Today's world is influenced by change. Project managers and their organizations need to embrace and sometimes drive changes to keep up with the pace in highly competitive environments. In this blog, experienced professionals share their experiences, tips and tools to manage and exploit changes and take advantage of them. The blog is complimentary to the webinar series of the Change Management Community Team and is managed by the same individuals.
The world that we are facing today is so rapidly changing that leaders need a whole new range of skill sets, mindset and heartset in order to survive in this ‘Age of Flux’. It is not only required to change rapidly and adapt to the situations at hand but also change for the better being forward looking rather than resting on past laurels or basing decisions on what worked earlier. There exists an incessant need to – Change fast, Change FORWARD! So how is this possible? Let's look at some strategies.
Ringing in change as the change leader - As a leader look for opportunities where you could influence key changes at the macro-level at the organization so that the environment, people and/or culture are made conducive to changes in the future.
Being a continuous learner, constantly upgrading and up-skilling are sure shot ways of staying ahead of the curve
Thought Leadership – Be a frontrunner in getting your views across platforms that will set you apart as a thought leader and subject matter expert and go-to person in the chosen field
Making conscious efforts to be as centered as possible through various centering exercises such as meditation since sometimes the situations could be highly demanding and overwhelming and it needs leaders to respond appropriately as well as being decisive irrespective of their present state of mind or situation
Bring about that internal shift in mindset to embrace change, as tomorrow is never going to be the same as yesterday or even today
Being compassionate to self, team and stakeholders will be a vital aspect of continuous fruitful engagement of all stakeholders
Keeping your true north intact while tiding over challenges so that there are no regrets for one’s actions
Having a clear vision for yourself, your team and your organization and constantly evaluate the standings vis-à-vis unfolding scenarios such as the current work-from-home model adopted by most companies and likely future scenarios
Such an eclectic approach with changes to the skill set, mindset and heartset might possibly be a game-changer and augur well for leaders to Change FAST and Change FORWARD and constantly stay ahead in facing challenges of the 21st century workspace.
Video & Content by Amrapali Amrapali, Abelio Neto, Nic Jain
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On the 151st birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, I am thinking of the evolution of leadership skills and how it has been influenced by the history. Celebrating the charismatic and transformational leaders, help us re-capitulate some of their, extra-ordinary skills and the success stories/mantra.
One of the best way to do this is to read about the work they did and how such a huge wave of "change" was established. Here I present three of the best quotations from Bapu (Mahatma Gandhi) and how I relate to them.
1) You must be the change you wish to see in the world.
This is one of the most inspiring sayings of this great leader. It is so true, when we talk about changing something, we tend to exclude ourselves. Inclusiveness and being an example of the change can have such a strong impact, was proved by him.
2) Live as if you were to die tomorrow; learn as if you were to live forever.
Living in the moment and present will always have the positive effect. Doing the very best of yourself, today and giving it the fullest will surely present the best outcome tomorrow. We are learning so many things, but are we not unlearning some good things too? Both success and failure in our life gives us the best lessons to remember forever and also pass on to next generations (what we call the lesson learned repository).
3) A man is but the product of his thoughts; what he thinks, he becomes
This is truly the secret of success of the greatest leaders of the world. The vision, goals and mission of your life, project or organisation should be really well defined. Working/thinking towards/inline with your goal/vision/mission always helps one achieve success. Being optimistic bring positive frequency in the environment.
We are lucky to have such great leaders in the past. Evolution in the leadership style has added value to the work being done in the present, but the primary traits remain the same.
At the beginning of a project excitement abounds. There is an allure to working on the next big thing to move the business forward. Yet, as the days turn into weeks, and the weeks into months, the allure begins to fade when the finish line is just a dot on the horizon. The middle of a project is when it can be hard to maintain focus and stay the course. Planning for this downturn in energy is important, and implementing a reward and recognition plan can help bolster the team’s energy reserves and keep the momentum going.
A reward and recognition plan serves as a means to encourage and reward the project team and key partners for their contributions to the project and its success. The plan should contain both monetary and non-monetary incentives that reinforce commitment.
A comprehensive plan should include:
Criteria for how and when project team members and key partners will be recognized and rewarded.
A budget. Allocating funds specifically for reward and recognition ensures the plan can be consistently administered across the life of the project.
Recognition that is delivered in a timely manner, for a specific reason, and in a way the individual finds meaningful.
Opportunities for team members and partners to maintain relationships.
A few examples might include: Project Team recognition with a virtual happy hour; Individual recognition with a personalized award, event, or time-off.
Reward and recognition is often overlooked in a task driven environment. It is important to remember that the individuals working hard to complete those tasks need to feel appreciated. While providing meaningful recognition has always been a key component in the project plan, today’s fractured working environment further heightens the need. The benefits reaped from implementing a reward and recognition plan far outweigh the cost.
In my work advising leaders through major change and transformation projects in Fortune 150 organizations, I have distilled successful change to three underlying components.
Active Leadership. Underlying values based, principled centered leadership that defines how a leader “shows up” to his people. This defines their degree of trustworthiness.
Relationship Building. The work a leader does to build relationships with her leadership team and beyond. This defines the degree the organization will be engaged with the change.
Execution. Putting the processes, structures, and systems in place to execute the change. This defines expectations and accountabilities of individual team members. As project managers we do this every day.
Together these three components are essential for successful change and are required to drive the most value. When executed well, I’ve observed value targets exceeded.
When any one of these components are missing, you sub optimize the value of the change.
If you haven’t based your leadership on solid values, employees will find your message lacks credibility. I remember those old westerns where a medicine salesman from back east came to town to sell those amazing elixirs that would heal your every pain. Their lack of credibility was so evident it was painful. They suppressed their values to make a buck.
A sizable portion of a leader’s role, particularly during times of change, is to build relationships with employees. His first responsibility is to his immediate leadership team. With their help he can extend this to the entire organization. Without solid connections to the organization – in whatever form it takes – employees will remain less engaged with the change.
Active leadership and engaged employees are vital to successful change, but without clear expectations and accountability, the process to achieve change will be painful, wrought with confusion, and will likely sub optimize the value.
With any change, these items are critical. Now more than ever with employees working remotely, these principles become even more important to keep the organization together and focused on the end goal.
