As a company executive, leading changes throughout your organization can be complex, ambiguous, and chaotic. Thankfully, there are steps you can take throughout the change process to remain informed so that you can lead your team. With these 11 reminders for executives leading major company changes, you can ensure an easier enterprise-wide change while remaining prepared to navigate any barriers that may arise.
Have Realistic Expectations
Major change initiatives take more time and resources than many executive leaders initially imagine or can tolerate. There are many barriers, challenges, risks, and sources of resistance that slow down change implementations. Executives must remain honest with themselves throughout every step of the process. Changes will take longer than you want. However, it’s best to make peace with any possible challenges at the beginning of the process. You will also need to coach your board and employees on the realities of implementing those changes from the very beginning, so everyone has realistic expectations of the road ahead.
Have the Real Pulse on All Levels of Your Organization
Many times, it’s the executives reporting right to the CEO that creates barriers, not just middle management and your employees. They just don’t tell you. Conduct surveys and workshops to remain up-to-date regarding reactions and needs throughout all levels of the organization. As a result, you have a full view and can navigate around these barriers accordingly.
Have a Strong Alignment with the Executive Team and Board
Executives who don’t communicate with the executive team and board will continuously have conflicting priorities. As a result, this can rob the change program of momentum and exhaust you as you play peacemaker.
Build Levels of Accountability
Implementing major, enterprise-wide changes requires you to build an accountability-driven checks and balances system. You need to make every level of management accountable to their superiors for being intentional and proactive in leading changes with their teams. Every superior is also responsible for communicating your messages and modeling down to their teams. Don’t expect a consulting company or the internal change program team to keep on top of every division, department, or function.
Break Changes into Smaller Components
Major changes are very complex, ambiguous, and require a lot of resources. You need a strong vision of why the changes are needed and what will change. Don’t forget to give yourself a break. It takes time to figure out specifically how changes will be made. Break the changes down into divisions, departments, functions, teams, processes, systems, and technology.
Take Care of Yourself, Mentally and Physically
Balance is key to staying calm, keeping the overwhelming changes in perspective, and leading with confidence. You must take care of your own physical, spiritual, and mental needs. You have to be as intentional in taking care of yourself during change as you are when implementing changes.
Build Change Capabilities
Don’t look at it as a short-term, big bang event. You can’t keep hiring high-priced consultants every time you have a change “event.” Otherwise, you will go through the same level of stress, ambiguity, and chaos each time there are changes. Set your company up to be agile and change capable. As a result, you can make changes quickly, easier, and more often without always using up major resources. This will also save time and keep you from burning yourself and employees out.
Make Tough Decisions Quickly
The faster you make tougher decisions, the better it will be for you in the long term. For example, keeping poor change leaders in place that have proved incapable of leading change can disengage employees quickly. They’re momentum killers! Don’t let anything, anybody, or bureaucracy build a pattern of stalling your efforts. Make the tough decisions before issues become consistent momentum killers.
Use the Right Criteria to Appoint Change Leaders
Too often, executives choose their change program leaders because of politics or seniority. For example, someone who is a good IT leader or operations leader may not be the best fit to lead major changes. Change Leadership is a whole different skill set. Put the right people in place in the beginning and you won’t keep making leadership changes that are change-momentum killers.
You Need the Right Perspective
You can’t let the constant resistance, complaining, and negativity that come with instituting change affect you. It’s human nature for people to resist and even sabotage change if they think it could impact them negatively. Even if people try to make it personal, you always have to remember it’s for the literal survival and thriving of your company.
It’s About the People
Don’t be obsessed with the technical and tactical aspects of change. It’s not the processes, technology, systems that determine the success of a change program; it’s the people using them. Employee readiness, acceptance, and adoption will determine if your change will be successfully implemented.