Change is inevitable, but not always easy. As a team leader, you have a crucial role in ensuring that your team adapts and thrives in changing situations. But how can you involve your team in change initiatives, so that they feel engaged, empowered, and motivated? Here are some tips to help you lead your team through change effectively.
The first step to involve your team in change initiatives is to communicate the vision and purpose behind them. Explain why the change is necessary, what are the benefits and challenges, and how it aligns with the team's goals and values. Use clear, simple, and consistent messages, and avoid jargon and ambiguity. Invite your team to ask questions, share feedback, and express their concerns. Listen actively and empathetically, and address any issues or misconceptions.
In my experience, purpose is part of the reason some employees come to work everyday. But lately is getting more and more important to have a clear organizational purpose and be sure it is relevant and true to the company. We've been evolving our purpose by involving not only the C-level but by involving the top performers of the company and the employees that want to participate in the activity. They are part of the company and they need to believe in it. To achieve this, it need to be understandable and easy to remember. And it helps that they believe in it.
At Axented, we host regular all-hands gatherings to dive into our business's pulse and encourage team input. However, our June and December events have a unique focus. During these, we share initiative outcomes, reiterate or recalibrate our vision, and present key performance indicators and overarching next steps. Finally, we wrap up with a Q&A to eliminate uncertainties, align expectations, and secure team buy-in for our vision. PS. This might be part of our culture, but including some humorous gifs keeps everyone engaged and reminds us that work can be fun.
The second step to involve your team in change initiatives is to co-create the plan and goals with them. Don't impose the change from the top down, but involve your team in the decision-making and problem-solving process. Ask for their input, ideas, and suggestions, and acknowledge their contributions. Define the scope, timeline, and milestones of the change, and assign roles and responsibilities to your team members. Make sure that everyone understands and agrees on the expectations and outcomes.
Involving your team when creating new plans or strategies to adapt to changes is crucial, it increases motivation and accountability. Additionally, great ideas can emerge for this working sessions. The ability to adapt fast and at the minimum cost is key for success, it is easier, better when it is done alongside your team.
This is something that it's not easy to do. In my experience you need a platform that allows you to give voice to all the employees. But at least, we can ask the teams which are the focuses we should have and take them into consideration as leaders. Then communicate why the objectives where chosen and offer spaces to clarify doubts and questions.
The third step to involve your team in change initiatives is to provide support and resources to your team. Change can be stressful and disruptive, and your team may need extra guidance, training, or coaching to cope and perform. Assess the skills, knowledge, and attitudes of your team, and identify any gaps or needs. Provide them with the tools, information, and feedback they need to succeed. Encourage them to learn from each other, and create a safe and supportive environment for experimentation and innovation.
One thing I've found helpful is providing a greater degree of autonomy to our teams. We encourage our teams to try new tools, techniques, and processes if they believe they will improve how we work and, more importantly, deliver value to our customers. However, each test has to come with a hypothesis. How will this impact you, your team, the organization, and our customers? After performing any test, we evaluate the results and decide whether to terminate the trial, continue testing, or change definitively. This has worked wonders since it empowers the team by enabling them to ignite and lead change throughout the organization.
Taking into consideration the basis of change management, training it's a must. Not only provided by the company but also done by the employees by them selves. As an innovation manager we rely on common knowledge and sharing to create new skills, knowledge and attitudes. Some times we can invest in some training but as the internet helps, we can find almost anything to learn online. Fridays every 2 weeks are a day to share and have fun thinking about the future and sharing knowledge. Also, the corporate innovation ecosystems help in the development of skills and practices. The idea is help them evolve and find new ways of improve the work and their lives.
The fourth step to involve your team in change initiatives is to celebrate the wins and learn from the failures. Change is a journey, not a destination, and your team needs to see the progress and results of their efforts. Recognize and reward your team's achievements, both big and small, and show appreciation and gratitude. Share success stories and best practices, and highlight the positive impact of the change. At the same time, embrace failures and mistakes as opportunities for learning and improvement. Analyze what went wrong, what can be done better, and what can be learned from the experience.
