Change is inevitable, but not always welcome. As a leader, you may face resistance and uncertainty from your team when you introduce new initiatives, policies, or strategies. How can you overcome these challenges and lead your team through change with confidence and resilience? Here are some tips to help you:
Before you try to persuade your team to embrace change, you need to understand why they are reluctant or fearful. Resistance and uncertainty can stem from various factors, such as lack of trust, loss of control, perceived threats, or insufficient information. Listen to your team's concerns and empathize with their emotions. Acknowledge their feelings and validate their perspectives. Ask open-ended questions to uncover the root causes of their resistance and uncertainty.
When met with a resistant team uncertain about the future, effective leadership is essential. Leadership involves influencing outcomes and inspiring others through change. Recognizing the human aspect in change implementation is critical; we often overlook this, leading to unintended consequences. Here are a few Leadership Levers we can pull when working with people during change. - Creating Alignment - Maximizing Communication - Sparking Motivation - Developing Capability - Sharing Knowledge Incorporating these strategies ensures effective leadership that considers the human element, facilitating successful change implementation even in uncertain times.
Often, leaders approach change as an event, rather than a transition. The “change” itself is often only a small part of the larger change effort. In my experience, there’s a great deal of due diligence that needs to happen on the front end of any change initiative before the change “event” can take place. You need to understand the underlying challenges, both through experiencing them first-hand and speaking with primary sources who are impacted. You also need to collect relevant data about the challenges. Collecting this information up-front will inspire people to act and to achieve a bold, aspirational opportunity. Understanding challenge is critical to building momentum that excites people to pursue a compelling vision of the future.
"Empowering teams through change and uncertainty: Communicate Purpose: Share vision and benefits of change. Engage and Involve: Seek input and foster collaboration. Provide Clarity: Address uncertainties transparently. Offer Support: Provide training and resources for adaptation. Acknowledge Concerns: Listen and offer solutions empathetically. Celebrate Wins: Recognize progress and positive efforts. Lead by Example: Demonstrate openness and resilience. Monitor and Adjust: Stay flexible and responsive to needs. Navigate challenges with confidence and teamwork!
When faced with a resistant team uncertain about the future, it's crucial to foster open communication. Start by addressing concerns transparently, highlighting the benefits of change, and offering support throughout the transition. Encourage dialogue to understand their apprehensions and provide reassurance. Implement gradual changes, allowing time for adaptation, and celebrate small wins to boost morale. Offer training and resources to build confidence in new processes or technologies. Lead by example, demonstrating adaptability and resilience, inspiring your team to embrace change positively.
One of the most important roles of a leader is to communicate the vision and benefits of change. You need to explain why the change is necessary, what are the goals and objectives, and how it will benefit the team and the organization. Use clear and simple language and avoid jargon or technical terms. Provide concrete examples and scenarios to illustrate the positive outcomes of change. Repeat the key messages and address any questions or doubts. Show enthusiasm and optimism and inspire your team to share your vision.
To lead change effectively, it is critical to clarify how the future will be different from the past and get buy-in for how you can make that future a reality through initiatives linked directly to the vision. But this vision-setting can’t be a one woman show. It’s crucial to enlist colleagues who can help to articulate the vision. Importantly, this group should consist of members who are supportive of the change AND those who are not. Dissent can only make the vision clearer and more on-time for the organization. This group should also consist of senior and non-senior leaders while reflecting diversity across the team. Once you’ve created a clear and compelling vision, use the group of engaged stakeholders to communicate far and wide.
By effectively communicating the vision and benefits of change, you can inspire and motivate your team to embrace new initiatives and work collaboratively towards achieving shared goals. Begin by articulating the desired future state or outcome that the change aims to achieve. Use vivid language and compelling storytelling to help your team visualize what success looks like. Clearly communicate the reasons behind the change and the potential benefits it will bring to the team, organization, or stakeholders. Help your team see the relevance of the change to their work and personal values. Show how it contributes to a greater purpose or mission, and how it aligns with their individual aspirations and goals.
Must involve them in the “WHY?” Why are we changing, what are the benefits of the change and how will it directly benefit your team? Only then will people follow you in change. Simple and effective but often not done by organisations and this is why change is difficult for them.
