There is no doubt that change is a vital part of long-term organisational success – but research suggests that 70% of change initiatives fail (John Kotter, Harvard Business School). Managing change takes planning and thoughtful leadership to manage the process and people – without this change initiatives will fail.
A majority of conversations I have with clients, leaders and teams are all about change. Organisations are constantly evolving, and every strategy and plan is designed to take an organisation or team, from current state to a new state. For instance organisational change may be of seismic proportions impacting every employee; a restructure, a new IT system, or it could be as simple as an office change around and a newly assigned desk. All of these changes have something in common, they impact people’s daily lives, and it is this impact that leaders need to understand and manage.
How Can Everything DiSC Help Change Succeed?
At Fruitful, we use 2 key Everything DiSC profiles to help leaders manage change – Everything DiSC Work of Leaders® and Everything DiSC Workplace®
Everything DiSC Work of Leaders – This robust 23-page strategic leadership report helps develop agile and emotionally intelligent leaders to successfully lead a team through periods of change and uncertainly.
The model states that the best leaders employ certain behaviours during a change process, to move their team/organisation from A to B – where they currently are, to where they need to be. Everything DiSC Work of Leaders provides an effective framework to do this.
To be successful in change, leaders must master all 3 steps – Crafting a Vision, Building Alignment and Championing Execution. There are 3 drivers for each step, EG for Vision – Exploration, Boldness and Test Assumptions – and 2 behavioural continue for each driver e.g. remaining open, prioritising the bigger picture. I often find the biggest challenge around change is gaining buy-in. Step 2 of the model, ‘Building Alignment’ provides the leader with an understanding of how effective they are at building alignment and buy-in and offers strategies to improve in this area.
Everything DiSC Workplace
Everything DiSC Workplace® is another valuable behavioural tool for achieving change – whether it’s behavioural, cultural or organisational change. The profile offers leaders a robust and scientifically proven model to help them to understand their people and to see the world from different perspectives. As a result, leaders learn how to adapt the way they design, deliver and communicate to their teams through change to ensure their people come on the journey with them, and do not take another route!
Everything DiSC Workplace develops Leaders by helping them to:
- Understand and appreciate the individuals in their teams at a deeper level – their priorities, preferences, values, motivations, and also their limitations, their challenges and what stresses them out!
- Learn how to adapt their style to the style of others – improving engagement and collaboration and reducing conflict
- Develop their emotional intelligence – critical, in times of change to maintain productivity, morale and quality services can be even more challenging.
In conclusion, when planning a change process, it’s important to support leaders to craft a vision of their new reality, and to help them align their people to make this vision a reality. It is equally as important, for leaders to understand their people and their reactions to change and adapt accordingly. Everything DiSC Work of Leaders and Everything DiSC Workplace offer two tools and models to ensure leaders have the knowledge, skills, behaviours, and emotional intelligence to execute successful change initiatives, and make sure that their change initiatives are as a result not in the 70% that currently fail!
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Heidi Blakeway is the Managing Director of The Fruitful Group – a Leadership and Team Performance business that helps individuals and teams be at their best. We also develop other Learning & Development professionals and give them the tools to do this including our new Team Coaching tool. For more information about us and our solutions visit our site here.
