Activating Change in People and Teams

Change is a word which everybody is cautious about. The moment the word is spoken, there is stiff resistance in the air. So why is change so difficult?

People fundamentally may not like change; we all are in our comfort zones. Changing the way we work and do things implies rewiring our way of thinking and further the way of doing things.

One needs direction as well as motivation to change. Leaders help their teams and organizations with both direction and motivation as and when required. In scientific terms, a leader should have the thoughts, intentions and skills to help people with change.

As individuals we are all different and are unique too. Every individual needs to be treated in a different way. The leader reads and then leads people and the change that he or she wants to see.

The leader understands the behaviours and motivators of the individuals and adapts his style of interacting and communicating with them. The better they adapt the quicker might be the change he or the organization wants to see.

In our DISC Behavior and Motivators training, we teach leaders how each behaviour style accepts change. Briefly…

•    High “D” Likes change
•    High “I” May not notice change
•    High “S” Needs pre-conditioning to change
•    High “C” Concerned about effects of change

Equipped with this knowledge, leaders can prepare the change plan to suit his teams’ styles to activate change effectively.

Another important skill a leader should posses is the skill to coach individuals. A change can be facilitated steadily into the system with constant occurrences of coaching. The change could be related to the way people sell or the way people work together in the organization.

Any announcement of a change through a conference, a meeting, a seminar, etc, should be backed up by buy-in and constant coaching and monitoring to help people change.

A good activating change leader helps their team understand the reasons that necessitate the change and establishes the change expectations and results clearly. Moving ahead, they encourage a open two-way communication and build momentum by focusing on strengths and successes.

With new changes coming in many areas, it’s easy for people to lose focus and direction, leading to a rise of new opposition and reluctance to accept the change. Therefore, it is crucial for leaders to continuously monitor not only the performance but also the morale of their team in order to respond swiftly before resistance builds up high.

While a leader deals with people to help them change, there is an important aspect to consider, and that is motivating them. One can never motivate others for long, one can only create the circumstances around the individuals and they get self motivated.

So how can you as a leader help to satisfy their internal motivators? Make sure you cover these three basic psychological needs:

• Competence: feeling valued as knowledgeable, skilled, and experienced
• Relatedness: collaborating with colleagues and co-workers
• Autonomy: exercising self-regulation within guidelines to achieve business goals

Thus, we see change is not an easy job, though not tough either, when there is a process followed.

The Achieving Success by Activating Change program does just that. It offers unique solutions and equips executives, managers, supervisors, and you, with the critical skills to create a change-capable organization.