Top three tips of a change practitioner

Top three tips of a change practitioner:

The first is probably controversial but I think holding on to people who are not right for the role for too long is too costly, even if it feels easier or sometimes kinder. A company’s culture can be defined as the worst behaviour that leadership is willing to tolerate. Addressing these issues can easily look or turn confrontational for the individual and for onlookers. Address them as behaviour and personal development to protect the culture. It often feels difficult or uncomfortable to confront this issue directly and clearly but, in my experience, avoiding it, damages the entire organisation and slows down the building of organisation sustainability. 

The second is almost the opposite, which is that forgetting to give meaningful, positive feedback can really impact morale and motivation. Good feedback that is specific to the person and the impact that they have made costs nothing but goes such a long way, especially for roles where success is less obvious or roles gets taken for granted e.g. admin vs sales. Giving positive feedback is easily overlooked and forgotten about but can make a massive difference to individuals, teams and performance. And if difficult feedback needs to be given later, the trust and rapport already exist, making it easier to deliver and more likely to stick. 

The last one is a more obvious one but for me the most important: thinking you’re the smartest person in the room is for sure a way to guarantee that you won’t learn anything. And I see so many bosses who think they know everything and it’s their lack of humility, over-confidence and bad listening skills that ends up being their downfall. True leadership, at all levels, requires active listening and humility.