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As the year zooms ahead, you as leaders and teams will hopefully have had your end of year reviews: reflected on what worked well, what didn’t etc. Depending on how last year went for you, you either dedicated a good amount of time to reviewing the year, or whizzed through quickly, eager to just move on to a new year.

Many of our clients are in a year of more change and ambiguity. Some are planning to expand; others are dreading impending redundancies; whilst more are looking at both – restructuring with new hires AND redundancies.

Whatever your plans are, here are 3 considerations to help you get your leaders and teams ready for change.

1.   Are your people truly on board? Very often, in your rush to change, organisations forget to pay enough attention to the ‘human factors’ that are key to sustainable and successful change. Have you considered these as you carry on with change initiatives for the year.

·      Are your people truly on-board or are you pushing them along on the journey?

·      Do they share your vision, or are they forced to act like they do?

·      Are they bought into new initiatives? Any reservations? Have they been heard?

2.   Are your leaders well supported? Organisations often focus so much on the change ahead and on everyone down the chain, that they forget to check that their leaders are also supported. One of my executive coaching clients, in charge of leading a large transformation programme which involved ‘getting more millennials on board’, was worried that the new hires with fresh ideas and drive might make him redundant after his 15+ years in the company. He started questioning his value to the organisation.

Until he picked up the courage to ask the question, no one had taken the time to discuss his career aspirations and where his role would fit into the new structure, as well as to reassure him that his diverse experience and background was considered critical for the success of the transformation programme.

So, how are your leaders truly feeling? Do you know? Is your relationship with them safe enough that they can voice any concerns, fears or reservations?

3.   Are you being Inclusive? Very often the voices of team members who are considered “difficult”- those who question and challenge everything – can be marginalised as organisations race to change. These voices can also often, where allowed, end up being the ones that uncover potential derailer of successful change.

Which voices are marginalised in your team? What value can they bring? When we coach leadership teams or facilitate strategy days, we dedicate time to creating safety needed for deep democracy – the belief that all voices matter and each one carries vital information that is necessary for successful and sustainable change. So, which voices are you marginalising in your race to change?

As you move on to another quarter with all its promises of change and ambiguity, my wish for you is that you pause, take time to walk WITH your people, not run ahead of them.

Now, over to you…

What other considerations would you suggest?

If you are planning for some major changes, or already have change programmes underway, and would like to explore and tackle potential/current people-related roadblocks, get in touch for an informal chat about how I can help you.