Leading Companies through Change with Clarity and Trust
Change - whether it’s growth in headcount, implementing new technology or revisiting your culture and values, Q1 is always a transformative time for businesses globally.
We have seen the market develop exponentially over the past 18 months, forcing organisations to reevaluate how they operate and how they attract and retain excellent talent.
So, how can leaders lead through business change with clarity and trust?
Establish what the essentials are
“The ability to embrace organizational change and come out stronger on the other side is what successful companies all seem to have in common. That being said, organizational change is tough. It requires vision, large budgets, and a tailored strategy in order to deliver successful results. In fact, 70% of change initiatives fail as a result of bad management, poor implementation, and even bad luck.” - TinyPulse
Let’s address the elephant in the room - there’s a reason why 70% of change initiatives fail, and bad management and poor implementation are simply the tip of the iceberg. The first step to leading through business change is to establish what the essentials are.
Getting lost down a rabbit hole of strategy can create more issues than it's worth, and before you know it, you’ve simply gone around in circles and not created action. Establishing what the essentials are in this change will give you the “oomph” to move forwards, create smaller strategies and goals around these and stay laser-focused on what it is that you want to achieve.
Assign key individuals to lead - who will complement each other
Regardless of what the project or transformation is that you’re undergoing - it can’t be achieved through solo effort. There are going to be certain leaders in your organisation that will complement each other due to their leadership styles as well as their ability to influence their teams. Spoiler: there will be some leaders who aren’t fit for certain projects, and that’s okay.
Instead, you need to figure out who the strongest people are and develop a solid strategy whereby all of you can flourish, and the wider business can be positively impacted. Particularly with tech transformation, you want to ensure that the individuals leading said transformation have excellent relationships across all layers of the business - as opposed to assigning a project to someone who is the most senior because on paper it makes the most sense.
Who is going to make the project the most successful, and also who has the time to do it? This is all food for thought which must be considered.
Offer the right training and support
The most important part of leading through change is ascertaining what “weak spots” this change is going to uncover and more importantly, how you’re going to address them. The main answer is training and support.
The clue is in the name: change.
Change brings challenges - and change is going to force you and others out of their comfort zones, meaning that they probably won’t have all of the tools and knowledge in their peripherals. You may be lucky in some instances depending on what perspectives and minds you have in your business, but for the most part - you’re going to need to train people.
This will be easier to uncover once you have a solid strategy and you’ve ascertained what the basics are that you want to focus on. Then, you can assess people’s skill levels and bring in the right talent (permanent, contract, interim) to support you through the change, whilst also upskilling and equipping others already in the organisation with the tools and knowledge that they need to be successful.
Have communication at the centre
Leading through change with clarity (and gaining trust as a by-product) can only be achieved through excellent, clear communication. Regardless of what the change is you’re going to need to ensure that current employees feel “in the loop” along the way.
Let’s look at digital transformation as an example; you’re in the process of implementing three new systems across your organisation - and to do so you’ve onboarded a team of contractors to execute this project and roll it out to the rest of the business. There are going to be a few challenges that you’re going to come up against in this process:
Buy-in: Communication during the buy-in process is crucial - regardless of whether you hire contractors to execute a project or not. Ultimately, getting buy-in from key individuals in your organisation, as well as junior layers of the business who will undoubtedly be affected by this transformation is key. Giving clarity on what is going on will increase your chance of buy-in as questions won’t be left unanswered, employees will feel in the loop, and change won’t feel as overwhelming.
Implementation: In a digital transformation something that is key is the implementation process - from integrating your new system(s) through to troubleshooting what the problems are along the way. This goes without saying, but communication enables you to have a much quicker implementation process and enables you to earmark problems before they arise and before having to deal with them in the moment.
Onboarding: If you’ve mastered your communication in the buy-in and implementation process, then you should find communication in the onboarding process much easier to grasp. This is where trust should already have been built - your employees will have clarity on what has gone on from the infancy of the digital transformation and will now have complete buy-in and faith in what you’re doing, thus making the onboarding process (hopefully) seamless.
“Better communication results in greater employee engagement, which is a key metric for employee productivity and potential retention. It reinforces that your people are key contributors and people who the company values for their unique skills and experience. In other words, their contribution — and input — truly make a difference.” - Betterup
