Trite but true, change is the only constant. Having spent over 25 years working with leaders and companies to create change, I’ve decided we are approaching change all wrong. Our approach has always been focused on managing change. Our mindset needs to be on leading it.
Leading change is different from change management. Change management is a well-thought-out set of approaches and tools that support change, often at a project level. It happens in parallel to the project to make sure the business solution is implemented and that people adopt the new behaviors associated with it. It focuses on understanding the difference between the current state and future state, creating communication and training plans, identifying early adopters and resisters and paving the way for the business outcome to be reached. The change management toolkit is a very important one that should be part of projects that introduce change — but it’s not enough.
Leading change is something very different. Fundamentally, it’s about creating and communicating a vision for change not directly tied to a project or initiative. It’s about making change part of your culture’s DNA. It is transformational, envisioning and driving the business solution, not simply implementing it. Change leadership creates a mindset across the organization that focuses on what could or should be different, rather than asking people to simply adopt an already determined solution. It removes the shackles of how we do things and asks people to truly engage in the change: to become part of creating a solution. It enables others to think differently, moving change along more rapidly and more efficiently, even while it creates a sense of upheaval. It is what makes people say "I have to be part of this,” creating momentum and a desire to continually move to the next phase or next level.
To lead change, don’t just behave differently — think differently. The great change leaders I’ve known have a different mindset than change managers. They aren’t trying to contain change. They’re trying to make it contagious, embedding change thinking into everything from the most fundamental daily interaction to the most complex strategy. To make change contagious, you need to start with a compelling vision.
As a coach, I was working with one of the best change leaders I've ever known when he was consolidating eight sales and service support functions into a single shared services organization. Rather than having a small team of executives determine how to integrate the organization, he identified cross-level change teams to redefine processes, pull out redundancy and build new relationships. The only guard rails he gave were the need to achieve the vision and meet the aggressive timelines that many considered almost impossible. They met those requirements and more.
In addition to the vision, great change leaders hold up examples of people who are igniting change within the organization. That same executive led a two-day offsite session for the 300 people who made up the new division. He shared success stories — including the highest score in the company's recent engagement survey, wins that occurred with customers and individuals who embodied the vision — and engaged everyone there in conversations about how to continue to adapt and change the organization to meet its customers' needs. The energy in the session was palpable. Like him, talk about those examples every chance you get, from the most casual conversations to the largest events.
You also need to focus on building trust. According to Edelman’s Trust Barometer for 2013, one of the largest studies of its kind, only 18% of people trust their business leaders to tell the truth. Change is about asking people to follow you into the unknown. If there isn’t trust, no one is going with you. Research by Donald L. Ferrin and Kurt T. Dirks showed that the greater the uncertainty the greater the impact of trust on outcomes and results. To manage change, the table stakes are that you’re credible and reliable.
To be a great change leader, you need to connect with people authentically and be real with them about what change means and how it happens. You need to be comfortable with the discomfort of change but work to increase others' comfort with it. When change gets bumpy or goes badly, it can be frustrating and, frankly, scary. Change leaders know that not everyone will experience the same emotions — that, across the organization, the emotions will run the gamut. Don't allow it to become the elephant in the room. Notice it, call it out (in an appropriate way), address it, leverage it and maybe even embrace it.
A tool I've introduced to clients is the Listening Post. The Listening Post is a meeting focused on open discussion about the current changes — how are they going, how are people feeling about them, and what can be adapted to address negative emotions and accelerate change. People don’t change because of what their brain tells them. They embrace change based on how it makes them feel.
Finally, great change leaders know that change is not an event. It's a dynamic that ebbs and flows but never goes away. Sometimes it's large; sometimes it's small. It's a continual part of life in the organization. Above all else, change leaders hate the status quo. But, they don't just change for change's sake. They change to take advantage of opportunities and stay ahead of the competition. If you want to stay ahead, you need to assess your mindset.
Take a step back and look at your attitude towards change. Are you trying to constrain change or make it contagious? Have you done the groundwork to make that happen — creating and communicating a compelling vision, leveraging every conversation and building trust? Do you have the change leader’s mind or the change manager’s mind?
