Remember when change was a choice? Made with intention in pursuit of a known outcome? Remember when change was a contained thing, with a beginning and an end?
How quaint does that seem now?
Change has been forever changed. It’s become pervasive, unchosen, unbounded, never-ending – and we’re kind of exhausted. And also, ready to move forward.
Leaders need to be leading their teams through this change, and yet so many are justifiably struggling to lead themselves through!
So, when we started getting requests from organizations seeking counsel on how to lead through this brand of change, I needed a minute (OK, several months) to work out an approach.
I needed to account for…
- Human exhaustion and overwhelm
- The frequent absence of a destination to steer toward
- The challenge of laying out steps on a path no one can see
- Leaders standing at the helm while feeling as lost as anyone
So I built a program (How to Lead Through Change, Ambiguity, and Uncertainty — delivered as keynote or interactive workshop) that gives leaders permission to feel their own sense of overwhelm, to not know all the answers, and to have tools, insight, and confidence to lead themselves and their teams forward anyway.
This program leverages our 4P Approach to Leading Through Change. It honors these new realities by replacing destination with purpose and intent; by leveraging hindsight wisdom over future clarity; by inviting a leader to personally reflect and respond before engaging their team in a dialog and planning process.
If you’re curious (and I hope you’re curious) about what these 4Ps are…
- People: In the face of burnout and overwhelm, are you (leader) they (your team) generally OK?
- Promise: In the absence of clear destination, what impact will you (leader, and then team) steer toward delivering on, no matter what?
- Plan: Without clarity of clear next steps, what wisdom can you (leader, and then team) pull from wins, losses, and learnings in the past few years?
- Progress: To keep a finger on the pulse, and have consistent insight on what to tweak and where to pivot, how will you (leader, and then team) keep a dialog open and thriving?
Here are some guiding questions for you, leaders, to ask yourself first, and then your team collectively. Our keynote and workshop explore how to utilize these questions in service of building a go-forward strategy (personal and collective).
People
- What are your “tells” (i.e., signals that your energy may be low?
- What are your go-to strategies for refueling as needed?
- What is one thing you need right now?
Promise
- What impact are you focused on delivering no matter what the circumstances?
- What about you (values, actions, behaviors) can people around you count on consistently?
- What will you prioritize right now (knowing this may mean saying no to other things) to keep you “on purpose?”
Plan
- What have you done, learned or achieved in the past 2 years that you choose to carry forward?
- What served you in its time but has outlived its utility that you can release?
- What new actions, practices or routines will you add in or experiment with?
Progress
- How will you run experiments and check in on how they’re going?
- How will you determine what to keep and where to pivot?
- How will you celebrate wins as you see them?
- What indicators will you watch for to gauge how things are going?
If your organization could use a dose of partnership in building tools, confidence and clarity around how to lead through change, uncertainty, and ambiguity, then take a leap of faith. Let’s connect. No strings. Just a chat.
Wishing you all the confidence and clarity you deserve on this journey!