Every organization is going to go through change.
Every year, there will be a life cycle that goes up and it goes down.
And a lot of times people can’t stand change.
They actually hate change.
Change must be managed.
That’s why there’s a whole industry called change management.
Change can be hard on individuals.
It can be hard on your high performers.
It can be hard on your leaders
It can be hard on you.
So when you go through change, you’ve got to manage the process.
Better yet, you’ve got to do more than manage it.
You have to be a leader who can lead change.
The greatest leaders and our history are the ones who knew how to lead change.
They’ve led major transformations of our economic systems, social systems, civil rights systems, and many times our world systems, because they knew how to lead change.
As you face change in your organization, how do you lead through change?
How do you lead through a transformative process?
When leading through change, you have to minimize the fear of the unknown.
No one knows what’s around the corner. They don’t know what’s going to be next during a change.
Everybody’s thinking, “How will this change affect me?”
“How is this going to make things better for me or make things more difficult for me?”
People get comfortable where they are. So, when you start talking about change, they can get uncomfortable. People fear what they don’t understand.
Your job as a leader is to help them understand. Minimize the fear of the unknown.
If you don’t know what’s around the corner, you’ve got to minimize their fear of what’s around that corner.
Give them a sense of confidence and belief that whatever’s around the corner, you’re going to take advantage of it.
Leaders decide when more change is needed.
Sometimes we decide we need to have more change.
If you’re a leader that starts change, they are going to be some people against it.
There are some people who don’t believe that change is necessary or that you are not taking them in the right direction. And if they believe that you’re not taking them in the right direction, they’re going to revolt.
As a leader, it’s your responsibility to convert those naysayers into believers.
How do you do this?
You must raise your level of transparency and show them step by step of how you’re managing the process.
Walk them through the intimate details of how you get from point A to point Z.
Show them the process, and more importantly, show them how they are an integral part of the change.
Nobody wants to be left out. When change comes, nobody wants to a victim of the change process.
People want change to happen with them and not to them. Show them how it happens with them.
Get people to understand that change is good.
Nothing ever stays the same.
We either get better, or we get worse.
Getting worse is a bad change, but getting better as a good change. A good change for all of us.
As long as we’re living, change will happen.
So the question: When change happens, have you found a way to make the change good?
Help people become forward, focused future thinkers
If you want to lead change that makes people better, you must get your people to see the other side of the change and how you’ll be better because of it.
Establish a mindset in the organization that understands disruption can lead to domination.
If you want to lead your team through change, minimize the fear of the unknown.
Turn the naysayers into believers.
Help everybody understand that changes are good.
And most importantly, get them focused on the future.
When you do this, you will embody the most admired executives in the world.