Failure is needed to grow. This is true for anything you do in live. Let me take your example of change is a journey. As a journey, we have adventures and some of them are successful and others not. When in failure, we need to learn and evolve to do it again and be successful the next time. And when in success, we need to see what we could do better next time. Both times are opportunities to learn and grow. Sharing both stories are a powerful thing. Things like Fck up nights allow the perfect environment to be vulnerable and share your failures. As a participant of this events I can share that it works and we learn and evolve because of them. There is great value on failure, don't be afraid of it.
As you work toward your long-term goals, it's important to remember that change is a gradual process. While having a clear vision and plan is essential, unexpected challenges will inevitably arise, and adaptability is vital. One effective strategy for maintaining morale and keeping everyone focused on the big picture is celebrating milestones. You can keep your team motivated and engaged by publicly recognizing progress and taking time to learn from successes and failures. Consider sharing your goals and progress on a board your entire team can access or during all-hands meetings to keep everyone aligned. Remember, change takes time, so stay committed and celebrate every success along the way.
In my experience It is crucial to foster a relationship grounded in transparency. In doing so, staff should be duly recognized and commended for their exceptional work. Conversely, when constructive criticism is necessary, it is imperative to refrain from attributing blame to specific individuals within the team. Cultivating a culture centered on shared responsibilities, rather than singling out scapegoats, is essential to prevent the development of a toxic work environment. Instead of pointing fingers and dwelling on past actions, adopting a feedforward approach allows us to focus on future anticipation and improvement, acknowledging that while we cannot change the past, we can proactively shape the future."
The fifth step to involve your team in change initiatives is to foster a culture of change in your team. Change is not a one-time event, but a continuous process of adaptation and evolution. To sustain the change and prepare for future challenges, you need to cultivate a mindset and behavior that embraces change as an opportunity, not a threat. Encourage your team to be curious, flexible, and resilient, and to seek feedback and improvement. Model the change you want to see, and inspire your team with your vision and passion.
This is probably one of the most difficult things to do. The more time you have doing the same thing, the more difficult it is to change. Why? this affects your life and career plan. When you are growing within a company, you imagine that everything you have done will get you to the next job or post. If I tell you you need to change, you start all over and maybe wont be successful enough to get the next post. So your brain says ?why change? this will challenge everything I know, this can challenge my future. So when you are fostering a culture of change, you need to target those feelings and create incentives to make the change happen. Direct approach to that audience will help in the efforts to foster a culture of change.
To cultivate a positive work culture, it's essential to prioritize open communication and transparency. Encourage these values at all levels to build trust and facilitate ongoing improvement. Create a diverse and inclusive workplace, valuing all team members and promoting a sense of belonging to foster strong, cohesive teams. Be proactive in addressing unique challenges that arise as your company culture evolves. Empower and support your employees by providing growth opportunities and acknowledging their contributions to the business's success. Cultivate a culture of continuous learning by offering professional development opportunities and mentorship programs that help your team refine their skills and drive business growth.
It's beneficial to maintain open and transparent communication with your team. This practice helps everyone understand how the business operates, which can spark curiosity and encourage questioning of current processes. Honesty and transparency are crucial for facilitating change, as modifying what you can't see or comprehend is challenging. Moreover, this approach fosters an open innovation environment, empowering your team to contribute their ideas for improving the business. You should also encourage your team to conduct calculated experiments with clear hypotheses. Failure should not be punished in this context but rather seen as a valuable learning opportunity to enhance your operations.
Change is inevitable, but not always easy. As a team leader, you have a crucial role in ensuring that your team adapts and thrives in changing situations. By involving your team in change initiatives, you can increase their engagement, empowerment, and motivation, and achieve better outcomes for your team and organization.
We live in a constant change but once in a while it's a transformation. An example can be when there is a change in the CEO chair. The CEO have to lead by creating a purpose or moonshot for the future. The teams have to close ranks and involve themselves in the change by leading initiatives working together. By understanding where the company is going, the team and the employees can be involved and thrive being part of the organization ecosystem and knowing that they are part of the future and they will change the world. Sounds cheeky but it's real, if you understand the impact of the change and the benefits behind it, you can have the motivation and empowerment to make it real.
To involve the team in a change process, motivation is vital to reduce resistance and counteract the fear that team members may have. Once you talked with your team about the change initiatives, the best thing to do is encourage and motivate with positive facts that the change will have. people will be afraid of: - Work More - Lose job - lose bonus - lose experience points gained in areas or process that will change - Expend time in training