By Daniel Bobinski
Thriving organization know that what got you here won’t necessarily get you there. In other words, change occurring around us often means we must adapt the way we do things just so we can keep up.
Over the past few years, we’ve witnessed unprecedented shifts in how business is done. But even without the recent changes, if you’ve been in the workplace for any length of time, you know that adaptation and modification is inevitable. Therefore, how managers and leaders guide their teams through transitions can make the difference between surviving and thriving.
For years I’ve been a fan of the work of psychologist Jeffrey Schwartz and executive coach David Rock. They translated brain research and neuroscience into practical applications for how people handle change. From their findings, three things stand out to me as vital for increasing the likelihood of implementing effective change:
Help people focus on the big picture
Set a high expectation for people to share their “a-ha” insights
Increase attention density (the amount of attention devoted to a subject over time)
Allow me to elaborate. Focus means providing a big picture of the change desired by the organization. The earlier it is communicated, the better. Big picture means providing a broad vision of the new direction without getting bogged down in details.
Setting a high expectation refers to leadership communicating a belief that people will have breakthrough ideas for how to best achieve the new big picture. This creates a freedom to provide personal input, which leads to better buy-in for adapting to the coming change.
Increasing attention density means don’t stop at one and done. In other words, don’t just announce that change is coming and leave it at that. Keep discussing the focus and the expectation. Make the big picture a frequent part of workplace conversations. Then, acknowledge, celebrate and encourage ongoing dialogue on the ideas people offer for making the change a reality.
That’s the overview. Now for some shoe leather. The following six principles expand on the recommendations of Rock and Schwartz and will help any organization in effecting change.
1. Stay Engaged. Whether you’re a high-profile superstar or an unsung hero, the work you do contributes to a common good. If you recede from an upcoming change, important connections and communication lines can fade away. Instead of withdrawing from change, refocus and think “excellence.” Press for being world class. In every aspect of your job, ask yourself, “If someone else were looking at my attitude about this change, would they consider it to be excellent?”
Beyond an internal attitude of staying involved, we can also create cross-functional teams or an innovation committee. Their purpose should be to help us stay plugged into the transformation process.
2. Keep Considering the Bigger Picture. Since your workplace is more than just your own workstation, you’ll expand your value to the organization by looking at how change is occurring at all levels. Even the picture outside your organization should be considered. Think about it. Gen Z is entering the workforce, AI is transforming operations, and supply chains are more fragile. Also, customers are increasingly expecting personalized, on-demand experiences.
We should also consider changes in our individual industries. Thus, your big picture thinking can be improved by staying active in professional associations, reading industry publications, attending virtual conferences, and even leveraging sites such as LinkedIn to keep up with real-time insights.
3. Talk and Listen. We are better able to interpret the events around us if we stay in tune with others about what’s happening. This means seeking out and considering others’ perspectives.
This starts with the people in our work area, but extends out to hearing from people in other parts of the company, and even from other organizations. We can even inquire of people outside of our industry. Seeking their viewpoints can provide unique and fresh perspectives.
4. Look for Ways to Be of Value. Since change always brings new problems, we must resolve to be part of the solution. After all, problem-solving is part of every job, so let’s practice it. We can think of it this way: It’s one thing to identify a problem, it’s something else to solve it.
Another way to increase our value is to understand the internal strengths and weaknesses of our teams, as well as the external opportunities and threats. One way to accomplish this is through a SWOT Analysis. By identifying your team’s strengths and weaknesses as well as the opportunities and threats, you can decide how to capitalize on your strengths and shore up your weaknesses to take advantage of the opportunities and mitigate the threats. From there, you can identify the skills needed to maximize the benefits of upcoming change.
5. Be Flexible. Change is inevitable, so look for ways to blend changes into your normal routine. Think in terms of creating new workflows or systems.
Naturally, an organization must maintain efficiency and effectiveness, but flexibility allows you to flow with the changes instead of fighting against them. This includes being flexible in both your attitudes and responsibilities. One phrase I teach my clients is, “Blessed are the flexible, for they shall bend and not break.”
6. Learn From Your Network. Since people outside your organization are probably facing changes themselves, they can serve as sounding boards. Exercise your connections and be willing to ask a lot of questions. A quote often attributed to Benjamin Franklin says, “We must all hang together, or most assuredly we shall all hang separately.”
Bottom line, how we approach change affects how it impacts us. We can work to accommodate it, or we can get overwhelmed as it accelerates around us. My recommendation? Stay focused on the upcoming big picture, eagerly expect “a-ha” moments for how to make the change work better, and make both of these part of your regular conversations. By doing these things, your chances of success in the face of change go way up.
Daniel Bobinski, Th.D, is a best-selling author and a popular speaker at conferences and retreats. For more than 35 years he’s been working with teams and individuals (1:1 coaching) to help them achieve excellence. He was also teaching Emotional Intelligence since before it was a thing. Reach him by email at DanielBobinski@protonmail.com or 208-649-6400.Â
