Change Choosedays, anyone?
“You know what I really wish I had?”
I waited two seconds and asked Mina what she wished she had.
She was leading the merger of two business units and a few other smaller, yet heavy, systematic changes in the business and it was taking a toll on her.
We realized this was a bigger conversation and so we set up a meeting to discuss how I can support her, while she supports her team through such a sensitive transition.
She needed help because she was:
- Supporting an entire team through the impacts of change
- Leading the implementation of new systems in the business
- Managing the rising fears of job losses
- Coordinating reskilling to meet the requirements of the new busines
- Dealing with personal changes that seemed to need her constant attention
Lastly, she felt like she wasn’t being heard or understood. Sound familiar?
“You see, Zanele – I don’t need a coach right now…
What I need is a community of leaders who are also leading some grueling changes and just want to share their experiences, blow off steam and oh yes – learn about your LEAP principles as a way to help them support themselves and those they lead through this snowstorm.”
In case you’re not familiar, the LEAP framework is a set of principles that have been proven to help leaders to:
- Lower change resistance
- Increase team buy-in
- Retain levels of momentum and productivity during change
- Retain or increase levels of healthy engagement during change
If you are in the same boat as Mina, here is how you can begin using LEAP to support your team (and yourself):
- L – Live Vision
Begin by having small group or one-on-one conversations with the team to find out what each of them fears they may lose as the business undergoes this change. - E – Easy, Edible Chunks
Ask yourself how you could create a balance between the current state and the desired situation? This is where the team sees a progressive and clear route from where they are now to the completed change project. - A – Acknowledge, Appreciate, Announce
Explore how you might leverage the power of communication to reward and raise awareness in this process? - P – Participation
Alongside the team, begin to brainstorm everyday rituals, behaviours and routines that would help the change stick and fit well into your current team culture?
To explore how to apply LEAP to personal transitions, please access the Hack My Transition cheat sheet here.
At the end of the day, Mina wanted both a community of leaders managing change and a dash of discussions on how they were each applying LEAP…
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In the face of disruptive change, Zanele, author of today’s Tuesday Tip, assists organizations to become future fit: adaptable, resilient, innovative, proactive and confident through helping them crack the unlearning code.
She does this by facilitating the understanding that learning, unlearning and relearning must be the crux and heart of an organization’s DNA if they are serious about being future-fit.