When Change Is Afoot - Five Critical Steps

Keep Your Team Engaged and Culture Working: Five Critical Steps

After 18 minutes of hearing my new client (we'll call her Jane) giving me the rundown on her team - I stopped her and said,

"I totally hear you: Your company has undergone major changes!?You’ve got a ton more responsibility. This investor that acquired your business is gargantuan (think 10s of bn USD, global).?Your team used to be pretty comfortable with the way things were and now the gaping maw of uncertainty stretches before you all. Does that about capture it?"

The look in her eyes hinted at emotions that many years of senior roles had conditioned her to suppress.?

"It's ok. Anyone in your seat would feel that way. (pause)? Now, what's the loudest problem on your plate right now - today?"

She replied:

"I'm not sure what to do for my people. The processes and delivery, the customer deliverables we have all that in hand - except we've had a lot of voluntary exits and so now we are a little short-staffed, but our HR department is handling that. What I'm not sure about is how to calm everyone's uncertainty and keep the key people who are still here."

Can you relate? As you're reading this - does this resonate for you? She's thinking 'what can I do? I'm uncertain too! Yet, my job is to help my people stay focused on their projects and the work at hand.'

When a company is changing, that is when the?until-then-quiet discontents surface. That is often when people who weren’t really satisfied jump ship, and sometimes you also must execute layoffs on top of it all. You probably once had a direct line to the top, and now you don’t. You don't have as much influence as you used to. Everyone is way more tense, and what's worse is, the discontent bubbles under the surface, so it’s hard to deal with.

There isn’t anyone to talk to (except your beleaguered spouse perhaps) and You’re not sure what you can do to make things better.

I bring you good news. There is hope! "Jane," the senior VP of Engineering above took the steps below, and it made a huge difference.?

These are actions you can take, no matter where you are in the process, to keep your team members engaged with the company through changing times:

Step One: Acknowledge the change.

I know, I know – you already have acknowledged the changes, and communicated about them endlessly. That's exactly what Jane said too. However, the acknowledgment that most of us forget to do is deeper than that. It’s important to also connect with and name the discomfort, the uncertainty, the frustration, the opportunities, and the hope. In other words, acknowledge the feelings too.

Name the Feelings

We frequently listen at length to the experiences of senior staff at both large and small organizations with scientists, engineers, and technical experts as their primary talent. It seems especially challenging for technical leaders to make space for feelings in the most appropriate and comfortable way. Their struggle with it is palpable! Most of these folks are far more comfortable talking about the technical and logistics aspects of their projects than they are talking about their feelings. And in some organizations where feelings are discussed openly, it ends up feeling messy.

Of course, that’s how it is! They feel on solid ground in the realm of the concrete. Change doesn’t feel solid or even tangible sometimes. So, sticking with things that are solid and tangible feels safer. The problem is, that doing so turns a blind eye to a large part of what is destabilizing your team.

This is when having some outside help to help open these conversations in a professional and well-managed way can help. This could be:

• A Lunch and Learn?style program, facilitated by someone with skills in this area.

What we’ve seen when we do this for clients is that programs like this help employees express their thinking and feeling (with each other) and be heard and understood, AND they get to evolve their thinking to be more relaxed and accepting of the current realities and the changes that are afoot. Their attention eventually comes around to what’s going well and why they are choosing to be there, what they are committed to, and what they actually do still have control over.

• Another possibility is to engage an executive leadership coach to support the leaders individually, the leadership team collectively, or both.

We have seen leaders make subtle shifts in their communications approaches that radically improve the energy, culture, and dynamics of the people they are leading. Leaders can use their coach to help them become the key that unlocks their team’s potential and cohesion again.

Both of these initiatives are ways of acknowledging the changes that have been happening, and really clarify and sharpen your ability to connect with your people while strengthening the sense of team and collaboration as you find your way together. Taking action like this shows that you are aware of the undercurrents in the organization and are actively taking responsibility for it. It also tells your team that they are being listened to and understood.

This is a powerful trust-building action.

When people feel heard and understood, they're more likely to be engaged in their work--and that's good news when you're trying to keep a culture working well during a period of transition.

Offer Support?

Step Two: Communicate what is changing and why.

When your company is changing, it's important that you communicate what is changing and why. You can do this in a number of ways:

1. Make sure your team knows about the change as soon as possible. Keeping them out of the loop will likely increase their frustrations and anxiety. People tend to feel out of control when they don’t know what’s happening in an environment that matters to them – like work. While none of us really controls our environment, we feel more at peace and calm when we understand it. It causes more stress than necessary to be kept in the dark--especially if they're worried about their jobs or their ability to provide for their families. It is however difficult for leaders to know exactly what they can and cannot reveal when they are privy to confidential high-level meetings. This is when that outside support for leaders has been especially valuable to help sift through exactly what details you can share and how to communicate them.
2. Explain the specific changes and why they are happening. Examples are:

• "We're moving into new offices because our current ones are too small"
• "We will have modernized laboratory space"
• "We are adopting a new internal communications system so that we can more seamlessly integrate with the different departments"
• "This will assure you get answers and feedback you need from other segments of the business more quickly"

Communication calms anxiety

Keep people informed as changes occur during implementation ("we've found another building that will allow us to grow quickly while staying within budget"). Give employees opportunities at various points during implementation where they can ask questions or voice concerns about where things are headed; this helps keep everyone on track with expectations surrounding timing, budgeting etcetera.

