3 powerful strategies to lead your team through change

Yes, someone has to do it, so it might as well be you, the leader who is successful in helping people embrace change. Honestly, in today’s marketplace the leader who can not only influence their team to change—but inspire, motivate, and engage them—will be the leader who wins, the one who not only achieves their goals but surpasses them.

According to Accenture in the last four years the rate of change has increased a whopping 183% and 33% in the last year alone. And this pace of change shows no signs of slowing down. If you are in leadership today, you need to be good—really good—at leading your team through change.

Why is leading through change so hard?

There are so many reasons leading change is difficult, and some of the most common include:

1. Change makes us uncomfortable: As leaders change is uncomfortable for us, and then leading change you know you have to make others uncomfortable, push them out of their comfort zones. The result is confrontation, resistance, and a team that maybe does not like you as much as they used to.
2. Fear of the unknown: Leading people when you cannot tell them what is going to happen is challenging. There is little people fear more than not having any idea what is coming. As the leader you cannot guarantee your team success—for them personally or as an organization overall.
3. Afraid of failure: The one thing people fear more than change is failure, and they believe if they do not change, they will not fail. Now that is not true, but getting them past that belief is difficult.
4. Not trusting change will stick: Let’s face it, you have all been part of change in organizations where the change was the idea of the moment. And just when your team got on board, and did what you were asking them to do, corporate came up with a new idea. The truth is, change is difficult to lead, because teams do not always believe the change will stick.
5. Loss of control: And of course the loss of control. You feel it as the leader, and your team feels it. As human beings, you are wired for certainty, and change breeds uncertainty and a loss of control.

Again, the list goes on, but that is a pretty good argument of why it is more than challenging to successfully lead people through change. But still, change is here to stay, and as a leader your focus has got to be not only getting your team to accept change but engage in it and drive it. So where do you start?

1. Get them in shape: That’s right, if you want your team to embrace change then get them conditioned for change, used to change. Talk about change, and get them to talk about change. Hold brainstorming sessions to get them thinking about and discussing what changes are coming, and what that could mean for them and the organization. By getting them in shape, you can challenge them to see change as a positive and something they can predict. The more they predict change, the more they will be comfortable with change, the more they will feel a level of control.
2. Show them don’t tell them: You know as a leader, the best way to lead is by example. If you want the team to change, then you go first. Show them what change looks like, how to do it, how to be successful with it. Your team will move much more easily to change by seeing your actions than by following your words.
3. Give them a voice: And last but not least you need to give them some say in the change. I think people hate change because they feel like it is DONE to them, rather than something they participate in. What has to change is inevitable, but how you execute that change can be something you engage the team in deciding. People support what they help create.

Yes, getting people to embrace change is never easy, but it is rewarding. Going through change is difficult and your team needs you—as the leader—to help them navigate it successfully.