Former-Change-CEO, Entrepreneur and Business Coach, Stuart Hayes, in a recent article reveals the importance of good leadership in helping staff work together to navigate difficult and necessary changes in a business. In the following article he shows not just why it’s important but also what you can do to help make these transitions as smooth and effective as possible in your business. Follow his simple (but not necessarily easy!) process as outlined below to achieve the best results for your business. For more from Stuart you can follow him on Facebook, and if you are looking for an expert Business Coach in Melbourne, he is offering a free two hour consultation for eligible businesses, you can find out more on his website.
In an enterprise, most of us have been cautioned at some point that, “if you’re not pushing forwards you’re actually moving backwards.” In essence, this goes straight to the heart of why adaptation is essential to a positive and healthy company. Well balanced businesses progress with the times and evolve. Unsound businesses fight change, stagnate and then fizzle out.
Change is the main ingredient of growth and in business change requires vision, a driving team along with a tight context if it is to be delivered successfully as well as positively. This is why reliable leadership is so important in a company.
However while discussing change, it’s important to not toss the baby out with the bath water simply because, on the other side to change is the value of consistency which is also vital, especially in processes that have to do with product, quality, cashflow and even, to some extent, natural growth.
So, this pair of contradictory ideas ought to exist side-by-side in a healthy company. How do we get to that? The solution is to realise that successful businesses require change along with consistency, change is the realm of business leaders and consistency the terrain of supervisors. Thinking about this pair side-by-side, it is not difficult to see why consistency as well as change (indeed business managers and business leaders) are commonly challenging to join together.
In this article, I’m going to explore the core aspects of adept leadership including how these elements combine to achieve positive and enduring change. As a professional leader, the formula I make use of to deliver this adaptation entails a straightforward four-step procedure which I strongly recommend! As follows below:
STEP #1 — Put yourself in the ‘Hot-Seat’
I sometimes wonder whether it is more challenging to understand where you are truly starting from or where you are specifically working to get!
As business owners and entrepreneurs, we have a tendency to fall into the trap of seeing the world with rose coloured glasses and forget to consciously acknowledge where we are setting out from – our ‘point A’.
Recognising your true point A is tough stuff: it is solely achieved by having the nerve to figure out, ask, and then truthfully answer all of the in your face questions that pertain to your company, your approach as well as exactly how you are moving towards it. You know the questions; they are those tricky questions you typically stumble over when they strike you without warning at a dinner party!
My suggestion– pull on your thickest skin, get someone to pinpoint and then ask the questions that ought to be asked … and don’t allow your ego to hinder the sincere self-contemplation that needs to follow. It might be the difference between your success and failure.
STEP #2 — Specify your ‘What’, Feel your ‘What-For’
Determining both the specifics of your ‘change vision’ (your ‘Point B’) in addition to the specifics of your true, core reason for change is likewise challenging. If there is a # 1 secret for achieving positive and sustainable transformation, however, this is it.
Without the specifics, your vision (Point B) is just a desire. Without a deep and authentic reason as to why you wish to pursue your vision, you will certainly struggle to move employees towards it. People need to share your enthusiasm. You must have the ability to move your team, to move your team.
Fortunately, those coworkers that do share and take on your vision will stand with you and come to be the driving influence for accomplishing it. This is why masterful leaders appreciate the carrot is mightier than the stick.
My suggestion– recognise the kinds of individuals you require to propel your change vision. Give it the time it needs to ascertain precisely who they could be then what it is about your vision that may move them.
STEP #3 — Lay out your Plan
From here on, the cornerstones of your success are sticking to what works, keeping it simple … as well as continuing to feed the passion that connects your driving staff members to your vision.
Having clarified your ‘why’, designating uninterrupted thinking time to identifying the essential aspects of your ‘how’ is critical. To do this you can involve your driving team in the following process: 1. Determine the repeatable tasks that will achieve your objective (keep these simple). 2. Identify both the resources you have readily available and the resources you will need (actually require!). 3. Ascertain the finite selection of points that could obstruct your progression. Develop contingency plans for those that are legitimately risky.
STEP #4 — Accomplish Positive and Sustainable Changes
Keeping on course and also attaining positive and lasting change is a 99% leadership and 1% management mix of fuel, context and accountability.
The fuel component is PR in its purest form. Its objective is to build and then maintain momentum: communicate the vision, impart the simple, repeatable actions, celebrate successes … and ultimately train your driving team to do the same things. Each reinforcing that the change vision is correct and that the group’s approach is the correct one.
Notably, as leader, the code of conduct or ‘context’ you establish around your group and its behaviour is fundamental to their capacity to unify and accomplish outcomes. Your team will look to you to live by this code at all times and when you do it will certainly start to have a life all of its own.
This is where staying on track and attaining positive and sustainable change needs your personal commitment, courage and also discipline: following the message you teach as well as connecting with your team in a genuine way when delivering it is important.
Your capability to develop and uphold a compelling context is directly proportional to your capability to do these things, and with a strong context your team will certainly self regulate; self align; move mountains; and then generate the positive and lasting changes you desire.
Remember — Take a deep breath and then be prepared to be human, to admit mistakes and to be open to change yourself. You will certainly be respected as well as followed as a leader in a far more compelling manner when you have the courage to do these things.
