In a previous post I explored the topic of resistance to change and how we can shift our own approach and mindset to get underneath the surface and really understand what’s really going.
But what happens when it’s a senior leader who’s not on board?
Markus Spiske, unsplash
Senior leaders and leadership teams are key in any change as they’re the ones that employees look to, to guide their own decisions. Senior leaders’ words and actions can help employees decide if a change is important enough for them to engage with it and get involved.
Employees will take their cues from what they hear and see from this group so if any senior leaders are less than committed to the change, it will be spotted. Employees will be less keen to get on board.
As with any employee, exploring and getting a clear understanding of whether a leader is fearing a change and what it brings, they don’t agree with it or simply that they have different ways of thinking about how the change could be delivered is vital.
Even more important to understand is if a leader doesn’t agree with the direction an organisation is taking by introducing a specific change – for example the acquisition of another business.
The outcome of this exploration will dictate the next steps. If a senior leader feels that they could contribute more to the change for example, and this can be relatively easily accommodated, then that’s very different to someone who doesn’t fundamentally agree with the direction the organisation is taking.
In this case, they may still feel loyal to the organisation, but they may see this change as an indication of where things are heading - and that may not be where they want to go. And that might lead to a very different conversation.
This is where individual and team coaching can be valuable, giving leaders a space to explore where their response to the change is being driven from, articulate their concerns or understand more about their personal capacity for change and how they might develop that.
And then, bringing different leaders together to explore how they can improve collaboration, get more aligned and learn from and support each through team coaching, can add significant value.
Getting under the skin of what’s going on with leaders is vital to the success of any change. It can often be skipped in the rush to maintain momentum but planning a coaching approach into your change plans from the start, will increase the likelihood of your change being a success.
Get in touch if you’d like to chat about coaching for yourself or your team as part of your organisational change plans.