Change- 5 Hard Truths Leaders Should Know

Leaders must be equipped to identify & navigate change. All too often change becomes a challenge that most leave on the wayside, hoping that someone will pick up the baton or better yet believe the following myths: that change does not apply to non-tech organizations and two change are for technological organizations that are lofty enough to invest in technology, ecology & science. However, organizations such as your local mom & pop restaurant realize that change is affecting everyone.

The leadership role is the critical element to driving change. According to Jon Gordon, Leaders must have the vision to see the change, they must believe that it’s possible, communicate & execute change in their organization. Although there are thousands of books to help individuals, teams, and organizations lead change, there are far-too-many who fail to implement the steps for a successful transformation process. One of the reasons is leaders are not aware of the challenge before them. Most times leaders have a vision but lack resources to achieve the goal.

Understanding the challenges ahead is the first step needed to complete a change initiative successfully. Challenges are often the hard truths that leaders did not forecast in hopes that somehow, some way, their strategic plan would magically work without proper investment & comprehension of all the elements that influence positive organizational change. Getting thrown off-track is a reality that most leaders have learned to bear. That’s why the following five hard truths about change in an organization can help minimize both heartache and headaches.

1. Don’t expect your team to change without you changing first. If you’re in a leadership position, you must begin with changing your activities first. There’s a well-known quote that says great leaders “lead by example”. If you’re a leader or you would like to be in a leadership position you must be prepared to make the necessary changes first for others to follow. Change starts with having a vision then creating a plan. In the plan, there should be a subcategory called leadership tasks to implement change. If your an employee looking for a leadership role, you must create a sub-category as well. As an employee, what are some of my behaviors or tasks I must change to be successful?

2. Don’t expect the organization to teach you about leadership, management tools, and change systems. Sure, there are plenty of organizations who understand the importance of training and learning in the workplace and will provide their employees with the necessary tools for success. However, there are just as many organizations, if not more, that fail at communicating & implementing change. Don’t rely on the organization to train you. In some cases, you must learn yourself. This may mean approaching your supervisor after you have found an outside training organization. Taking the initiative may inspire further opportunities for growth for you and your organization.

3. Change takes time. Developing a mindset that adapts to change takes some time, the same can be said for creating an organizational culture that’s receptive to change. Therefore, you must become patient with the process. And understand that most will not be able to adjust, and here’s a more important fact, your peers who have worked with you for years will have to leave or be terminated because of their stagnant mindset.

4. Be prepared to be blind-sided. It’s impossible to know about all changes that will occur. In fact, in some cases, a change will happen within days or hours. For example, a key employee must go on leave due to an illness. There’s no way you could have known, and the timing was awful! What do you do? You must review your resource, look at your objective and make the change. Knowledge leadership has become accustomed to embracing uncertainty.

5. Be prepared to meet resistance from peers and employees when you decide to take the bull by the horn and learn about the change. Remember when you were resistant to change? Did you want to hear about all the wonderful things the change will bring about? Of course, after accepting the learning process, you’ve become more adaptable, and it has affected your behavior in the office. You’re more confident and more aware of what’s going on around you. This can only irritate those who want to continue doing things the old way.

The five hard truths are uncomfortable to digest. However, you will find that comprehension of these truths will help navigate the change process effectively.

If you have questions on how to be a change agent, please send me an email at info@tywanawilliams.com.

References

John Gordon (2017). "The Power of Positive Leadership." John Wiley & Sons ISBN 978-1-119-35197-9 1-198.