“Few things are more important during a change event than communication from leaders who can paint a clear and confidence-inspiring vision of the future,” writes Sarah Jensen Clayton. Successful leaders remain mindful of the amount and intensity of changes they implement. Narrow the focus, evaluate the challenges, develop a plan, and adjust the process. Leading change often falls flat or encounters significant challenges when the leaders miss on clearly communicating the changes and why they’re significant. When leading significant change, leaders can use simple strategies to ease the challenges:
- Narrow the Focus: Positive change means narrowing the focus to the areas of most impact. Not everything is important or needs changing immediately. What can we change right now that will lead to immediate success?
- Evaluate the Challenges: When leaders attempt change, the most effective evaluate and anticipate challenges they’ll face along the way. They often seek out other opinions about what roadblocks stand in the way. What issues will we face and how can we solve them?
- Develop a Plan: It is critical to develop a step-by-step plan that paints a clear picture of how the change will evolve. Each part of the plan aligns with a specific person who will take action and a goal the action will reach. What actions does everyone need to take in order to make this change possible?
- Adjust the Process: As the plan rolls out and the action starts, evaluate the effectiveness of the plan and make subtle adjustments along the way. How well are these particular actions leading us to the change we need?
Leaders often fall into the trap of making too much change all at once, lacking communication around the change, or failing to develop a specific plan. Leaders must be mindful of the amount and intensity of changes they’re hoping to make in order to make lasting, impactful growth.
How do you manage the process of making significant change?