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Update nowChange – whether it be personal or professional – is hard. In fact our data shows that only 28% of people agree that a change is embraced when it is mismanaged.
Even the best-laid change plan can encounter resistance. So what does it take to effectively lead a team through change? These are some crucial areas to address…
An essential role for leading a team through change is to manage the flow of two-way communication with the team because:
When managing teams through change it is important to recognise that change is complex and has an element of uncertainty; therefore traditional communication mechanisms won’t be enough.
Often change is communicated through mechanisms like townhalls, meetings, presentations to whole departments and video broadcasts etc. These rely on leaders to deliver information from a position of knowledge and authority, which can create the impression that change is being ‘done to us’. Instead, look to have conversations – a two-way dialogue allows people to:
For conversations to be meaningful, both parties must feel that:
To start that change conversation, it helps to have a conversation starter question – these need to:
Change happens one person at a time, and for each person there will be motivations for and against them being prepared to adopt a change. An appropriate analogy here is a see-saw or a set of scales. On one side are the person’s motivations/reasons for adopting change, i.e. what they believe they will gain from the change. On the other side are the motivations/reasons against, i.e. what they believe they will lose, combined with their fears about the transition.
When leading teams through change help people fully understand what they will gain; reassure them about what they fear losing; and create a safe environment for them to transition. By doing this, managers can help tip the balance so that people adopt change and feel supported through it.
The key here (again) is conversation – get a clear understanding of what team members are feeling as a ‘cost’ to them in relation to the change. To do this effectively:
Sometimes it helps in conversation to have a structure to talk around as it creates psychological safety and encourages thinking around areas that might be missed otherwise. An empathy map is a great tool to generate this discussion. For example, each team member could put a post-it note into the boxes and the whole team can then discuss what’s been written.