Tag: change management

Leadership transitions

Charismatic and adored leaders develop a sense about them. The organizational culture reveres that leader. The leader is considered “legend”. High performing talent may have joined your firm simply because of that leader. Some people may believe that the company won’t last without that person.

At the point when that leader must leave, skilled managers recognize they’re at a critical decision point — how they communicate change.

The sub-optimal thing is for the exiting leader to announce their departure on an all hands and for the new leader to join the call and share the new plan forward. That move threatens the established culture and norms of the organization. As much as change may be needed, that is not the moment.

A more optimal strategy would be two steps.

  1. Meeting 1: The exiting leader to share their departure with the team. Share their plans for the future — that gives the team the opportunity to feel hope for their beloved leader. And, use that as an opportunity for the team to share their memories of the leader. Perhaps give an award or a silly gift for the leader to remember the team. This milestone moment gives the team the opportunity to grieve together, separate, and prepare for what’s next.
  2. Meeting 2: The new leader introduces themselves. They acknowledge the legacy the last leader left behind — they pay homage to the past. They share what they observe the team doing now that works. They share their plan to listen, get to know everyone, and in the future share what they learned and how they see things move forward.

What’s happened here?

  1. Meeting 1 is for the team to collectively grieve and progress forward.
  2. Meeting 2 is for the new leader to say they come in peace and promise to listen, thus assuaging concerns that the new leader will threaten the culture.

Why bother?

Because if you hope to seek the gains that result from hiring and cultivate great talent, you need to have an environment for talent to thrive and do its best work.

If you can’t do that, what are you doing then?

The paradox of grand change management

Why do change management projects often fail? I attended a seminar led by Diana Hong of Admired Leadership/CRA Inc to to help me answer that question. I took notes for you. Here are the takeaways:

Principle: Don’t overlook human nature and psychology.

  1. Understand the adoption curve.
    • 16% will eagerly adopt change.
    • 16% will resist fiercely.
    • Focus on the 68% in the middle seeking social proof.
    • Map your organization to this curve.
  2. Connect change to identity Use language like “We’ve done this before” and “You’re skilled at changing.” Reference past successes. People need to see themselves as capable of change.
  3. Manage expectations ruthlessly Don’t oversell. Be optimistic about outcomes, pragmatic about the journey. Repeat: “We can’t predict everything. We’ll get smarter as we go. This is the right thing to do.”
  4. Start small, scale fast Begin with early adopters as change champions. Use peer networks to spread adoption. Give managers clear talking points.
  5. Make it the new normal Success is when change becomes habitual. Don’t declare victory too soon. Aim for small wins that compound over time.

If I had to to boil it down to a simple behavior, it would be for more leaders to say what Diana recommends:

  1. Here’s the best case scenario;
  2. Here’s the worst case scenario; and
  3. Reality will fall somewhere in the middle.

The paradox is as much as managers believe a grand, over optimistic, well-built change management strategy will excite and energize their employee, the opposite is likely true.

Embrace the paradox and manage for the mundane.

Effective change is habit change.