Leading Change

Key Components of any change

Talking about leadership brings us back to Q x A = E. Effective leadership is really what

helps us get to this target. Q is about the technical aspect of change and the quality, A
acceptance and you have to have strong leadership – that‘s what brings everyone to the
E.

Compliance or Commitment
Commitment is about the passion, going the extra mile, the follow up.

What happens in a compliance situation and you encounter resistance? You still do it, but
you don‘t go above and beyond. But when people are committed, they try very hard to
work through it. They don‘t give up.

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.
How does compliance last forever? (oversight, audits, etc.) Compliance can be sustained
as long as someone is watching, if there is regulation, etc.

How is commitment different? How long can it be sustained? The reality is that when
people are committed, a “new way” is much more likely to be sustained. That‘s what we‘re
talking about during change.

As a leader in change, you‘re trying to mobilize stakeholder‘s lasting, sustainable

commitment. You really want to think about how you engage them and influence them to
support the change.

What gets in the way of being good leaders of change?

 Resistance is too great, over-commitment you think you have to have all the
answers vs. asking what others think or acknowledging you don’t know.
 Peer pressure
 Not understanding the complex nature of change
 Not understanding the role of a good leader of change
 Focusing only on the tasks – not understanding the people side of change,
 Lack of good interpersonal or communication skills
 Lack of awareness of the emotional impact of change
 Not staying focused on the change initiative
 Poor planning skill, too many priorities or conflicting goals
 Mixed messages from the organization about the change – being measured and
rewarded for status quo behaviors
 Not enough resources – time, people, money

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Personal Transitions Model
Transition: A three-phase process people go through as they internalize and come to
terms with a change.

As leader of change need to help others through personal transitions

Actions for Leaders

Leadership is critical to get people through their personal transitions – helping them “let
go”,reflect and see where they fit into the new way, providing guidance and support,
resources, and whatever else is needed.

Sometimes it‘s about simply “showing up” and modeling new desired behaviors. It‘s all the
things we just brainstormed. The people you‘re working with outside this classroom will be
looking to you to provide this leadership.

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Key Mindsets for Change Leaders
 Change is Life (That which lives… changes/adapts)
 In All Change There is Some Loss (Letting Go…)
 Resistance is Normal, Natural, and Necessary
 All Change is Choice … Individual Choice
 Each Individual Must Find Their Own Way/Journey

Communicating is vital for Change

Key questions to think about around communicating during change:
 What are the key messages we need to communicate ?
 What methods and/or media are best?
 Who should be delivering these messages?
 How have we tailored our communication plan to specific stakeholders?
 What is our listening plan?

One of the most critical aspects of leadership is communicating. This is especially vital
during times of change.

Communication is nearly worthy of a separate section but it‘s included in the “leading
change” aspect of CAP because it‘s a critical leadership skill.
So questions when we think about communicating during change. What are some key
messages? - timeline, what’s changing, what we need from them, what’s going to change)
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One way to get across the importance of communicating again and again, in different
ways…when people see a movie for the second time, they catch things they didn‘t the first
time. That‘s the same with communication. You can‘t assume everything comes across
completely after one communication effort. It‘s good to hear messages different ways.

It is additionally good to determine who should communicate with different stakeholders.

Some have unique relationships and more influence. Always think about who on your
team should deliver specific messages to different stakeholders.

When we talk about communications, we‘re also thinking about how we tailor our efforts.
It‘s important to discuss a ”listening plan”. Communication is two-way. We need to “hear”
what people are saying to gather and act on information, and to ensure we “hear”
messages that are out there correctly.

When the parties involved both understand each other‘s messages. The messages being
sent are the messages being heard. People are willing to listen to each other until all
points of view are heard, clarified and acknowledged. Effective communication is not
agreement; it is recognition and acknowledgement of each party‘s point of view.

Communication
Communication is the Process that takes information and transforms it into
understanding

Communication Flow

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The bottom line is that it‘s two way, and you want to make sure the communicator and
receiver work to ensure clarity and understanding. If it‘s not clear as the receiver, push
back until it is. And as the communicator, check in and make sure the receiver got the
message.

The sender and receiver are both equally responsible for clarifying and ensuring that
effective communication and understanding occur.

In times of change

What people want during times of change, empathy, information, Ideas and suggestions.
But what they usually get is what you see here. Instead we need to be providing what they
want as listed here.

Empathy: Showing that you care that someone feels a certain way. Empathy enables
employees to feel safe and enables them to articulate their thoughts, concerns,
conclusions – all of which are necessary before they can generate or explore options. By
being empathic, we actually can lower resistance.

Information: On an intellectual level, people need and want an explanation for why the
change is needed. If empathy has been established, people will voice their technical

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objections (reasons why the change isn‘t good) as part of their ―letting go‖ process.
Again, listen while they talk it through.

