The Point: We’ve all been there… Change is upon us and as a leader, it’s our job to successfully navigate change management leadership. At the Zeroing Agency — Tip of the Spear Ventures business transformation consultancy — we strategically partner with leaders and their organizations looking to navigate change management with as little disruption as possible. We’ve identified a key technique that leaders can execute for effectiveness. So, in this post on Change Management Leadership we discuss the Mirror Test for Change Management Leadership… Enjoy!
The Key to Business Transformation or Change Success?
Change management leadership is crucial to the success of any change initiative. Without strong change leaders, the entire process will fail and will not succeed. The leader needs to have a strong understanding of his or her team and be able to guide them through the transition. This understanding is the difference between a successful change and a failure. Employees and managers look to the supervisor for guidance and direction, so it is important for the manager to be a good coach for them.
Change Management Dashboard
Organizations must also have the ability to link evaluation of change initiatives to business metrics. These can include the amount, rate, or margin. This makes it easier to establish baselines and see how well each change initiative performs. It also allows the organization to demonstrate the incremental progress that employees are making. If the change is effective, it will be easy to implement and maintain. If a company does not have this capability, it will not be successful.
Leadership Vision + Change Alignment
The change leadership is an integral part of any project. A project manager should create a clear vision for the change, and make it as clear as possible that all stakeholders are responsible for it. If there is no clarity in the end goal, the change is unlikely to be a success. However, the leader should keep in mind the people who will be the most affected by the changes. A good leader should take time to understand the people who are impacted by the changes.
Change and People
The leader must understand the people involved in the change and get their buy-in. He must have a clear roadmap and know who to put in charge of each part. The change management leadership must understand how to equip the people to take on the roles they are assigned. The leader must be able to make them care about the change. If he or she is not able to motivate these individuals, the change will not be successful. If the leader has the support of the organization, it will become a success.
The Mirror Test of Change Management Leadership
The role of the change management leadership team is vital. The leader should act as a liaison between the change management team and employees. An effective leader must be able to convey the goals and objectives of the project clearly to employees. Keeping communication open is critical for the success of a change initiative. If there is no communication, employees may be confused and resistant to the changes. To keep employees engaged, the leader must communicate with them frequently.
The Mirror Test of Change Management Leadership is a technique that we’ve successfully used over the years. The technique involves the leader establishing a morning/evening cadence for check-in on the success of their change management leadership opportunity. This check-in is a self-ranking of their performance (0-10, 10 being benchmark or best practice). What are they checking in on exactly? The mirror test of change management leadership has as its goal a check-in on the key performance indicators (KPIs) or metrics that matter for the initiative. The 2x per day cadence acts twofold — One as an orientation in the morning and secondarily as an immediate summary/recap of behavioral performance in alignment with change initiative goals.
SUMMARY
The change management leadership must align with the vision of the change. The leader must be able to inspire others to adopt the new changes. He must be able to convey the changes in an easy and accessible manner. Moreover, he must ensure that his team members are supported in their efforts to implement the changes. The leader must be able to build trust with the people in the organization. The change management leadership must be able to convince others to adopt the changes in the company.
Sam Palazzolo