Leading change to create momentum!

"I really enjoy change, in fact, I think I am really good at it. What I don't understand is why other people 'don't just get it, get on board!'Are they stupid?"

Honestly, I can't tell you how many of the seniors leaders we work with say this to us, I'd say 80% of senior leaders believe they are great at change, yet are also frustrated, believing most of the people in their business are sticking to their old ways, refusing to adapt and move forward. This is clearly a problem because in today's world, especially if you are a leader - change is the new normal - and businesses that can't adapt and move forward are often doomed

The trouble is, most of these senior leaders are the ones who 'don't get it' because it is actually them who are tending to focus on the wrong things. They proudly sacrifice their Sundays, swapping precious family time with preparing for the meeting. Choosing the sharpest data, the slickest visuals, the punchiest examples, soundbites from the CEO – about why change needs to happen. Along comes Monday morning and presentation time. They whip out their slides, energetically sell the change, yet honestly if you ask them afterwards, they can't actually tell you how much their teams took in. Typically, a third of the team looked alert and interested, a third of the team looked blank eyed, distractedly scanning their screens, slumped in their chairs and the rest just blatantly looked at their phones. Hence why these leaders want to scream at their teams, “if we don’t do this – you won’t have a job you idiots”, but that’s not what they get paid for as a leader, so they keep their energy as high as they can and flick to the next slide

Relate much?

Leading change is an inevitable part of leadership, and it's true, as a leader, change can actually be pretty exciting a lot of the time. So now is the time to stop the denial, realise and accept that change can be overwhelming for our teams, understand why they are so resistant, and more to the point, know what on earth can we do about it. The truth is, leading change is a super human endeavour, due to the difficulties and false starts emotions bring

It's time to decide we want to get really, really good at leading change. And guess what is the first thing to realise? It starts with us. If as a leader, in our hearts, we aren’t truly comfortable with leading change when teams are resistant, we will never move forward

So, start with yourself, start moving forward by building your ability to enjoy the ride of change even when your team is resisting that change and that way you can give everyone around you who so desperately needs it, the leadership you know in your heart you are capable of

What we find when senior leaders share their frustration is that often with change they focus on process, forgetting the fact that we are all human. There is a new more effective concept in leadership which some of you may be aware of called Sapient leadership. A Sapient leader is characterised by being wise, sagacious and discerning in navigating change, whilst also being humane in the face of change that can often feel alien. By taking this Sapient leadership approach, we can excel interpersonally by learning how to identify what is holding our team members back, as well as how to support and come alongside them when they may be resistant to the changes we need to introduce

A Sapient leader moves people forward by identifying the emotions people may be feeling and then takes the right actions to help people move forward. Moving from feeling stuck to accepting the change as part of what needs to get done for the business. This really is a game-changer for many of us as leaders. We swap feeling frustrated with our teams who resist change to accepting that resisting change is normal and what's more we know what is needed to create the forward momentum

So how do we do that then?

Our Leading Change muscles Upskill teaches you how. It combines bite-sized videos, private podcasts, 121 Mentor sessions, bespoke Journals and purposeful self-reflection exercises for you to apply - at home, at work, in your whole life

You will learn how to handle the difficulties and false starts that change creates, building your skill to take others with you on the ride, master the rollercoaster of emotions that appear when facing change, and bounce back from the adversity, every change involves

Doing this not just for you but for those you lead. You will learn how to master taking others with you on ride!

If you would like to discover more about how you can build your leading change muscles we have an Upskill (our name for a course) to help you do just that – you can learn more about it here