“We have to be ready to quickly act on the yet-unknown changes coming this year.”
As I sat in the CEO’s office, we discussed the horizon of complex variables and seemingly endless possibilities of frustratingly large initiatives and projects which might be launched over the next twelve months. On her face I could see both the exasperation and yet determination. She was committed to her team, to navigating the uncertainty with vision, passion, and compassion. However, the elements out of her control hung heavy, weighing down the hope she wanted to convey.
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So much is made of organizational culture and its ability either to drive or stall change efforts from inception. Rather than talk of culture change, and trying to push a boulder up a hill, the focus should be on creating intentional organizational practices that will propel the culture as a ball being rolled downhill. The shift in behavioral patterns established by the organization will alter the culture– note: not control the culture. The shifts made will magnify the current day realities, taking a telling highlighter over the current practices which may need to be challenged and/or eliminated.
These five questions will be that highlighter, and serve as a catalyst to create the unease necessary to begin the journey to new organizational behaviors. When leaders answer with authenticity, transparency and visible support at all levels of the organization, the product is an environment positioned to execute nimbly as unexpected changes are catapulted into the organization.
- What is currently happening in our organization and what events are on the known horizon?
It’s a simple idea, but often organizations don’t track current and upcoming events, initiatives and projects. Even worse is when executive leadership has captured this information, and yet has not made it visible to the full leadership team. This becomes a critical component of planning, and team engagement. For teams feeling they are at 90% or more of their max capacity, to try to put another change effort or new initiative on them is to doom it to before it begins.
Key Skill: Assimilating information
Best tool option: Heat Map (see 71&Change for an advanced version of this)
- How do we transparently prioritize and measure our work?
The research is out: multitasking is a fable. Our minds can only effectively work on one to three priorities, meaning leaders must constantly be defining and refining those priorities. Engagement, in part comes from our team being able to see the progress being made. It is imperative to create visible systems to highlight the progress. Leadership priorities must narrow the focus and efforts of the teams. Inversely, the barriers to success at the front line must be obliterated or escalated to the appropriate levels of the organization.
Key Skill: Sequencing priorities, creating leading indicators
Best tool option: Annual Strategic Planning informing Leader Standard Work
- How do we consistently communicate to our entire organization?
All too predictably, and extremely consistently, when we ask a group of frontline workers what they wish would have gone better in the change initiatives, we hear a resounding– and repeated– “communication”. However, the organization must have a clear sense of how they communicate effective throughout their organization. And it should be noted, this should be a dialogue, and not a one-way street. When employees see their feedback solicited- and this is key- acted upon, trust is built. Communication effectiveness must be measured, meaning the weekly newsletter may not be the best source of all truth for your team.
Key Skill: Listening intently, framing messaging appropriately
Best tool option: Stakeholder Analysis into Communication Plan
- How are our leaders equipped to navigate change?
Management systems, no matter how ingrained into a culture, require people to execute on them. While the structure is important, the implementation is even more critical. Leaders must understand their own adoption and patterns of resistance. Understanding how to maintain trust, showing their participation in the change, and creating their personalized reinforcement structure that reflects the team’s unique personality will usher their team into the required behavior change. The leader must possess the ability to translate the business case in such a way that it is meaningful to their team. Aligning messages and behaviors leads to trust in ability, trust in character, and trust in their appropriate advocacy throughout the organization. Ultimately, this leads to the overall comfort and enables the leader to execute on any necessary change.
Key Skill: Adopting quickly, aligning actions and words
Best tool option: 360 evaluation, executive coaching (see Keith Webb for some great coaching tips)
- How are our teams currently functioning?
Book after book is written about team and teaming and team effectiveness. Simply stated, it comes down to two simple aspects: Do I trust your character? Do I trust your ability? First, teams without relationships flounder. To build the relationships, trust is dependent upon transparency and confession. The ability to know others and be known in vulnerability will establish the needed groundwork for any effective interdependent team. Secondly, to trust one’s ability is simply to know that they will consistently meet the expectations put on them. Do they deliver on what they have promised? Many elements can expedite the growth of trust in the areas of ability and character, not the least of which is shared crisis. Increasing immediacy of feedback, and developing patterns of shared experiences will build these two components.
Key Skill: Becoming vulnerable, affirmation
Best tool option: Birkman® Behavioral Assessment or Grip-Birkman for Christian organizations
The answers to these five questions give insight to understand your current context for the varied complexities of change. They do not address your previous challenges with change, they do not address the external forces on your organization, and they do not address the trust of the organization and its ability to deliver on its commitments. However, through answering and executing on each question, the future of change will naturally improve the positive pattern to become the ever growing snowball of success.
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