What do my people need from me? (Part 6)

Faceless male tracer climbing brick fence in park.

Well, here is the final installment of our change management series. I must admit that I did not intend for us to stretch this to 6 parts. But given the importance of change management, and how bad most of us are at it, I figured we could afford for it to take up some space. If you have not read the other posts, you can find them linked here: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5.

This week we answer the question, “what do my people need from me?” According to the article the steps taken in answering the previous 4 questions will be insufficient if a leader does not also make the internal change to, “...put themselves in service of their organizations and take accountability for “right changing” their change portfolio.” In practice this means building confidence in what the future of your research program could be, putting the time into learning and steering the new program into existence, reducing change steps to those that really matter, making the change process as easy as possible, and celebrating the wins so the team feels connected to and proud of the work they’ve done so far. It means serving first with humility as a role model for change and showing humanity by being in the change with your team.

Rereading the previous paragraph, I must admit that it feels like a lot of work. As a visionary type of leader, I am generally pretty good at getting things started, but very much less good at proactively working through all the steps and potential roadblocks as part of a change effort. In fact, when barriers have come up in the past, I power through them at great effort and expense. This kind of works when it’s just me but also means I am usually exhausted at the end of the project. It is not a good way to lead a team who does not have the same personal investment as me. Or if they have a different working style.

So, I can also see why the article cautions against turning up pressure on teams, reiterating negative consequences for failure, and leaning on economic incentives to upgrade talent. It is much easier to rely on these tired tropes for make change happen, because they require other people to change. They don’t require us to change. They are also dangerous because they feel like they have worked in the past (to be clear the actual data doesn’t support this feeling).

But if you recall back to Part 1 of this series you will remember that the rate of change for is increasing and will continue to do so in the future. If you and your team are going to be able to keep up with these changes you cannot rely on these dated approaches. You need to start helping your team to build the reinvention muscle, so that as change continues that reinvention muscle memory kicks in and the reinvention change management process outlined over these 6 posts can run itself.

Of course, this is not something that is just going to happen overnight (I wish), it will take time, effort, and getting comfortable messing things up and trying again. So where do you start? Maybe you start with you, and finding ways in which you practice changing your work and flow so your team can watch you doing it? Maybe it means admitting to the team that you don’t have all the answers yet? Maybe it means asking for help? Maybe it means simplifying the research program you are rolling out and seeing if it works before adding extras? Maybe it means heading back to the drawing board and trying again?

If I’ve learned anything from my professional life so far, it’s that change is constant and you can always try again. And really that is all any of us is trying to do, testing out a change and trying again. But using the guidance provided in this series should help you not only shorten the learning curve for reinvention but also build a happier team doing it.

Happy reinvention!!

(Words: 690)