During my morning walk at the Baylands Nature Preserve, I saw this information board with a very profound write up about Interrelationships: The interwoven threads of the wetlands system create a tapestry of interrelationships: every strand is connected and essential to every other one. And, then it elaborates: Because the connections between these plants and animals are so complex, we are not always aware of what happens when one element is changed. Care must be taken to protect these sometimes fragile relationships.
And, my mind immediately started mapping this message to the similar and complex dynamics at the workplace and how small changes at an element level had resulted in either big successes or undesirable turbulence.
Learning from my own experiences and observations over the years, here is what I think: in order to successfully implement a change of any size, pay attention to your people! Lead through the period of change with deliberate & people-centric leadership. Some of the things which have worked really well for me, in a leadership role:
- Setting the context by starting with “why” of the change
- Making myself available and prioritizing 1:1 time for listening & responding
- Time-boxing the window of uncertainty and providing interim updates
- Staying calm and protruding optimism and positivity
This is an essential skill for mid-level managers, specifically. If you are looking for a deep dive into this topic, contact me at Nabler. I would love to listen, learn and brainstorm with you .
#leadership #changemanagement #interrelationships, #mentoring, #nabling
