If you lead a team or an organisation there is always going to be change. That might be transformation or change projects, an ambitious strategy that requires a change of approach to be successful, implementation of a new system or process or downsizing and making cuts.
You might have experienced how difficult it can be to make change happen. Perhaps you’ve been part of a change process before, been frustrated by the snail’s pace of progress, baffled by the obstacles that reveal themselves once the process begins or confused about how people respond to change in unexpected ways.
It’s people that make change happen and it’s also people that slow change down or stop it in its tracks. Some people thrive on change, yet generally speaking, as humans we find change challenging because of the way that our brains work.
If as a leader, you can understand more about what’s happening in our human brains when change happens it will enable you to confidently lead your team through the inevitable emotional highs and lows of the process of change.
How our brains respond to change
Our brains are fundamentally wired for survival. On a basic level we seek to avoid threats and find rewards. Our brains interpret change as uncertainty, and uncertainty causes a threat response.
When we feel threat, we get an influx of cortisol and adrenalin hormones increasing our stress levels and preparing our body to fight, flight or freeze. Our blood thickens and moves away from our prefrontal cortex (where we do our decision making, thinking and emotional control) and is directed to our vital organs as we get ready to run, hide or fight. This might have been helpful in a different existence when threat might have been being chased by a wild animal but its less helpful in our day to day working environment when being able to think clearly, make decisions and be in control of our emotional responses is more valuable than running or fighting.
We live in the modern world, but our brains are still operating based on what enabled our past survival and we are wired to view change and uncertainty as a threat. This is why change can feel so challenging.
If as a leader tasked with driving change you can reduce your teams threat response and increase their reward response the smoother your transition will be through the change that is required. Here’s 3 tips to help you.
The case for change
Before you get into the detail of how change will happen ensure there is a clear and shared understanding for why change is necessary. Reduce the threat response by involving your people in these conversations. Allow time and space for people to understand, input, reflect and ask questions. If you have to change because you have a new strategy to deliver, you must be able to answer why a new strategy is required. What’s the impact of not changing?
Allow people to reach their own insights
Do not underestimate the importance of involving people in change. People are much more supportive to change if they can come to their own insights about why this is the best course of action. We like something more when we feel we have a choice. We don’t like feeling that change is ‘being done to us’. We value autonomy. As a leader ensure you help people understand the purpose of change and why it’s important and necessary, as well as how best to implement it. Give people agency, time and space to come to their own conclusions. This takes longer than just telling people change is going to happen to them and it can feel frustrating. However, you don’t do this expect resistance as people will feel under threat which will ultimately cause more challenge and take longer to implement.
Set short terms goals
Whatever the change is, it helps people feel less threatened to have short term achievable goals and milestones. What’s the first next step to moving in the right direction? Achieving a goal generates the hormone Dopamine. This triggers a reward response in our brain and makes us feel good. Our threat response is reduced when we feel that there is something in our control and we feel like we’re making progress.
Where you can, set goals that very clearly contribute to a shared or team goal so people feel ownership and work together. This helps to facilitate collaboration and reduces the chances of people working in conflict. Create accountability and a Dopamine hit for the whole team by sharing progress publicly, for example in team meetings or in an all team regular email update.
These some fundamental tactics to help you lead your team through change successfully. Change is challenging and if you’d like some more guidance or support for your team, then do get in touch lucy@lucidity.org.uk