by Eileen M. Russo, PhD
Re-printed from Executive Excellence Magazine for the convenience of our readers.
Are you a change leader? Can you become one? The answers to these questions are not found in your title or your position. They are found in your behavior. Those everyday actions steer change to its ultimate destination - success or failure.
How can you model the change? Like everyone else involved in the change you will be learning new behaviors. But because you are leading the change, what you do will be watched more closely and given more meaning.
Actions you take that support the change will send a strong message that you mean business. Actions you take that contradict the change will be seized upon by others as a compelling excuse for not taking the change seriously. Your goal in modeling the change is never to have others accuse you of pulling a "Do as I say, not as I do" move.
Communicating about the change is a constant and never-ending requirement for a change leader. The key to communicating is being proactive. It's your responsibility as a change leader to get out the word. After all, you can't assume that just because you know what's going on, everyone else does, too. And you can't assume that because you told everyone once, they got the message, or believe it's for real. That translates into a requirement for a lot of patience and perseverance on your part. You can't delay communicating until everything about the change is known. If you wait for certainty, you may never communicate.
If you want to involve others in the change, you need the mind-set that change is something everyone helps bring about rather than something that is "done" to others. You can't keep the change all to yourself. Rather, you need to be out and about, pulling others into the change by soliciting their ideas and concerns. Once they start opening up, you'll want to reinforce their involvement with active listening. As others take part in shaping the change, they naturally develop a vested interest in its outcome. This sense of ownership is the fuel that helps change efforts take off.
One of the greatest challenges you will face in leading change is helping others break free from the present way of doing things. People have many motives for defending the status quo. So you need to be a mental pry bar, pulling others from their attachment to the way things are.
When others cling to comfort, you need to introduce an opposing view or point out problems with the current, familiar way of working. And when others complain that it's just too hard to blaze fresh trails, you need to be the guardian of possibilities, repeatedly asking "why?" and "why not?" You have to champion the ideas that have never been tried before or that everyone thinks won't work.
As a change leader, your job is to create an environment where the learning process is openly acknowledged and accepted as a necessary part of change. Part of that is making it okay to admit you don't know something, rather than just faking it. People often don't have a firm grasp of new tasks. And if they fear embarrassment, they will never try anything new, out of their comfort zone.
Creating a supportive learning environment is also about taking unexpected problems in stride. Delays and "do-overs" are natural, so focus attention on what can be learned from a mistake to do better the next time. People who try out new ideas and succeed become people who move the entire organization forward by example.
Eileen M. Russo, Ph.D. is the author of The Change Leadership Journey from which this article is adapted. This book is a great read for both veteran and aspiring leaders! Buy it today online or at your local bookstore.
