We saved the hardest for last! The 5th critical change management action identified by McKinsey &
Company that Dee Anne described in her post, To support change – five to-do’s and one don’t, is to ensure that you, the leader, are fully engaged in the change.
In addition to clearly defining accountability and expectations, communicating and over-communicating, providing autonomy, and building that talented team, you also need to dive head first into the change and be a role model for action! Your people need to see you behaving differently before they do. Your actions demonstrate priorities, provide motivation and build confidence that it is ok to make a change. As defined by the MnSCU leadership competencies in our 2013 blog posts, effective leadership starts with “leading yourself.”
The “P” or “practice” in the C-P-R tool I shared earlier this summer, can help you clearly identify the specific behaviors and actions that will increase your influence and demonstrate your full engagement. For each specific change outcome or action desired, a leader can identify the behaviors that they need to practice or demonstrate. The actions need to be visible and repeated over time to make change stick!
Watching you, their leader, try out new ideas and new behaviors will inspire others to take a risk and try something new and unleash the potential of your team and your organization. Give it a try!
Todd Thorsgaard
Higher EDge 