In an era where information technology is becoming a tool rather than an asset, change is the only inevitable thing in any organization. This means that today's leaders need to be on their feet when it comes to leading their companies into the future.
Leading the Change is our latest edition of a blog series that will help identify today's leaders to navigate their teams/companies into creating a culture where change is welcomed rather than challenged. This includes covering areas like building a resilient organization, innovating a change-accepting culture, leading through difficult scenarios through effective change management, and finally adapting to a changing socio-economic global scenario. The first and foremost topic under discussion will be buiding a resilient organization.
Part 1: Building a Resilient Organization: How to Lead Change and Manage Disruption
What is a resilient organization?
Organizational resilience is the company's capacity to predict, prepare, manage, and adjust to any change or disturbance while minimizing its impact on the business. As companies strive to enhance their organizational resilience, there will be fewer instances where employees and managers are caught off-guard and more instances where a well-established framework can be employed to handle the situation efficiently.
How to build a resilient organization
Scores of research may allow you to dig deep into methods of creating a resilient organization. However, all of it comes to these three basic methods, which can be branched into more complex mathematical formulas to lead change and achieve the desired result.
Embrace a Growth Mindset
As stressed before, the leader should embrace the same mindset to build a growth mindset that leads to a resilient department or organization. This ensures they are open to new ideas, even if a certain risk is associated. It is especially fruitful when the ship's captain sees change and disruption as an opportunity rather than a threat.
To set this tone, a leader needs to empower their organization members to think out of the box and develop new ideas with calculated risks. If the culture of viewing failure as a learning curve rather than a point of shame is established, then true nirvana has been achieved by nurturing a growth mindset. When leaders model a growth mindset, it sets the tone for the rest of the organization.
Build relationships
Once change comes to town, many parties jump ship. This includes workers, partners, and customers. Therefore, "building the ark before the storm hits" is the right approach. When everything is going as per plan, it is time to build strong and effective relationships in all tiers of your organization.
To build a strong relationship, that helps when you need support in implanting change throughout the organization, you need a few traits as a leader. It helps to be a good listener, to the point where the opposite party feels heard and welcome. You must also show empathy, communicate transparently, and lead them all the way once change management takes effect.
Create a plan
This is the most important part of creating a resilient organization with an adaptive nature and a growth mindset by default. Any change, big or small, needs a strategic approach rather than a tactical one. Creating a thorough change management plan is like winning before the first pitch. Some of the key ingredients of an effective change management plan include:-
• Identifying the end objectives
• Identify everyone who will be affected
• Develop a change communication plan
• Provide training and support to workers to implement the plan
• Monitor progress all along the way and course correct of required
Benefits
If you achieve the ultimate goal of becoming a change-welcoming organization, you reap several long-term benefits from this situation. Some of them include the following:-
Adaptability
Building resilience also means developing adaptability, allowing organizations to thrive in diverse situations.
Strong Team Core
Resilient organizations prioritize team building and value input from all employees to create effective plans for navigating change and bringing the team closer together.
Innovation
Facing unexpected changes can inspire innovative thinking and effective brainstorming within teams.
Emotional Security
Organizations with a solid track record of overcoming challenges and emerging stronger are more likely to provide emotional safety, encouraging employees to remain with the company.
Final Verdict
In conclusion, if you wish that your company becomes a unicorn in the next decade rather than a dinosaur, not only do you have to accept change yourself but also build a team that relishes in the challenges that come with change management. For this, you need to change yourself and add a variety of leadership qualities to your arsenal.
However, it would help if you also created a culture of innovation where change management on the higher echelon par transforms into transformative growth at all tiers below. A detailed discussion on this topic follows up next, which you can check out by reading our blog "Creating a Culture of Innovation: Change Management Approaches for Transformative Growth."
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