Effective Leadership can Facilitate Change

Effective leadership can facilitate change

Leadership is “to use your personal power, to win hearts and minds, to achieve a common purpose”. In other words, it is the ability to motivate, direct and influence the behaviour of employees to achieve the business’s goals and objectives.

Businesses are the following equation: people + processes + products. People are often what will mitigate sub-optimal processes or products. People are also imperative to creating personal connections with customers, and not to mention building relationships. They, therefore, deserve at least the same level of attention and care as processes and products.

As I am sure you have experienced over the last 18 months, in business, change is the only constant. So how can leadership influence the ability to navigate change?

With the correct leader, a team can have the opportunity to change and adapt to issues as they arise.

So what does change actually mean? 

Chances are, people’s perception and opinion of change are very different – embraced by some and resisted by others, and even when the team is all on board, the process is time-consuming. For many, the key is in-depth prior planning, and support from their team… but how can leaders ensure the whole team is on board?

Communication

Communication is a key skill in business, no matter what the objectives are. Communicating to your team about the changes that need to be made is imperative. Why they need to happen, how the change will be implemented, and what will happen if change doesn’t occur.

Consult with your employees – you employed them for a reason, they are experts in their own field. Keeping them informed and involved in the transformational process not only helps to make the process more streamlined, but also, helps them to come on board with the change as they are involved in the steps that impact them the most.

Including them in the transition also helps to make their voice heard, allowing for more creative and out of the box ideas that help to challenge the status quo. In tough markets like the ones many businesses are operating in now, many solutions require unique viewpoints and ideas to help engage customers.

However, as much as the above seems so simple and obvious, it is a skill that does not necessarily come naturally to everyone. The good thing is that it can be learnt. Tips, tricks and best practices can help you put together a plan. We also have to keep in mind that the barriers to good communication can be elsewhere than technical reasons. Communications is a skill linked to self-awareness, self-confidence, self-esteem, self-worth and if the hidden reasons for poor communication skills are not addressed, chances are that the issues will remain, or that communication will come across as non-authentic. This is partly what leadership development can address, rather than a knowledge-based communications training course.

Support

Some teams may resent change for many reasons – maybe they are a long term employee stuck in old ways, maybe they’re not sure how the change will impact their job role, or maybe even they fear a loss of control and fear of the unknown, or maybe they are comfortable and like the way things are. Whatever reason it is, we all fear change to some extent. To help control the fear levels, in conjunction with communication, it’s important that there’s a good level of support available for employees as the transition is implemented.

If new technology is needed to progress the change, maybe consider providing some training to the members of the team affected, and have a period of transition. This is can be used as a buffer period where the team can get acquainted with the new processes and develop new comfort levels for the future.

Good leadership develops a change mindset using innovation

When teams are brought together and encouraged to work collectively, they work more efficiently, possibly even being the ones to pitch ideas for change in the future. Collective working encourages innovation and creativity, key factors in making unique solutions possible.

All businesses know that in order to be successful, they must be able to overcome these challenges and continue to deliver their service as best as they can. But, it’s the teams who stay one step ahead and predict such changes that overcome them and come out stronger on the other side. Teams should be able to work together in an environment where they can collaborate and bounce ideas off one another, in order to come up with an ideal solution.

How can we help?

Leadership Trust helps leaders to communicate effectively, build their interpersonal skills when working collectively, and most importantly, to build self—awareness and emotional intelligence. Let’s never forget that growth comes from within.

These are all skills that will help leaders to bring their authentic selves to the workplace and engage in collaborative working, that helps business grow, and stay one step ahead at all times.