Change is constant and in today’s world it happens even more rapidly than ever.  Over the next few weeks, we are going to explore change and how to handle it from different positions in the organization.

 

This week, though, let’s look at some common responses to change:

 

Resistance

Let’s be honest, we don’t mind change except when change is thrust upon us.  In his book Developing the Leader Within You 2.0, leadership expert John Maxwell shares four reasons people resist change.  Take a moment to read these and determine which of these you encounter most when leading change:

 

• Doing something new makes people feel awkward and self-conscious

• We focus on what we will have to give up

• We are afraid of being ridiculed

• It makes us feel alone, like we are the only one going through it

 

With these reasons, I can see why some people resist change, especially if they feel like they are being changed.  Let’s explore the second group.

 

Slowly Embrace

We don’t enjoy when change is thrust upon us, but oftentimes we recognize we have no choice but to embrace the change.  There may be some reasons we are slow to embrace the change:

 

• We feel we had no control over the change

• We need time to understand why this change is occurring

• We don’t like change, but slowly accept that it is part of life

• We had no warning the change was coming

 

Of these reasons, the last is one leaders can easily mitigate the response in non-emergency situations and speed up the ability for people to embrace the change.  Take time as a leader to warn the team of the possible upcoming change.  Give them time to process and ask questions.  These two ideas can help strengthen the team’s trust in you and shorten the adaptation time by team members.

 

Embrace

This is the easiest response to lead through.  It would be nice if everyone embraced the change immediately, but there are usually only a select few that do this.  This may be because they love variety and change, they were part of the decision process, or they are extremely bought into your leadership.  This is the group you want to leverage as a leader.

 

In his book Leading Change author and change expert John Kotter suggests the second step to leading change is creating a “guiding coalition.”  This is the group of people who embrace the change and help keep the change moving forward.  As a leader, empower and equip these individuals to help you gain momentum and buy-in on your vision for change.  These individuals will influence in ways you can’t so together you can gain traction on the change and keep it moving forward.

 

After learning about these three possible responses, which is your natural response?  Which is the natural response of those you lead?  Need help thinking into a change you are leading?  Contact me for a powerful coaching session at no cost to you to help you get clarity on the first or next step in the change you are leading.  Keep moving forward and the change will occur.  Lead Well!

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