During a Zoom call the other day, a colleague asked if my consulting practice includes change management. “I don’t call it that,” I said. “I help people and organizations make practical shifts that are grounded in real-life experience and requirements and whose relevance can be seen right away.” I don’t use a methodology like ADKAR, which labels distinct stages and activities, because it can seem to the people involved like they’re being marched through a series of discussions and deadlines that don’t seem pertinent to their work or their feelings about their roles and jobs.
But later, I questioned myself: Should I be using a more formal process? Would that seem more legitimate to clients? Currently, we focus on making improvements wherever we’ve noticed imperfections, and then move to improving something else, so my clients get to experience progress rather than planning for it. But would a formal process and labeling highlight the beginning or end of stages and therefore feel more satisfying than my current approach?
My doubts were assuaged somewhat after a podcast I did with Maxine Attong, an organizational development and leadership specialist and a deeply compassionate and practical student of work life. We discussed how tensions can occur between an organization’s needs and desired changes and the individual needs of employees, as well as the role of a consultant or coach in reconciling the two.
Take Employees on the Journey
Maxine and I agreed that planned organizational change doesn’t mean much if individuals don’t do their part to implement the change, no matter what their motivation. Although some people think, “Oh, great, a new thing! It’s better, and I’m going to do it,” they’re usually in the minority. Other folks never go along because they disagree with the premise or they like to be resistant. But the majority tend to wait, watchfully: “Is this really going to happen? Or will it just go away like all the other changes? Do I need to do anything now? No, probably not. Until somebody comes and talks to me directly, I’ll keep my head down and do my thing.”
But if you want a change to take hold, you have to be willing to coach everyone who has a part in it. Meetings are not enough. Personal attention needs to be paid, and that usually needs to start at the top of the organization. The fact that a senior leader says, “Oh, yes, this is a great thing to do” doesn’t necessarily mean they truly understand the significant number of steps and decisions it’ll take to do it—or that they know how to persuade their people to make the required shifts.
Whether I’m coaching an executive or supporting an organizational project, I see my responsibility as helping each individual understand that the pain of change is both tolerable and worthwhile. I want them to realize that while it can seem scary and conditions might be awful temporarily, they can feel safe enough to think about both present and future conditions and determine how to move forward. I help them recognize that they have the capacity to make change rather than feeling forced to take on a predetermined change and live with it. As Maxine put it, “Regardless of the schedule and the objectives, you need to take people along on this journey.”
Dive Deeper
But leaders need space in which to express not just their conclusions, but also the development of their thoughts. Unfortunately, in most organizations it’s not inherently safe for leaders to share their thinking as it happens. There’s often a false belief that leaders will do their thinking privately and come up with all the necessary details, dates, schedules, budgets—and then the new plan will work directly out of the gate. But nothing works like that!
Maxine noted that the heavy expectations we put on leaders make it almost impossible for them to succeed—to meet objectives and be the best leaders that they can be—in other words, it’s hard for them to take the risk to lead from their hearts. All too often, leaders operate at a perfunctory level because going deeper requires the great personal risk of showing up as their best and most authentic selves.
Lead with Love
When leaders learn to create safety for employees, there’s a greater likelihood that employees will share that safety back. Then they’ll be able to ask something like: “Dear Boss, what is the fear or concern? Let’s explore it together. What are all the things that might go wrong? Which ones are the most serious? And how can we address them?” Maxine calls this “bringing the love.” It works best when there is a mutuality between leaders and employees, and it fosters an environment where both the idea and pain of change can be tolerated.
But this kind of love takes time; it isn’t soft or particularly yielding. It means being able to see when an employee is not working out and having the compassion, patience, and tenacity to support that employee’s attempts to change—through job crafting, training, discipline, peer support, etc.—but also knowing when it’s necessary to help the employee exit gracefully. Merely following the formal stages of change management may not have the impact that structured personal care and attention can.
If you’d like to lead with more love, I think you’ll enjoy our conversation.
Onward and upward —
LK