Posts Tagged ‘leading change’

Leadership is in many ways a marathon rather than a sprint. Despite this we often see organisations continually chopping and changing:

• The leadership team
• The focus
• The priorities
• The direction of travel

While it might seem sensible and logical at the time, it might not be the best option long term for the following reasons:

Reason 1: There Is No Magic Potion

• Yes, making change might achieve some short term bursts of enthusiasm or motivation. At the same time the issues or challenges that were there previously don’t evaporate into thin air. The reality is there is no magic potion to change things overnight.

Reason 2: You End Up Going Backwards

• You might, in the longer term, make huge strides forward, which is great. On the other hand, in my experience you often end up going backwards or covering old ground in the short to medium term. Ask yourself, is it worth it?

Reason 3: You End Up Losing Good People

• People want to be part of a success and if you are forever chopping and changing you reduce the chances of success. When this happens many of your best people will vote with their feet and move on.

Reason 4: You Can Easily Stop Just Before A Breakthrough

• You might well have set out the plans, made the key decisions, taken the action and only seen small improvements so you quit too quickly. The consequence is that you miss out on a huge breakthrough.

Reason 5: Morale Falls Through The Floor

• If you are continually changing your mind, your people, your priorities, then staff don’t know where they stand and which way to turn. Faced with this there is a distinct possibility that morale will hit rock bottom.

The truth is there will be times when change, and even change on a major scale, is needed. At the same time, make sure you are not changing just for the sake of it.

Duncan Brodie of Goals and Achievements helps accountants and health professionals to become highly effective leaders and managers. He invites you to take advantage of his free audio e-course Leadership Success at www.goalsandachievements.co.uk

A leader is first and foremost judged on the results they deliver.

Delivering results right now is a lot more challenging than in the past. So how can you keep delivering results in the more challenging times?

1. Be clear about what it is you are trying to achieve.
2. Focus your attention on those things that are going to have the greatest impact.
3. Keep your staff on board and involved when you have to make change.
4. Listen to your customers and what they want.
5. Make changes and monitor what works and what does not work.
6. Get the help and support that you need to achieve what you want.

What else would you add to this list?

Duncan Brodie of Goals and Achievements helps accountants and health professionals to achieve success and realize their professional potential through being highly effective leaders and managers. For more information and to sign up for his free audio e-course click here

The need for change, transformation, new ways of working and innovation to name just a few is never off the agenda.  Yet the realities between the desire and the delivery of change are somewhat different.  So what realities do you need to face up to when making change?

 

Reality 1: Most folks don’t like change

 

Sure we all have to adapt a little bit all of the time and in the main do this without thinking.  On the other hand talk about any sort of significant scale change and chances are that the barriers will go up pretty quickly.  We all to a greater or lesser extent thrive in consistency and stability.

 

Reality 2: People focus first on what they will lose

 

Think about a time in the past when you have had to consider making change.  Chances are that people’s initial reaction was not to focus on the opportunity or challenge.  They are more likely to focus on what they will lose.  It is human nature and almost a sort of safety mechanism.

 

Reality 3: People will feel isolated

 

People might normally feel that they are part and parcel of a team of supportive people.  Then a change comes along and it can be easy to feel isolated.  This is even more likely if you are the person who is leading the team.

 

Reality 4: People all have a different level of readiness for change

 

Some people thrive on continually having new challenges thrust in their direction while for others it will feel like a huge burden.  As the leader the challenge is to be aware of the fact that everyone responds differently and that you will need to test readiness for change.

 

Reality 5: People worry that they won’t be able to do it  

 

One or two might be sceptical but change is still possible.  On the other hand if there are many all starting to doubt the ability, skills or resources to make change then there is a potentially big problem.  As the leader you have a key role in supporting people through these times of doubt.

 

Reality 6: People have only got so much capacity

 

Even the most enthusiastic can suffer from change fatigue from time to time.  There is a fine balancing act between challenging people and burning them out.  Be alert to the fact that people may only have so much capacity so don’t overload them with change initiatives.

 

Reality 7: People need to fail safe

 

Whenever you are considering change you are asking people to take some risk.  They will only take those risks if they know that if it does not work out that they will be acknowledged for having a go.  Remember without some form of risk taking nothing ever moves forward.

 

Bottom Line – The natural tendency is to resist change, so what are you doing as a leader to help other achieve success when it comes to making change?

 

 

Duncan Brodie of Goals and Achievements helps professionals to become better leaders and managers.  For more information click here