EP 156 Help Your Team Hurdle the Challenges of Change
Thrilled you are here -
Congratulate you on – being here – embracing change yourself –
Ready to replace, eliminate and conquer the challenges you’ve faced with your teams.
Here’s the truth – to make your biggest, boldest impact in the world you need to get the most from your team you need a productive team
Breathe in the possibility and breathe out the doubt! I’ve had the privilege of doing this work for almost 30 years and have been witness to the transformation of teams in all kinds of industries……Often leaders are so much closer than they realize……change can happen swiftly with intentional action
The saying – Sometimes we are the most frustrated when we are just 3 feet from the gold.
I don’t think there’s ever been a time when we humans were bombarded with so much change. And this last year….well, how many times did we hear, it’s unprecedented?
Here’s a little stat – see if you can wrap your brain around this.
Over 2.5 quintillion bytes of data are created every single day, and it's only going to grow from there. It’s estimated that 1.7MB of data are created every second for every person on earth.
I don’t know about you, but I can’t even begin to fathom how much data that is? How much is a quintillion??
Clearly – change is a given – Before you start to feel stressed by this notion let’s stop to remember what our phones were like a few years ago. Depending on your age, you can think back all the way to when phones had a dial and were attached to the wall. A little farther back and an operator played an integral role in connecting you.
Look at all the change you’ve survived!
If you are old enough……you can recall a time when you had to go to the library to do research for a paper. And if your topic was extra technical you might even have to go to the basement to work with a special librarian who’d retrieve the musty, dusty reference you required from a locked room.
Look at the change you’ve maneuvered.
Ask someone to switch from Coke to Pepsi and you’ll witness change aversion in action.
My Change Story – Moving 45 minutes away
We recently moved and I was shocked at my own response to change. I hadn’t anticipated it. I always look objectively at my own reactions to marvel, assess and take note. I learn from my own experiences so that I can share with others.
The move was only 45 minutes away but that required learning a new area, finding the grocery store I liked, testing out times and routes to work around traffic. I no longer had routines in my home and, as an efficiency junkie I was struggling with decisions about where to keep things. Where should each item find its home?
I was tired and felt out of sorts. I found myself exploring my new area in a tight circumference around my home. No desire to expand my horizons until I had a good lay of the land close by.
It was unanticipated…..but this is what can happen when we move through change.
So, how can you help your team move through necessary change at work? Here are some key strategies:
Give Grace but don’t accommodate –
to expect that all will happily move towards change is setting yourself up for frustration as a leader – A realistic expectation is that people will be challenged….
Get Input – Example IT department – end users trying to give me all this input during the training
Veterans – For yourself OR to share with your leaders - you may see the end result – have higher level ideas immediately – new less experienced may take longer to get there…..let them go on the journey with you – takes a little extra time but can build buy in
Give them the chance to give input – don’t jump on ideas as wrong immediately – let it play out = help them take the journey to where you are = teach –
Otherwise you may silence them – they will feel like their input has no value = And they DO have value -= new perspectives = make sure it’s not your challenge with change stopping you from considering alternative ideas
And……if you immediately think that idea is no good – is your Amygdala taking over?
Reality check initial thoughts about new ideas.
See this often in family businesses when the next generation enters – there is conflict between old school and the new generation who wants to make a mark – but may be bringing new and great ideas learned from school, outside experience – which hopefully they have had
Communication Back –
thank them for input – AND share at least general details about what was decided and why – if their input could not be used – ideas not implemented – were they considered? Share that – share why they were not used or had to be tabled.
Review & Revise
- Prep for hiccups and future change – most change happens in waves – it does and it SHOULD…
Change should include a checkup – how is it going – hiccups are opportunities for more tweaks – often organizations skip that step too – Communicate up front to create the expectation that it will not all be perfect – expectations equals easier to deal with -
AND something you can say to quiet those with louder amygdales
Provide opportunities for feedback AND ideas
Whining is easy
Pointing out problems is easy
Saying this will never work is easiest of all –
Encourage or even require employees to provide solutions – if they see an issue, what ideas do they have to resolve it or make it better?
why decisions were made –
Learn the Delegation Strategies I’ve shared with THOUSANDS and get your team to do what you need! Grab a copy of my EBook, The Six Simple Steps to Great Delegation
DefeatTheDrama.com/DelegationSheet
Kirsten Ross Vogel is an author, podcast host and CEO of Focus Forward Coaching where we help leaders
defeat team drama to 4X productivity, wow their customers and improve their bottom line with simple, actionable strategies, systems, communication hacks and mindset shifts.
Ready for some individualized help for your leadership challenges? Grab a spot on my calendar and let’s discuss how I can help you transform your leadership and your team.
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