Leadership and Change: How to empower contribution in harmony
Everyone is considered...but not everyone gets a say
Imagine this: You've got an incredibly passionate team member...raring to go, championing the change and supporting the team. Their energy is infectious...but let's be real, it's not always helpful.
Sometimes that person just isn't close enough to impacted business processes or they lack the technical expertise, to really contribute in a meaningful way. Or maybe, as blunt as it can be, they just aren't respected amongst their peers and colleagues; to the point where their 'brand' affects the change messaging.
Artful leadership will find a way to still harness that enthusiasm and hence our third Principe of Change is "Empower everyone to contribute appropriately"
In this article I walk you through your role as a conductor of the orchestra in change leadership; you cannot play all the instruments yourself (aka: build all the inputs to change), so your role is about helping people keep in synchronisation and to "do their best solo work" when it's their time.
#changeleadership #organisationaldevelopment #leadership
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We go from what we know; why all good Change is about meeting people where they are...and NOT labelling them "resistors"
Let's make 2023 the year we globally bin the label of "Change Resistors"
Change isn't an abstract concept or a manufacturing technique. It's a personal, human experience, with each individual processing it through their own unique lens.
Every person brings a mix of past experiences, present perceptions, and future expectations to the table. It's a complex blend that forms their reality – and their starting point for any change.
That's why change happens one conversation at a time.
In this article, I give an overview of how to do that at scale and walk you through our second Principle of Change here at Apricot, which is focused on relationships; "Meet people where they are at".
#leadingchange #transformationalleadership #changeleadership
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Change at the core: connecting to meaning and purpose
"People don't buy WHAT you do; they buy WHY you do it."
There is a striking poignancy to these words, 14 years on from when Simon Sinek enshrined them in TED Talk immortality.
Every client, I will ever work with...I will start with the Why. It's a pragmatic approach: people aren't resistant to change; they're resistant to change that doesn't make sense.
(Luckily, we at Apricot enjoy that 'sense making' work, irrespective of the layers of complexity and emotionally charged narratives of "yesterday".)
"Align change with what matters" is our First Principle of Change, which unsurprisingly mirrors our hallmark Apricot Health Index.
But how does that come to life in an organisational setting? I give my explainer in this article, plus give some tips on how to make even the most mundane of organisational change have some sense of meaning and importance.
#change #meaning #purpose
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The biggest mistake I see leaders make: the planning fallacy
In crafting up the final touches on Apricot's First Principles of Change (coming soon 👀) I revisited the most consistent guidance I give to leaders and their teams: know what the Planning Fallacy is and actively outsmart it.
The Planning Fallacy is a cognitive bias where individuals underestimate the cost, time, and risks involved in a project while simultaneously overestimating their own previous experience and capabilities.
It's important to grasp the duality of this; we underestimate tangibles and "knowns" (cost, time and risks)...yet we overestimate the intangibles of 'experience' and capability. Take a quick moment to reflect, on how much of organisational life is skewed towards a trust in experience - sometimes for very good reason, but not without consequence.
And the real shocker: if you give highly experienced leaders, new information which challenges their original planning estimates...they tend to be reluctant to change it! 😧
Reasons why this happens and some high-level guidance on mitigating the Planning Fallacy in the full article, but working through the unique cultural nuances and particular 'friction points' within organisations is the kind of work we love ❤️
#change #projectmanagement #organisationaldevelopment
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Beyond 'Making Your Bed': Prioritising Effectiveness over Efficiency
Forget about making your bed first thing in the morning! My objection: as we meticulously straighten our sheets and fluff our pillows, are we priming ourselves just to "be busy"?
Here's my wake-up call to continually fight the organisational inertia towards just doing tasks for the sake of them - and realise how this default thinking can steer us away from the most meaningful and impactful work.
#leadership #change #coaching
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How well do you really know Australia?
As a Performance Coach and Talent Manager for Campbell Page, I experienced one of the most significant growth periods of my life. My travels suddenly took me through vast swathes of this wonderful country - yet far from the tourist routes. From Warwick to Moruya, Moe to Elizabeth (and 54 other places, if we're counting ✈ ) I watched dedicated managers trying to make a difference in their local communities.
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Start small to go big...or go overbudget trying; less IS more when you analyse large and complex projects
If you want to make global impact, then you have to think big. Prof. Bent Flyvbjerg is someone who has spent more time than most, thinking big - mega even. I find his work a fascinating touchstone for my own work with leaders and organisations, especially the ones who need to compete where it's big and complex. Thanks to a recent Sydney Business Insights event, I got brought up to speed on his most recent work "How big things get done", looking at the common failure points and success factors behind over 16,000 major global projects.
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Why behaviour is still the hardest part of any transformation
GLOBALLY, ORGANISATIONS ARE WASTING OVER $50 BILLION A YEAR ON LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT.…
Why?
1. We don’t focus on the behaviours that really matter in a given context
2. We don’t measure return on investment, through applied results
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Lessons learned from service design, digital transformation and change
After dialling up the emotion on my goodbye post, thought I'd close off my escient journey by reflecting on my top three invaluable lessons learned from being 'front and centre' to service design, digital transformation and change.
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