Another way to reduce resistance and uncertainty is to involve and empower your team in the change process. Seek their input and feedback and incorporate their ideas and suggestions. Assign them roles and responsibilities and delegate tasks and decisions. Provide them with the resources and support they need to succeed. Recognize and reward their efforts and achievements. By involving and empowering your team, you can increase their ownership, commitment, and confidence in change.
Effectively managing change begins long before the change is directed or suggested. Leaders must establish open and honest communication between themselves and the team. This is also a step to establishing trust between the leader and the team. When change comes that communication and trust goes a long way towards gaining the team's acceptance and support.
Change often requires new skills and behaviors from your team. You need to provide them with the training and coaching they need to adapt and perform. Assess their current skills and identify their learning needs and gaps. Design and deliver relevant and engaging training programs and materials. Provide ongoing coaching and mentoring and offer constructive feedback and guidance. Encourage your team to learn from each other and share best practices. By providing training and coaching, you can enhance your team's competence and readiness for change.
Change is not a smooth or linear process. It can involve setbacks, challenges, and uncertainties. You need to manage your team's expectations and risks realistically and proactively. Communicate the progress and status of change regularly and transparently. Anticipate and mitigate potential risks and issues and prepare contingency plans. Be flexible and adaptable and adjust your plans and actions as needed. Support your team through the difficulties and challenges and help them cope with stress and frustration. By managing expectations and risks, you can minimize the negative impacts of change.
When I took over the Leadership for a struggling healthcare operation, I was met with the following sentiment from one of the senior leaders. "This really is a good team. They've been doing this for a while now." The team in place had become comfortable constantly being under the magnifying glass for under performing, but were too comfortable in their habits and too afraid of speaking out amongst "stronger peers." In these instances, you have to "Set the container." Verbalize, as a team, the type of people and operation you want to become. Layout expectations of how leaders are to interact with each other. Set the Framework for Change: 1. Intent 2. Upheaval 3. Struggle 4. Renewal Paint a clear picture of change as a continuous process.
Change is not a one-time event, but an ongoing journey. You need to celebrate and sustain change with your team. Celebrate the milestones and achievements along the way and recognize and appreciate your team's contributions and efforts. Reinforce the benefits and outcomes of change and highlight the positive changes in performance and results. Monitor and evaluate the impact and effectiveness of change and identify areas for improvement and innovation. Seek feedback and suggestions from your team and stakeholders and implement changes accordingly. By celebrating and sustaining change, you can consolidate and embed change in your team's culture and practices.
This is where the power of leadership and action can come in. A great way to influence the team is to share how we are embracing change. When I’m reading and learning things to complement my weaknesses, it shows my willingness to grow. When I ask for feedback and other ideas, it shows my understanding that the future holds a different plan. When I show calm in the face of surprises that come my way, it shows the attitude of approaching change with an approach to problem-solving. Outside of discussing the topic of change, show and share our actions so the team understands it’s part of the process and culture. Good luck out there!
Develop a Reverse Mentoring program: Pair up team members with younger, more tech-savvy individuals or those from different departments who are more comfortable with change. Let them lead sessions to share insights, trends, and tools, fostering a culture of mutual learning and openness to new ideas. Identify Change Ambassadors: influential team members who are enthusiastic about change and empower them as change ambassadors. Provide them with resources, training, and support to develop new initiatives within their respective teams. Their advocacy can help alleviate resistance and inspire confidence in the direction of change.
Why are people against change? 90% of the time managers and or leaders don't make the rest of the group part of the change. No communication, not explaining the need to change, not telling what's in for them. This way we trigger so much questions under the team members, that will lead to resistance.
The advice in this article about involving and empowering a team through a change process are great. When it comes to dealing with "resistance to change", it is important to reframe what we mean by "resistance". Instead of viewing it as resistance we need to manage and counter, resistance can be viewed as a source of information that can be helpful in clarifying the purpose for change (as it is not well understood or communicated), improving the solution to address the change (as the proposed change might not be the most effective), or allowing space to address the emotional and sociological aspects for the resistance. Resistance is an indication that more dialogue is needed.