Dear Needing Change,
Ahh change. It’s interesting how a six-letter word can evoke so many emotions at once. Excitement. Fear. Wailing and gnashing of teeth.
Right now, leaders all over the world are wondering what can stay the same and what needs to change for a better future. We’ve ridden so many roller coasters over the past year and a half that a lot of leaders are just hoping this particular ride will end so we can get off and go back to business as usual.
I have good news and bad news. The good news is I am about to walk you through some helpful considerations to embrace change in your organization.
The bad news is these steps won’t likely bring you smoothly to a clear end-of-the-ride moment.
Instead, I hope to support a shift in your perspective about how you think about change to allow your people and your organization to flourish on an on-going basis.
Keep your safety belt buckled - here we go!
The “Curse of Buy-In”
This may or may not have ever happened to you...
You spend hours thinking through what needs to happen next for your company and team - what will really make everyone win together - and you are finally ready to share it. You schedule a meeting. Your administrator sends the invites. You pick up the doughnuts and coffee. Your team gathers and you begin to share the good news of the changes that will take the company forward.
As you are waxing poetic about what could make us oh-so-better, you notice instead of mutual excitement, you see grudging tolerance. Arms are crossed. Eyes are averted. Off in the distance you hear a deep sigh.
What is going on?
You are experiencing the Curse of Buy-In.
(Full disclosure: you probably haven’t heard this catchy phrase before since I just made it up ;o)
You might know about a related concept called the Curse of Knowledge from authors Dan and Chip Heath in Made To Stick:
“The problem is that once we know something—say, the melody of a song—we find it hard to imagine not knowing it. Our knowledge has “cursed” us. We have difficulty sharing it with others, because we can’t readily re-create their state of mind.”
In other words, it’s hard to go back to a beginner's mindset once you know what you know. And it’s even harder to imagine others not having the knowledge you know.
The Curse of Buy-In is the same thing, just applied to when you are leading others through change. Too often, leaders inadvertently assume they have buy-in from others because they themselves are already bought-in. While it’s almost automatic to think, “You must be excited about this because I am,” this mindset is a clear path to disappointment and frustration for everyone.
Since people own what they help create, successful leaders involve people in creating change so they can own and be motivated by it.
“Sounds great,” you may be thinking. “But how do you do that without giving up your authority or being limited by your employees' fears, concerns, and current abilities?”
Changing how we think about change
Jim Hemerling has a TED Talk introducing 5 Ways to Lead in an Era of Constant Change. His framework challenges what it means to honor people in an organization.
In the past, some leaders have used the sink-or-swim, tough-love method of forcing people to deal with change. Other leaders attempt to minimize the impact of change on their people: “Let’s honor people by not inducing change. We need to throttle change as much as we can to allow people time to adjust.”
In the video, Jim challenges us to flip the script and put people first by supporting them to engage with change. He promotes having a growth mindset to see change as an opportunity rather than something to push through or hold off.
How does that apply here?
Due to the fatigue of dealing with all the effects of COVID-19, like other leaders you may be tempted to rush back to the exact way you worked together before the pandemic.
What if instead you used your best resource - your people - to identify how you want to work together going forward? What kinds of skills, resources, and opportunities could develop both your employees AND your organization? What if instead of doing things to people, you jointly explored what you can do together?
Jim asks the question, “What if instead of being exhausting, change could be empowering and exhilarating?” Including others in the process can inspire others to embrace opportunities in the face of adversity.
But how? These concepts may sound great, yet leaders and teams often get stuck in analysis here.
There are a lot of options to get you moving - here’s one that works:
In his talk Embracing Change, Jason Clarke, Director of Minds at Work, helps simplify the challenge of involving others with his four “renovator’s delight” questions:
What do you want to keep?
What do you want to chuck?
What do you want to change?
What do you want to add?
Wash. Rinse. Repeat.
Pulling it all together
“Yeah - but…” you might be thinking. “My team tends to find all the reasons not to do something different.”
You’re right. There are all kinds of ways leaders and employees will say “No” to possible changes. (The worst one is saying “Yes” then doing “No”!)
In that same talk, Clarke breaks down some of the most common responses masking the “No.”
In order to move through this process successfully, you must address the yeah-buts. Sit in front of a white board together with your team and write down all of the doubts and worries. Keep asking the question, “And what else…” until there’s nothing left to add.
Your list will ground and help the team to the following questions:
Which of these concerns do we know for sure?
What are the outcomes we need despite these concerns?
What can we do to overcome the validated concerns and achieve the outcomes we need?
What capabilities will people need to succeed?
What are we missing?
These big questions can often be wrestled with best with the help of nonjudgmental guidance from an outside perspective. Let’s set up a call to explore how changing your approach to change could enable your people and your organization to continue to flourish.
