When to start planning for change
One question I get from leaders more than almost any other is: when should I start planning for change? When I dig a little deeper, I always realize that the ideal start time has passed. The leader knows a change is coming, so they’re already thinking about it, talking about it (even if they don’t realize it), and making decisions and taking actions based on it. But it’s not too late!
At Commcoterie, we practice what we call Restorative Organizational Change. This means that:
we create change with employees rather than treating change like something that happens to them
we acknowledge the disruption and drain that even positive change can cause
we proactively set employees up for success by understanding them as individuals and communicating with them accordingly rather than pitting the organization against its people
In the first phase of our change work — Uncover — we dig into the who, what, when, where, how, and — most importantly — why of the change. We identify actions, barriers, stakeholders, goals, and milestones. We determine if we have adequate resources in place to support the change and if proposed changes align with the organization’s vision and values. We also explore who might resist the change (which is a completely normal and valid response to change), why, and how we can support them. We peel back the layers of the onion to lay out all of the info we might need for the next phase — Create.
And, if the organization we’re working with doesn’t have an enthusiastic change culture, it’s best to start as early as possible so we can restore before.
How can you possibly restore before an organizational change has even happened?
Well, you zoom out and see the big picture; change is constant, you don’t have an organizational change strategy in place, and there are changes that have happened in the past — probably to your people rather than with them.
Maybe folks complain that they never know what’s going on, maybe they’re frustrated that they give feedback and don’t see results, maybe they roll their eyes and sigh when new changes are announced (here we go again).
As a leader, maybe you have never defined what transparency means (to your teams or yourself), maybe your directives for managers to cascade messages to their teams leave managers scratching their heads, maybe you’re not even solving the right problems because you’re not fully utilizing or understanding the strengths of those around you.
We break this cycle and restore trust and relationships before new changes occur.
How can leaders restore trust before organizational change occurs?
In our Uncover phase, the focus is not solely on the change at hand; we uncover how change works at your organization. We understand how decisions are made, how strategies are designed, and how your hierarchy or organizational structure is set up. We uncover pain points, bruises, and bad feelings. We uncover strengths, sources of organizational pride, and successful collaborations.
And we guide leaders to leverage strengths while repairing relationships and building trust as part of an intentional culture of change.
While we work with leaders on large-scale changes and crisis restoration, our secret power is kickstarting change cultures so that leaders and their teams can tackle any change — together.
How can we kickstart a change culture?
Identify a “safe” change: This can look like rolling out a new training program, launching a new product, or even open enrollment. Safe doesn’t mean easy, it just means it was going to happen anyway, it can be seen as positive, and/or it’s relatively contained.
Kickstart your change culture: Design a full restorative organizational strategy with all the bells and whistles tailored to your organization and based on this real-life change.
Implement the change, iterate, and measure: How did your strategy go over? Are there parts that need tweaks or updates? What worked and what didn’t? What can you do to rebuild trust around the parts that didn’t go so well.
Use this blueprint for future changes!
If you know change is coming, the time to start planning is now
If your change is “safe,” even better. Take the time and make the investment to do the work of uncovering the current state of change at your organization, the requirements and resources to set your planned change up for success, and what it’s going to take to create change with your people.
Time and again, my clients have created effective, inclusive, and engaging change strategies with safe changes that set them up to face future changes with confidence.
And when you build a culture of restorative organizational change, people will trust that you’ll use those same practices when a crisis hits.
Commcoterie helps leaders of mission-driven companies like B Corps and other values-centered organizations drive restorative organizational change for sustainable impact.
Ready to design your organization’s restorative change strategy and kickstart your change culture?