If you find it hard as a team leader to encourage change, you’re not alone…

Change is never easy. But our organisational structures might be making it even harder. Listen in to see if you agree.  Here is the article I mention in this episode. https://hbr.org/2019/04/research-why-managers-ignore-employees-ideas #LeadershipDevelopment #Coaching #Training #WorkingGenius

• Transcript

  Let me paint the picture for you. You come up with a brilliant idea. It comes directly out of a complaint from a client, you know how to fix it but it is going to require more than you can do by yourself. You go to your boss and share it. She says ‘no’. Demoralising right? Now, let me put the shoe on the other foot. You are in the middle of a project, your team member barges into your office with a great idea, and you just don’t have the time. You say ‘no’. Do either of those scenarios sound familiar?

  Kotter’s 5th Principle for change is to Enable Action by Removing Barriers. The leaders in this scenario were creating barriers. Where do you think these types of barriers lead?

  Yep, you’re already thinking this through:

  A demoralised team member.

  Lack of productivity.

  And if it happens repeatedly, team members will stop trying to innovate. The innovation wheels stop turning completely.

  Now let’s take a step back. Because, you as a leader, know that there is often good reason for saying ‘no’. And you would be right! Elad Sherf and his colleagues write an excellent article in the Harvard Business Review which point out that many organisations are set up so that team leaders are not empowered to change.

  If I as a leader am required to go through a significant process of approvals and meetings to change something, is it really going to be worth it? I barely have the headspace for my own projects. The more hurdles I must jump, the less inclined I am to empower my team to change as well.

  Company reviews, KPIs and targets are all set up to keep us focussed on short term success. So where is the space for change and thus possible failure? Where is the space in our organisations to dream, to innovate and to change?

  So how can you change, when your team leader can’t change and our organisational structure doesn’t encourage change? How do you as the key decision maker encourage change when you feel the pressure to keep that bottom line positive?

  If you are a business leader, you need to understand that if you don’t change, your organisation will cease to exist. If we don’t encourage innovation and failure our talent will leave. Change, failure, and mistakes because we are innovating are actually the things that are going to keep our bottom line positive. If that causes a bit of anxiety. Contact me and we can work on it together.

  Or if you’re a part of a team, I want you to understand that your role is to lead up. Understand that organisational structures don’t encourage change, so don’t blame your team leader. Flick this podcast to them, print the HBR article I am referring to. Help them to understand the need for change without the blame games. When we start taking the ‘no’s personally and start blaming our leaders, we are on the road to our exit. In some situations that might be necessary, but I encourage you first to try to work things out. It is better for everyone.

  Let me change direction, Leaders and managers are not the only barrier to change. A person may need upskilling, they may need extra resource, or help for a project. And when we as team leaders can provide these things, you are not only making the work possible. You are communicating that your team member is valuable. You are encouraging them to reach above their station. You are leading a person in a way so that when they lead, they will be a remover of barriers too.

  Steve Jobs grew one of the largest companies in the world. He says, ‘It doesn’t make sense to hire smart people and tell them what to do; we hire smart people so they can tell us what to do.’ If you want your team to act smart, treat them like they are smart.

  If this podcast hits home, call me. If you are a team leader, I offer executive one-on-one coaching packages that could help you over the next 10 months to create a strategy to get to where you want to go. If you are the key decision maker and are trying to make changes in your organisation and having no success. You need to call me. You understand your product, I understand people and I can help you to navigate your greatest asset, your people, so that your organisation can become more innovative, productive and agile.