If you’re planning a change initiative, take a long hard look first at your company culture, because that’s the foundation from which you’re starting.
If your culture isn’t strong and stable, your change leaders will have an uphill battle.
Trust is a key factor – maybe the key factor – in company culture and readiness for change. As someone commented on one of my recent LinkedIn posts, “Without trust, people will immediately jump to the conclusion that the change is a threat.”
In leading change, you can do everything correctly according to whatever change process you’re following. But if your team doesn’t trust you or your bosses because of things that have happened in the past, you’ll have challenges.
And if you’ve been brought in from outside to lead the change, whether as a consultant or an external hire, bear in mind that the culture was there first, before you ever arrived on the scene.
None of us are perfect at leadership or at shepherding a change initiative. There are many ways to – bluntly – screw up, and trust me, you will screw up at some point.
But trust isn’t built by never screwing up. Frankly, if I see someone who appears to be perfect, I’m immediately suspicious of what they might be hiding.
No. Trust is built by acknowledging your screwup. Admit it. Don’t blame or finger-point. And then – and this is important – explain how you’re fixing the screwup, what you’ll do to prevent it from happening again, and then do the thing.
Change leadership resulting in successful, sustainable change is all about trust.
Change readiness is one of four steps in the People Process that aligns with the Project Process of any change initiative. Curious? Here’s my contact form. Let’s talk.