Just like a cyclone, COVID-19 has thrown everything up in the air, moving forward many business owners are faced with leading their businesses through major changes to survive.
The only person who welcomes change is a wet baby
It is true right?
However sometimes, like now, big
and complex changes may be required, and in very short timescales. Implementing
a successful change is one of the hardest parts of leadership, with 88%* of
change programmes failing to deliver expected results.
So, what are the key elements of successful change?
Reflecting on my academic work in Change Management and my own experience of leading change (some well, others not so well) Here are my top 3 insights
to beating the odds.
Systems and processes change, people transition
There are 3 components that impact and are impacted by major
change
Leaders often focus on the getting the systems
and the processes in place – re writing documents, upgrading equipment and minimum
time on the people. Yet when we look into the reasons that changes fail; it’s poor
communication, lack of leadership and purpose – the human aspects that rank the
highest.
The fact is people don’t change, they have to transition
from the old way of doing things to the new and whilst you can change a process
in one simple hit, you can only transition people one at a time. Each member of
your team will react to and manage change differently. What are the impacts on them and their role
day to day?
Key to successful change is to focus on supporting the people;
individual by individual will determine whether, over time your change is
successful or not.
“The hand that clings to an old friend cannot embrace a new
one”
James Clear tweeted that comment recently and it sums up perfectly
the first part of any change. Letting go of the old, the comfortable, that well-trodden
path. A simple model of change (Lewin, 1951) helps us to understand change in 3
distinct stages: Unfreezing, Change and Refreezing.
In reality, the middle bit, the change is simplest part. The
first challenge is to unfreeze
, ensuring that people are ready
for the change. The 3 key aspects here are
To listen & involve – the biggest misconception of
leadership is that you need to have all the answers, yet both from a practical
and motivational point of view allowing your team to come up with ideas and
make suggestions, asking their opinion and seeking feedback is the best way of
getting them on board with what needs to happen.
Motivate – explaining what they need to do is important but
getting them emotionally committed to achieving it makes the biggest difference.
You need to paint a clear vision of the future, what will success look and feel
like and most importantly how will it impact them.
Build a path – be clear on what they are expected to do and
how; work hard to move or minimise the obstacles in the way.
A perfect metaphor for this was created by psychologist,
Jonathan Haidt, it is explained and adapted for change in this 2 min video -
the Elephant the rider and the path
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X9KP8uiGZTs
Keep the boulder rolling - make changes stick
Imagine you and your team have to push a giant
boulder, at the start to get it moving there is a lot of action and effort, communication,
it’s all hands on the boulder pushing
together, when it gets rolling momentum starts to take effect, the effort
required becomes well understood: push, repeat. The communication becomes less
and those not directly involved in pushing move on to other things. One day the
team member pushing wonders “why exactly am I still pushing this boulder?” and
they begin to slow down, momentum is lost, they can’t push it on their own
after all and they can’t remember why it was so important to move it anyway - the boulder stops. (In the worse case the
boulder may even roll back to where it started from)
Ok so perhaps a long-winded metaphor but you get the idea –
making changes stick over time is vital, refreezing
the business
into a new way of working.
Building it into everyday practice, ensuring that the changes
are considered in employee performance measures and regularly reviewed with other
business goals.
Ensuring, where appropriate that ongoing training and
support are provided
Creating quick wins (the first week or month) and
celebrating success are ways to ensure that everyone continues to view the
change as important.
Keep that boulder rolling.
The pace of change isn’t going to slow down anytime soon
So, COVID 19 has meant that we have all been faced with significant
changes in a very short space of time, yet looking ahead the drivers of change;
rapidly evolving technology, challenging economy, political changes and social
trends means that the pace of change is not going to slow down anytime soon. We need to get used to it and to get better
at making it happen
.
If you would like some help to deliver the changes needed in
your business, then please get in touch to find out how I can help.
Janet Doran
, works as a Business Coach across North Yorkshire, UK. enabling small business owners in creative and professional service industries to win in competitive markets. To explore use working together on your business please get in touch janet@thepositivepenco.uk
Find out more at www.thepositivepen.co.uk
or call 07505 120051
Posting daily, information/inspiration for small business owners, on twitter @ thepositivepen
