Leading Change Starts with Investing in Leaders

“There's no learning in the comfort zone and there's no comfort in the learning zone.” Read that again. Many of us know that overcoming challenges can help us learn and grow, but how many of us are intentional with our development during these challenges? We met with Tara Gray, organization, team, and leadership development consultant and coach, who shared that often as organizations embark on change, they fail to recognize the importance of developing people who are in the midst of change These people include those who are leading, championing, and impacted by the change. Often, people are left to stumble and struggle through it on their own. This may hinder and even derail their effectiveness and performance, as well as that of the change effort and organization.  

So, what can you do to be intentional with developing those leading, championing, and impacted by the change so they are more effective during the change—and in the future? 

Gain Greater Self Awareness 

A key component is gaining greater self-awareness. This includes who we truly are, what shapes our mental models and patterns, as well as who we want to be, how we want to show up, and the impact we want to have.  

There are a lot of assessments, particularly personality assessments, available to help one learn about themselves and others. What is key to helping expand a leader’s self-awareness and change are those assessments which are like a mirror. It’s all well and good if a leader knows if they’re introverted or extroverted and their level of emotional intelligence, but knowing how one shows up to, are perceived by, and the impact they have on others provides deeper self-awareness and insight. This insight helps leaders better manage themselves and their impact on others and the organization. How a leader shows up includes day-to-day behaviors, when a leader’s strengths are over-utilized, or when stress is not well managed. Even more meaningful are assessments which are grounded in research and have validated factors that contribute to and detract from leadership and business effectiveness and performance.  

Opt IN to Challenging Experiences 

While we can learn and practice skills, competencies, tools, etc. from a book or a course, it is difficult to develop how one operates and leads themselves and others using these same development approaches. Experiences that challenge us provide opportunities to expose and expand us to new ways of thinking and being. As we encounter challenging experiences, in conjunction with greater self-awareness, we develop the ability to pay attention to situations and circumstances, and our experience in them—especially the internal experience. We can also pay attention to others’ experience and consciously choose how to engage and respond in alignment with what is most important. 

Secure Support 

Gaining self-awareness and encountering challenging experiences can be quite uncomfortable. With that in mind, gaining support for the leader is needed so that the leader feels truly safe to explore, learn, and be supported through the change they are going through within themselves: shifting their mental models, how they think, behave, lead themselves and others, and more. If left to stumble and struggle through it on their own, it can take longer, have a negative impact on themselves, others, the change effort, and the organization, and even derail effectiveness and performance. This is where leadership, executive, and team coaching have had incredible impact and one of the reasons why it has grown so much. In addition to supporting individuals and teams through change, coaching has had a positive impact on relationships, effectiveness, productivity, performance, and more. A coach credentialed through an organization such as International Coaching Federation can be an incredible asset and support to leaders effectively leading change.  

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How are you intentionally developing leaders during change? Yourself? What about your team? What about those championing and impacted by the change? How do you know? Don’t miss out on leveraging change efforts for intentional development and maximizing your and your team’s leadership effectiveness and performance. 

Contact ChangeStaffing to learn more about how leaders can invest in themselves to better lead change!  

Thank you to Tara Gray for her thought leadership and for collaborating with us on this blog.  

Written by Kylette Harrison