Three things a favourite song taught me about leadership in change

Do you have a favourite music era?

I’ve got several, but UK music from the ‘80s – and particularly the early ‘80s - is up there for me. I did a lot of my growing up in that decade so listening to sounds from then always brings back loads of very happy memories.

One of my top tracks is by the UK bands, the Fun Boy Three and Bananarama. It’s a very simple but catchy song as it basically repeats the same chorus, namely, “it ain’t what you do, it’s the way that you do it and that’s what gets results”.

For whatever reason, listening to this tune on a long drive recently made me think long and hard about leaders delivering change messages. Particularly, the how they do it and why this matters so much if we want to create change for the better, especially in the turbulent times we’re in right now.

Here are the three thoughts about leading in change that came out of that ‘80s song…

Image: Elice Moore, Unsplash

1. Relationships make all the difference – I sometimes work with leaders who begin conversations about big change by asking for a slide pack or written communication. I completely understand that this can be useful in helping to shape messages that need to be communicated. But, if you only do this, the engagement bit – the conversations in and across the organisation about what’s happening, sharing ideas and thoughts around the nuances of the strategy and the vision of where the organisation is heading, and listening to feedback – can often get missed.
   
   If you’re expecting people to be on board with your change, then you need to be doing more listening. If not, the only thing you’ll see and hear is disappointment and disengagement.

2. Be clear – confusion is the thief of successful change. Helping people make sense of what’s going on in your organisation in a way that’s relevant to them and that they ‘get’, helps to create that clarity. Always putting things into context and following a storyline or narrative will help people understand what they’ve already heard. Context and narrative helps to create a foundation on which you can deliver the next piece of detail you’re delivering and help the story build. It just makes things easier.

3. Be a human leader – since I started my first job in the late 80s, I’ve worked with quite a few leaders. Some of them have been brilliant and some should have chosen another career, especially when they’ve had to lead people through change. I’ve seen micromanagers (taught me a habit I had to quickly shake), invisible leaders, idea stealers, creativity dementors, bullies, blamers and shamers and emotional blackmailers and some with a mix of many of these too. When they have to lead change, some of these behaviours seem to go off the scale.
   
   With the changes we’re now facing, like shifting to hybrid working and the realisation that a return to the ‘normal’ of Before Covid times is unlikely to happen (ever), we need good leaders with their volume button set to high on the compassion and empathy scale and who treat everyone with respect.
   
   If you’re trying to improve wellbeing in your organisation, these types of leaders – and behaviours - are key.

So, how can you improve the ‘way that you do it’ so you get better results? I’d love to know.

Thank you to the Funboy Three and Bananarama for helping to make a long drive very interesting.