Being a great leader requires continuous personal change. The ability to lead at your best is dependent on the context that you work within, and because that situation is always changing, you must also change your behaviors in order to be able to work within it.
Think about it. When was the last time you:
“Acquired” a new boss?
Got a new peer on your team?
Hired a new staff member?
Lost a staff member?
Got a promotion?
Took on a significant new project?
Had a major software installation?
Any change in your environment impacts you and requires you to change your behaviors in some way. Each change has the potential to require some introspection and hard work. Sometimes the hardest work you’ll ever do is the work you do on yourself – this is the stuff that keeps you adaptable!
You can wing it or you can be intentional about the change(s) you need to make. I vote for the latter, because all too often “winging it” results in little personal change that isn’t sustainable.
So, when things around you change, put “pen to paper” and record your answers to these questions:
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What is my personal goal for this change?
- Where am I at now? Where do I need to be?
- How will I get there?
- Where am I at now? Where do I need to be?
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What behavior(s) do I want to exhibit with this change?
- How do I want to show up?
- How can I change my behavior while remaining true to my values?
- How do I want to show up?
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Who can help?
- Who do I trust to support me in achieving my goals?
- Who can hold me accountable?
- Who do I trust to support me in achieving my goals?
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What will others observe when I make these changes in myself?
- What will I ask them about what they are seeing?
- How will I adapt to any surprises in their feedback?
- What will I ask them about what they are seeing?
As a leader, you are being closely watched; the changes you make in yourself will help those around you to adapt. When you are adaptable to the environment and change with it by changing yourself, the “new you” will have the best chance of being sustainable.
Hi Mary Jo,
One thing I enjoy about this piece is the proactive stance you take on change. Most times, our resistance to change is part a result of our fear of not knowing the what the final outcome will be, but also the impression that we have little control over it.
As you show through the questions you share in this post, we do have control when it comes to change, namely in how we choose to respond and evolve because of it. The reality is that the world has never been or will it ever be a static constant.
Having a framework like what you share here for how to respond to change when it happens will ensure leaders not only remain effective, but relevant to their team and organization despite what the changes might send their way.
Tanveer, thanks for the insight. I hadn’t thought of this as “pro active” but re-read it, and can see what you see. It is so important for leaders to create a vision of their personal, as well as organizational future. I think that’s something that gets missed.
We tend to think we can keep doing what we’ve always done – and get different results. So one of my favorite questions when a client is looking ahead to a change initiative is “how will you show up before, during, and after the change?”. Thanks for stopping by.