Step Three: Get involved in communication with your team, even if it's just for a few minutes each week.

• Get involved in communication with your team, even if it's just for a few minutes each week.

Consider having a short weekly meeting where you can hear what they're thinking and feeling, answer questions, and listen to concerns. It's important that you remain open to hearing what they have to say and that you remain honest about how things are going—even while not oversharing details inappropriately. Shutting down communication or having changes simply reported will have your people feeling anxious or fearful and will only breed more anxiety. Instead, prioritize empathy for how your employees are experiencing the changes. This will mean being transparent about the changes happening within the company so employees know exactly where they stand.

Yes, of course, you can't tell them everything you know all the time. However, you can tune in and pay attention to how people are responding to the changing circumstances.

Stay personally connected

IE: How are they communicating with each other? Are there any signs of conflict in the workplace--such as someone being rude or aggressive toward another employee? This might indicate that individual and collective anxiety is seeping into the workplace culture and--you should address those issues immediately before they escalate further out of control.

IMPORTANT NOTE: This meeting should not be the same meeting as the weekly leadership team meeting. I suggest a silent meeting segment of the leadership meeting. If you're curious about that - Contact me here and I'll send you a pdf outline what that is and why it's so great at reducing time wasted in meetings, and makes your meetings more engaging.

Step Four: Make sure you're listening to them as well as talking to them.

• Listen to what your team is saying.
• Ask questions, and be open to new ideas.
• Be willing to change your mind if it helps the team move forward.
• Make sure that you're being heard in this process, as well as making sure they're being heard as well! Have you used active listening approaches?

We have one mouth - two ears. Listen twice as much.

Step Five: Be there to support your team as they explore new opportunities within the company or even outside of your company.

Be there to support your team as they explore new opportunities within the company or even as they look at openings outside of your company. "What!?" you say. "You want me to help them leave?" Yes! If they want to leave and you help them, you are setting a tone of really being there for your team members. Fewer of them will leave if you support the ones who are really unhappy in moving into something that is a better fit for them.

This is a hard thing to embrace at first, but it's critical because it helps you retain your best people, and it allows them to grow and learn from their experiences. As a leader, you want people who are constantly trying new things and learning new skills. If someone is not getting this opportunity at their current job, then they may need to look elsewhere for growth potential--and possibly take some of your key employees with them!

Your willingness to openly discuss with employees their search for work outside of your company demonstrates that you are concerned with their wellbeing; that you are not afraid of change; and that you can be grounded and supportive even through transitions.?And then it's more likely that your key people, if the fit is good, will stick around.

Be ready to act as a mentor if someone comes to talk about what's next for them in terms of career development or job search strategies (and offer up advice based on what has worked well for others). You can also provide emotional support (within reason) during these times. Being able to lean on someone during uncertain times is always helpful when making big decisions such as changing jobs or starting something new outside of work hours.

Connected Employees = Happier Employees = More Successful Transitions

Taking these five steps will help keep your employees more resilient and at ease during transition periods, and ensure your best people stick around long enough for the transition to be successful.

Remember how important trust is to employee engagement. Any change, whether big or small, is a 'trust crossroad." These moments can either foster the growth of trust in the team or break it. It's important to do whatever possible to gather information, facilitate a sort of pressure release of built-up tension, and support your leaders with outside help if that will serve them, to hone their ability to navigate the new changes.

No one was prepared well for what we as a country and economy have been through since early 2020. And no leader is ever prepared for the VUCA (volatile, uncertain, complex, ambiguous) that occurs both within our companies and the in the world.

What makes a great leader through change is the willingness to stay present, get help, and focus on what’s most important (people).

We hope that these tips will help you and your team stay engaged during your changes ongoing and to come! Remember that it's not just about keeping people happy; it's also about making sure they understand what's happening so they can do their job better than ever before!

Please share here what your experiences with change and transition have been in the last couple of years. Either comment below or connect with?Lisa?here directly. I look forward to hearing from you.

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Dr. Lisa E. Hale is the President of Focused Leadership Consulting. FLC works with leaders and teams to free them to do the life and work they came here to do. We believe you can have a truly fulfilling life with the right outlook, skills, and support.?Focused Leadership Consulting?is currently facilitating collective clarity programs for leadership teams to help them unleash the talent and genius in their teams. We get a pulse of how well the team is functioning, then we get everyone on the same page, and facilitate accelerated success. Ping me?here?if you’re in for a conversation!