Ideas: People in transition may need help getting ―unstuck‖ or to break out of their
typical thinking. Suggestions, options and plans are helpful at this point.
Because leaders of change often feel pressured to rush the change process and show
results, they may shortchange the time needed to think through and reflect.

Autocratic behavior: orders, assignments without discussion, falling back on procedures,

a “don‘t question, just do it” mentality

Avoidance: Due to inability to demonstrate empathy, leaders may avoid discussing issues
or allowing others to voice their concerns. Leaders may be uncomfortable dealing with
emotions so they won‘t allow others to express their feelings. Leaders may get “too busy”
as a way to avoid getting “overwhelmed” with others‘ feelings.

Insincere cheerleading: Pep talks about how wonderful the change is without
acknowledging feelings or concerns come across as “the company line” and treating
people as insignificant. Such pep talks can actually generate more resentment toward the
change. Can come across as “You don’t care”.

Role of the Leader / Communicator

In the manager‘s view, communications is sometimes an event—or a product like a

newsletter, email etc.

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Managers and employees view communication differently. Managers tend to plan for
events or specific communication tasks. Examples: “I need to get this announcement out”,
“I need to get people focused on this job”, “People need to know how the business is doing
– what the numbers are.”

Employees want communication to be an ongoing, two-way process that focuses on

where and how they fit. Examples: “What‘s my role?”, “How am I doing?”, “Am I meeting
expectations?”, “How does my job contribute to our success?”, “I have an idea for
improvement – please listen.”, “I have a concern – please listen.”

The truth is, from an employee view effective communication is more a process - getting
information in different ways over time that will help them see where they fit in, how a
change impacts their job, etc.

What‘s important is that it‘s both – events (meetings, feedback sessions) and products
(newsletters, emails, etc.) as well as a process (what can we talk about that will help me do
my job differently, better and in the current context or new reality?)

Employees want to know

Based on research, this is what employees want to know. But the reality is they get the
reverse.

Remember those “more of / less of” behaviors we want to see during times of change?
That‘s hard for all of us to communicate because we‘re not used to speaking in behavioral
terms. But that‘s what people want to know.

The dilemma is that because managers generally view communication as events or tasks,
what employees usually get is the opposite percentages – 70% company messages, 20%
business specific and 10% about how their job will be impacted.

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Understanding needs to be cultivated at all levels, hence the arrows going in both
directions to indicate two-way communication.

The main point of this slide is to get people thinking that the messages need to be
consistent through all levels of the organization. Often, if communication is done in
isolation at each level, we run the risk of inconsistency. To ensure consistent messaging,
leaders need to take a strategic and planning approach to the communication process.

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The other point of this slide is that understanding needs to be cultivated at all levels,
hence the arrows going in both directions to indicate two-way communication.

Sometimes important messages are “top down”. As leaders we need to keep them flowing
until they reach all employees, and then make sure the messages were heard and
understood.

It’s our job to help translate those messages into behavioral terms. Because at the end of
the day, as we‘ve learned, that‘s what people want to know, and what will truly drive the
behavioral change we‘re after.

Full Circle Communication

When we think about communicating during change, these are some of the questions we
need to be sure and answer, as these are the very questions that employees are asking
themselves about the change. They may or may not express these questions with
leadership when a change is announced. By anticipating these questions and providing
answers we can open a dialogue about the change and minimize some sources of
resistance.

You‘ll notice that the initial questions follow the CAP process and then move to how the
employee can personally contribute.

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The biggest obstacles to communication

 Time
 Assuming that your message was clear
 Inconsistent messages
 Not knowing your audience or their concerns
 Distractions
 Inappropriate methods
 Not allowing for two-way interactions
 Not understanding cultural differences

Best Practice Principles

During change, this summarizes best practices in communication – defining stakeholders,

designing a simple process, creating consistent messages but that are also tailored for
stakeholder needs, delivering through effective vehicles and establishing feedback loops.

1. Determine your key stakeholders.

2. Design a simple process
3. Deliver consistent messages
4. Utilize effective vehicles
5. Build in feedback loops (listening plan)

Communication Tools

When we develop communications plan, the whole idea with this tool is to make sure
we‘re developing a listening plan as well. Most of us think about the telling part. We need
to ensure we‘re really listening too. This could include focus groups, interviews, etc.

The point is we need to be deliberate about the listening aspect of communication as well,
to get out there and hear what our stakeholders and the organization is telling us about
our change and the culture.

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Communication Vehicles

Written
Newsletter
Bulletin board
Senior leader memo

Spoken:
One-on-one
All-employee meeting
Weekly staff meeting
Operating leader meeting

Symbolic:
Offsite conference
Press conference

Electronic:
Web chats
Intranet
Email

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