I've had too many conversations with friends and family (across many industries) over the last few months in which people are lost at work. The last two years have thrown most of corporate America into a tailspin fueled by confusion, frustration, and self-preservation.
Through all the chaos, there is one beacon of light that can serve as your company's north star. You only have to look to your leadership team. Whether it is a frontline leader or a member of your C-Suite executive team, each one of them can instill confidence or exacerbate the problem at hand. That problem is effective change management.
When leaders lead during tough times, it is imperative that they follow a change model closely. Change is already hard enough; it becomes even tougher with poor execution. When leaders lead, they use change models like ADKAR.
Awareness - Leaders will be transparent about the intentions of the change and the actual business reasons that require the change. The majority of employees are wise enough to see past masking attempts.
Desire - Leaders will explain how changes impact their teams of direct and indirect reports personally. In the moment of major change, employees fall back into Maslow's hierarchy of needs. Their own employment and workload will always trump the company's impacts at that moment. Start with them and explain how the change benefits them personally.
Knowledge - Leaders will provide employees with the information they need to be successful after the change. Is there a new vision for their department or individual workload? Have priorities changed? Are certain KPIs more important than others? Effective leaders will ensure that all questions are answered in a timely fashion and that their teams will have confidence about the new direction they are headed.
Ability - Great leaders will give their teams time to adapt to the changes. They will create safe spaces to iterate, potentially fail, and try again. The Situational Leadership II model for development is a life saver in this stage. When leaders lead, they flex their styles to the stage of development employees are in. Even your best employees need increased direction over support when faced with new situations.
Reinforcement - Great leaders stay close to the implementation and execution of new strategies derived from the changes. It is a natural tendency for people to keep doing what is comfortable, or what they have always done. Great leaders guide them back to the change, revisit the previous stages of ADKAR, and reward employees when they are successful. Recognition is not always monetary either, it can take the form of added responsibility, additional time for development, or public shout-outs.
We are all experiencing some form of change in the workplace. It is important that leaders lead. Let's all do our part for the employees we care so much about. These are the moments where we get to live up to the leadership quotes, books, and articles we post so much about. May we all find the courage to truly lead.
If you are experiencing increased stress, anxiety, depression, or any possible symptoms related to these conditions, speak to your company's human resource team about what benefits you may be eligible for that can help provide assistance. It is absolutely ok to feel frustrated, anxious, or something else together. It is also ok to get help from licensed professionals in those areas.
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