Leading Change
So 2022 has gotten off to a rocky start. But regardless, we think there are reasons to be optimistic. If history has taught us anything it is that through effective leadership and collaboration, humans can overcome pretty much anything while creating new value in the process!
People do not like change. I have written this line many times before. When times are more sedate and predictable, we are not inclined to change that much. Why bother? The fact we have experienced so much change in recent times is not a result of a shift in thinking towards change. But because COVID has made us confront what is not working. We have been forced to adapt or risk becoming obsolete. There is nothing like a crisis to break down barriers that may have been stopping what was eventually inevitable anyway!
But how about actually ‘leading change’, rather than being forced to change by external factors beyond our control?
As we continue to emerge from the COVID crisis that has engulfed the world, challenges remain, so now, in our view, is the time to break down our own self imposed barriers, destroy pointless silos in our organisations and lead change. Now is the time to seize the initiative and lead change in our industries and organisations.
We need to ask ourselves, how could we do things better, how can we better motivate and inspire our people, and how can our business cultures be better equipped to embrace change and therefore future-proof our businesses?
These issues will be featured at the FuturePrint Leaders Summit in Geneva.
But what do you need to do to lead change?
It is well worth checking out this article written by Mike Myatt from Forbes, in his very compelling article he isolates three key steps!
1. Identifying the Need for Change: The need for change exists in every organization. Other than irrational change solely for the sake of change, every corporation must change to survive. If your organization doesn’t innovate and change in accordance with market-driven needs and demands it will fail - it’s just that simple. The most complex area surrounding change is focusing your efforts in the right areas, for the right reasons, and at the right times. The ambiguity and risk can be taken out of the change agenda by simply focusing on three areas:
1) Current Customers - what needs to change to better serve your customers?
2) Potential Customers…what needs to change to profitably create new customers? and;
3) Corporate Culture…what changes need to occur to better serve your workforce and improve their resources such that they can better influence items one and two above?
2. Leading Change: You cannot effectively lead change without understanding the landscape of change. There are four typical responses to change: The Victim; those who view change as a personal attack on their persona, their role, their job, or their area of responsibility. They view everything at an atomic level based upon how they perceive change will directly and indirectly impact them. The Neutral Bystander; This group is neither for nor against change. They will not directly or vocally oppose change, nor will they proactively get behind change. The Neutral Bystander will just go with the flow not wanting to make any waves, and thus hoping to perpetually fly under the radar. The Critic; The Critic opposes any and all change. Keep in mind that not all critics are overt in their resistance. Many critics remain in stealth mode trying to derail change behind the scenes by using their influence on others. Whether overt or covert, you must identify critics of change early in the process if you hope to succeed. The Advocate; The Advocate not only embraces change, they will evangelize the change initiative. Like The Critics, it is important to identify The Advocates early in the process to not only build the power base for change, but to give momentum and enthusiasm to the change initiative. Once you’ve identified these change constituencies you must involve all of them, message properly to each of them, and don’t let up. With the proper messaging and involvement even adversaries can be converted into allies.
3. Managing Change: Managing change requires key players to have control over 4 critical elements: 1) Vision Alignment - those that understand and agree with your vision must be leveraged in the change process. Those who disagree must be converted or have their influence neutralized; 2) Responsibility - your change agents must have a sufficient level of responsibility to achieve the necessary results; 3) Accountability - your change agents must be accountable for reaching their objectives, and; 4) Authority - if the first three items are in place, yet your change agents have not been given the needed authority to get the job done, the first three items won’t mean much. It's critical you set your change agents up for success and not failure by giving them the proper tools, talent, resources, responsibility and authority necessary for finishing the race.
So now is the time to seize the day and lead change! And to help, and really delve into how to best lead change, then join us in Geneva for the FuturePrint Leaders Summit which runs 29-30 June. The focus of the content and the quality of delegates attending is outstanding.