Motivating Employees _ Bringing Out the Best in Your People - Barry Silverstein [30]
But powerful leaders draws even the most reluctant into the process of change. They encourage dialogue about change. They answer questions honestly and share information about plans for the future.
Highlighting the powerful positive aspects of change, they transform fear and resistance into acceptance. The goal setting and team work that are so integral to change provide opportunities for employees to stretch and broaden their skills, to take on new challenges—and to enjoy the satisfaction of doing good work and be rewarded for it. In this way, change can yield a host of motivational opportunities—and can energize the entire company.
Managing Change Is Possible
It is generally more difficult to be a leader than a manager. While you can acquire leadership skills, some of what you need to be a leader is deep down inside of you. You need to have the ability to express a vision. You need to have a good grasp of your own beliefs and values before you can inspire or motivate others. You also need to be a great communicator.
A situation of change draws on all these skills, as well as your managerial skills. You must deal with every individual, because one negative individual can sway the attitude of an entire work group, even if most of its members are positive or neutral.
John Kotter and Dan Cohen detail a multi-step change process in their book The Heart of Change (Harvard Business School Press, 2002) that could help leaders better prepare to lead and manage change.
First, establish a sense of urgency. Next, form a guiding coalition of change supporters, who will support and promote your initiatives. Third, create a vision—a picture of the future—and communicate it repeatedly, in many ways. Fourth, empower others to act on the vision. Fifth, realize that change takes a long time, so plan for and create short-term wins. Keep the momentum for change moving over time. Finally, institutionalize the new approaches you have created during the process to make change “stick.”
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The BIG Picture
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GETTING COMFORTABLE WITH RISK
Most change leaders are not averse to risk. Change brings organizational bumps, the potential loss of good people, and uncertainty about the future. However, the potential rewards often outweigh the risks.
Change leaders create a strong, clear vision, formulate a solid plan, and rally the support of others. They stay focused on long-term success, even when faced by temporary setbacks. All this minimizes the risk and keeps change moving in the right direction.
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LEADING DURING GOOD TIMES
When an organization is doing well, it is usually in a growth situation. The organization is adding customers, increasing sales, and building profits. The growth may require adding more managers and more staff to do the work. Responsibility for training these new arrivals may fall on the shoulders of current employees and managers. While good times might seem enviable, they can be just as challenging as tough times for a leader.
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Dos & Don’ts
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KEY SKILLS OF LEADERSHIP
Whether change and tough times are energizing or de-motivating has a lot to do with how they are viewed and handled by the company’s leader.
Don’t isolate yourself.
Do emphasize change as continuous.
Don’t give the impression that change
will be easy.
Do talk openly about the challenges of change, including the possibility of re-structuring or downsizing.
Do encourage employees to ask questions and offer feedback, in good times and bad.
Do keep your thoughts focused on your goals to keep your morale high.
Do give employees the feeling that, although you may not have all the answers, you have a sense of how to get through tough times.
Do recognize that challenging times will require sacrifices and unpleasant decisions.
Don’t create pictures that are falsely optimistic.
Don’t delay inevitable layoffs.
Don’t withhold