Helping Your Team Navigate Change

Adventures in Businessing: Entrepreneurship, Small Business, and a Healthy Dose of Humor

Show Notes:

• [0:00:00] Intro | Timely Topics
  • The Uncertain Edition?
  • Recap on Uncertainty to Action & Unknown-unknowns
• [0:02:30] How Do You Lead & Navigate Through Change?
  • Acknowledging the different types and areas of uncertainty in your business:
    • 1) The uncertainty you may feel as an owner/manager.
    • 2) The uncertainty that your team might feel from lack of clarity and/or communication.
      • "How do you handle the uncertainty you feel, and how much of that do you share with the team?"
      • "How do you ensure the team has the clarity they need?"
  • Living with chronic uncertainty can negatively impact anyone, literally rewiring our brains.
    • This kind of stress will change the way a person thinks.
    • When you convey your own uncertainty, you have to prevent simply piling on and multiplying fear.
  • Transparency is always something to aim for, but some uncertainty is better held amongst the leadership.
    • But this is usually a very small list of things.
    • Assume the best from all parties involved.
    • Transparency regarding uncertainty is always a balance.
  • Maybe don't impulsively share uncertainty.
    • Ruminate and consider it the unknown before sharing.
    • Your team will see how leadership responds to uncertainty and typically emulate that.
• [0:09:06] You want an organization and culture where others can voice their uncertainty without repercussion or criticism.
  • Even as a leader, you may think you see everything...but you don't.
    • Ensure your culture is an open one.
    • Survey your team to determine where their uncertainties are.
      • Ask the question.
  • Adoption of change looks different for everyone.
  • Don't underestimate the impact of change on your team.
    • "People don't struggle with the change, they struggle with the transition."
      • "With all transition, there has to be a time to mourn the loss. That's what people struggle with."
      • "Organizations don't always give the appropriate time for our teams to mourn and truly transition, that's why people fear change."
      • "You as a leader have often had the time to process, whereas your team is just hit with one thing after the other in a transition."
    • Listen to the feedback for uncertainty that you may have created in announcing change or transition.
      • Always do your best to address the why.
      • Allow your team to have input in how their day-to-day may change.
        • When we have input, we're more likely to be okay and internalize it.
    • See the change from your team's perspective.
      • Intentional empathy can work wonders for your organization.
  • Have your culture and values in place ahead of change and any transition.
  • Involve the team in solutioning.
    • It makes change so much smoother and easier in the long run.
• [0:19:54] Presenting Change
  • Consider presenting change as "here are my thoughts and suggestions, think about it, and let's discuss in a few days to a week".
    • Offer your input as flexible ideas that the team can influence and even improve upon.
    • It's a lot easier to accept something that may be possible, but not necessarily a last-minute directive or mandate.
  • Lead the conversation with the uncertainty and challenge so that everyone is immediately looking to confront this as a team.
  • Time-box your idea and solution/s.
    • Experiment.
      • Nobody mourns the loss of an experiment.
      • You have to follow through and weigh the results of the experiment.
      • Failed experiments are their own successes if we learned something.
  • Ultimately you're trying to build resilience.
    • You want a culture that is versed in experiments and can bounce back from failures with positive lessons and takeaways.
• [0:27:37] Parting Words
  • "Business is change, there is nothing else."
    • Whether we like it or not.
    • Figuring out how best to change, and how to roll with the punches is vital.
    • Remember, how you transition through change is what matters.
    • Experiment, iterate, and move forward.
    • You're either helping your team become more resilient, or more brittle.