Slow down, take a deep breath, and think for a minute about this question:
As a leader, what is the single most important thing you are trying to change in your organization?
Do you have that ONE thing in mind? Now write it down.
In my work as an organizational consultant and executive coach, I often work with leaders who have several things they are trying to change at the same time. They are trying to make their organization more efficient and more focused, and they want to have their employees think in a new or different way.
It would be fairly easy to lead if you only had to make one change at a time, and you could do this linearly and synchronously. No one I know in leadership has this luxury though.
Change is all around you, coming at you from every side:
Budgets change
People change
Expectations change
Visions change
Customers change
Products change
Regulations change
Bosses’ minds change
Often all of these types of changes can happen at the same time. Sometimes you are in complete control of these changes, and other times you feel like you are in more of a reactionary position.
No matter the position you find yourself in, as a leader, one thing is clear, part of your calling is to be able and willing to change.
Style Preferences:
One of the things I have been thinking more about over the past several months is not necessarily the types of changes or even my level of control over them, but more so about how my team members and customers approach change in general. In our organization, we have a lot of changes going on sometimes all at once:
We add new team members
We launch new websites
We take on more projects
We add new courses to our teaching repertoire
We start to do executive coaching in new industries and with new clients
Change is everywhere.
However, I have been trying to focus less on the “what” that is changing and more on the “how” each person on my team responds to change.
Let’s face it. Some of you are change junkies. Change gives your brain a huge dopamine rush and you get an overwhelmingly positive feeling when things are changing. Some of you like to move so fast that you end up getting several steps ahead of everyone else and you are forced to slow down or lose others completely. Others of you realize that change is imminent, but you have more of a slow-and-steady-wins-the-race approach.
Experts on change agree that while there is no one-style-fits-all approach, each of us has our own approach that we are more comfortable with when it comes to change.
Change Style Indicator:
A tool that I use to better understand the change styles of my team is the “Change Style Indicator”. This is a simple and easy-to-use assessment you can look up online that gives people a glimpse into their style preferences when they are faced with change. The assessment takes less than 10 minutes to complete, then you are scored on a change style continuum of three styles that represent distinct approaches when responding to change. The continuum ranges from a Conserver Style to an Originator Style, to a Pragmatists Style, occupying the middle range of the continuum.
I have found that working with my team in light of this assessment has helped us to manage all the changes we are facing more productively. While this tool does not give any indication of whether or not we are good at change, or even if our styles are effective for the type of changes we are facing, what it does for me as a leader is:
Allow me to approach everyone on my team as an individual in the ways they like to approach change
Get a better feel for the underlying emotions and anxieties associated with the change
Better understand some of the natural conflicts that arise between team members based on the changes they are facing
Get better at responding, helping to enhance collaboration, and even encouraging the team to innovate more
I asked a member of my team to answer a few questions about their perspective on the Change Style Indicator.
How easy was this assessment to take and how long did it take you to complete it?
It only took me about 15 minutes, including the time to read the instructions. The questions are straightforward and ask you for the response that immediately comes to mind. There are no "right" or "wrong" answers, you are just asked to be candid in your responses.
What is one thing that you learned about yourself from the assessment that you didn’t already know?
I have utilized several personality and communication style assessments, but I've never taken one directly related to dealing with change. I enjoyed reading the detailed results report, which indicated I am a "Pragmatist" with a "Conserver" orientation. This means that I prefer the kind of change that happens for practical reasons, and I want to make sure any change is a group effort, keeping in mind what is best for the team.
How can you see yourself using this assessment as you influence others on our team?
The results report provided a useful outline of my strengths and weaknesses when dealing with change. This is helpful for my work in the future as it gives me tools to explain to other team members how I can best contribute to change within our organization. If everyone on my team utilizes the Change Style Indicator, it can help us when planning our work so that the assignments and expectations are tailored to suit the strengths and weaknesses of each team member.
What advice would you give to someone who wanted to be more influential as a leader in their organization?
Self-awareness is an essential skill for any leader. When working with a team, you not only have to understand yourself but you have to also be able to adapt your style when necessary to get the best results with your group. The Change Style Indicator is a useful key to self-awareness in managing organizational change.
Simple tools like this can be quite effective in helping us as leaders to assess our teams and what the best approaches might be to maximize our change opportunities.
Takeaway:
Go back to the change that you wrote down at the beginning of this post. Now think about all the people on your team who are affected by that change. What words would you use to describe the way they approach change? I think taking some time and assessing how people respond to change can make all the difference in how effective we are as leaders in making change happen.