What Every Leader Gets Wrong About Leading Through Change (And How to Fix It)

In today’s fast-paced business landscape, the only constant leaders can count on is that things will change.

To succeed under such conditions, leaders need to shift from a mindset of how to weather the storm to how to harness these winds of change to achieve their organization’s purpose.

Specifically, leaders need to embrace a curiosity mindset, where they actively seek out perspectives and approaches that challenge assumptions of what’s possible.

By modelling intellectual curiosity, you can tap into the collective well-spring of employee creativity and with it, foster a greater sense of belonging amongst your employees.

Doing so will empower employees to adapt and pivot when faced with new information that challenges current thinking, allowing the organization to become more responsive than merely reactive to unexpected, external changes.

By encouraging employees to view change as an opportunity to learn and grow, innovative thinking not only takes hold, but so does resilience and stronger team cohesion.

Of course, the hardest part of dealing with any kind of change is dealing with the messy middle – that period of uncertainty where we disentangle ourselves from what we know so we can create space for something different and new.

For employees, it’s especially challenging as their work focuses their efforts on the here and now, limiting their ability to see what today’s contributions will give rise to in the future.

It’s like getting your children to eat their vegetables when they’re little – we know this will help them learn healthy eating habits. But all our kids see is a weird, green thing on their plate.

Real change forces us out of our comfort zone, challenging us to try things or go places we haven’t been.

To guide your team through this messy middle, it’s vital you provide resources and training to support them as they learn new skills and develop new processes.

It’s also important to make time to celebrate small wins to remind employees of the progress that’s been made. Show your employees how their efforts are valued. This is key to promoting a sense of belonging and camaraderie.

Remember, leading change is difficult, but it’s also a transformative journey. By guiding your team through the messy middle, they will gain confidence in their abilities to meet whatever challenges may come next.

Ultimately, as a leader, it’s your responsibility to encourage employees to see the challenges of today as new opportunities to explore and benefit from in the future.

In so doing, you’ll be better equipped to guide your organization past simply weathering the storm to seeking ways to thrive in an ever-changing global world.