Elevate Your Stewardship Competence: Anticipating and Addressing Concerns During Change

Senior leaders are often under immense pressure to ensure their programs stay on course and deliver target outcomes, whether it’s just kicking off or already in-flight. Maintaining alignment with the organisation's vision and strategy is top priority, yet it's not uncommon to struggle with anticipating and addressing concerns before they become critical issues. It’s easy for concerns to slip through the cracks amidst the noise of daily operations. Addressing these concerns proactively, rather than reacting once they’ve escalated into issues, can make all the difference, not least in terms of maintaining alignment with your vision and strategy.

Anticipating potential problems and preparing for them is not just advantageous - it’s necessary. Filtering through the weeds and noise is no easy feat. Governance boards, stakeholders, and team members will undoubtedly have concerns that need addressing. Tackling these early not only leads to smoother operations but also creates a proactive environment where solutions are within reach before problems escalate. Neglecting concerns will inevitably lead to bigger headaches, with leaders themselves potentially becoming part of the problem.

A senior leader who looks at things from all angles (360 degrees) not only keeps their program on track but also ensures that they’re seen as a credible and capable leader who can steer the transformation effort competently.

Why Addressing Concerns Early Matters

1. Worry Management and Mitigation: Effective anticipation of risks allows you to develop strategies before issues arise. This proactive stance means you can implement solutions swiftly, preventing minor concerns from evolving into major problems. Identifying potential risks and planning mitigation strategies also helps in maintaining confidence among stakeholders and team members.
2. Acknowledge and Ease Anxiety: Change can be unsettling. By recognising, listening to, and addressing concerns from your team and organisation early on, you foster a culture of approachability and trust. Providing timely information and reassurances can help alleviate anxieties and ensure that everyone is on board with the work to be done and changes to come.?
3. Understand Governance Drivers: Get to grips early with the motivations and expectations of your governance board. Understanding the drivers behind their concerns is important to defending and supporting your program. By preparing in advance and responding appropriately, you can defend your programs value and reinforce its alignment with organisational goals and vision.

The Benefits of Proactively Managing Concerns

• Increased Certainty: Early intervention increases the likelihood of success by preventing minor issues from becoming major setbacks.
• Unified Team Focus: Addressing concerns head-on helps the team unify, aligned, and focused towards a common goal. It also helps you determine what you need to do to support individual members of the team.
• Sustained Strategic Alignment: Regularly addressing concerns ensures that the program remains in sync with the organisations objectives.

Proactive management of concerns isn’t just about problem-solving; it’s about positioning yourself and your leadership role, as a forward-thinking. By anticipating potential problems and concerns, actively addressing team anxieties before they escalate, and engaging proactively with your governance board and its mix of dynamics, you enhance the overall opportunity for success of your program and maintain its alignment with your vision.

Are you keen to refine your approach? Here’s a starter for 10 that might help:

-?????? Identify potential areas of concern

-?????? Develop mitigation strategies

-?????? Communicate openly with your team and stakeholders

-?????? Don’t forget that the earlier you address issues, the more control you have over your program’s direction and outcomes

Take a moment and objectively assess your current approach then make the necessary adjustments. Alternatively, message me ‘Discovery’ to discuss how my Intensive Intervention offering could help you amplify your project’s excellence and leadership impact.