on the big picture.
The Do’s and Don’ts of Leadership Through Change
Leadership through change might seem impossible as you don’t know where the next turn will take you. It is virtuous to learn from others’ experiences to know which road to take and which to avoid. We have gathered some dos and don’ts of leading through change to not repeat the same mistakes as others.
✔ Let Others Know What You Know
One common mistake among leaders is that they keep the bad news or critical information to themselves, and employees have no idea about it, making them even more anxious. They are an equal part of the organisation as you are; you are not the only person feeling confused and troubled at the sudden change. Try your best to engage them and fill them in on crucial details and deadlines. Keep them updated with everything as you find out new information. Keeping your people informed will take away some of their uncertainty, and they will be encouraged to cooperate.
✔ Outline the Action Plan
Once you know how to go, make an action plan and divide the work for each team member. Choose them wisely according to their skills and competencies, utilise each person’s unique talents to enhance the change process. Rather than sharing the broad picture or the expected results, take them through each step of the journey and let them give their input when needed. When they start offering their ideas, it will stir up ownership and boost their confidence.
✔ Reduce Conflicts
While talking about change, how can we forget the growing number of conflicts? When an organisation is going towards a new path, conflicts will arise. Your people might be frustrated at the idea of change or fail to understand their roles. No matter what reason, organisational leadership includes resolving conflicts positively and constructively. In this way, your company’s transition will be much smoother.
✔ Don’t forget to invest time for questions
Going through a transition might tempt you to accelerate through each process in which you forget to give enough time for essential questions from your team. It is necessary to leave the door open for all your people’s concerns and questions whenever they arise. Encourage everyone to share their worries, reserve some time from your schedule for questions and clearing out any queries. Employees usually fail to ask by themselves, so you can ask, “what can I do to help you?” to show them your concern and commitment.
✔ Don’t usher all the elements of change at once
Diving in headfirst into the transition or ripping off the Band-Aid is probably not a good idea, no matter how tempting it may seem at that time. Ushering in all the elements of change at once can be a destructive factor in your change process. Adaptive leadership includes gradually rolling out the change your people are supposed to make and giving them prior notice not to be caught off guard.
Imagine the following events happening at once; new daily schedule, reorganised office space, new riles, and management change. Now think how disruptive it seems to be unloaded at once. Therefore it is never wise to do all things at once and burden everyone, including yourself.
✔ Don’t Forget to Appreciate
Leaders can become so invested in the process of directing and managing that they fail to appreciate or thank their team members when they do good work. But it shouldn’t be like that; take out some time and reflect on the things your people are doing. Start the new day by appreciating them, it not only makes them happy, but they will be encouraged to perform much better in the future.
How to Overcome the Hurdles of Leadership
Leading change can be a lonely experience because you might be the only one with a different opinion. Convincing everyone to look in a new direction and doing something revolutionary has always been difficult. But during these times, you must be determined and not shy away from asking for help.
Being a leader doesn’t mean to figure out everything on your own; leave some room to learn from others who have been through a parallel transition. It will also help you realise how unique your team’s strengths are and how to avoid mistakes.
Staying motivated and resilient are two significant leadership traits. Once you have adopted these, hurdles will not seem that tough to you.
Leave a room for learning while being true to yourself!
Final Thoughts…
Change is constant, it always has been, and we can never be used to it. As a leader, your job is to set a transformational leadership tone in your organisation through change. These strategies will not only improve your organisation’s performance, but eventually, your company might become one of the leading companies in the marketplace.
Leadership in itself is a big task, and when you have to lead your way through change, it becomes even more significant. But a clear vision and determination will make your journey more comfortable!
