Imagine you’re leading a team through a major change. Understanding behavioral economics helps you communicate more effectively and really connect with your team.  Melina shares practical strategies you can use right away. Reducing cognitive overload on your team, really listening to what they need, and framing your messages in a way that truly resonates. Remember, change can be tough, and your team might feel stressed. But by taking the time to understand and address their concerns, you’ll create a more supportive environment and lead to better outcomes.

Embracing the Change Challenge from the Start

00:00 – The episode begins by highlighting how our brains can be tough on themselves when facing a change challenge. Taking the time to truly listen to what someone needs can have a powerful, positive impact on your leadership.

00:22 – David Dye welcomes you to the Leadership Without Losing Your Soul podcast. The podcast is your go-to source for practical tools and strategies to tackle any change challenge without sacrificing your humanity.

00:39 – David introduces Melina Palmer, an expert in behavioral economics. This is a blend of psychology and economics to help you understand and influence decision-making. Both are crucial for navigating any change challenge with your team.

Navigating Behavioral Economics in Leadership

01:12 – Melina explains how behavioral economics makes it easier for customers to buy and for employees to buy in, especially during change. By understanding human behavior, you can improve communication and motivation.

03:36 – Melina shares her earliest leadership experience as a child. She naturally took charge during a change challenge on a film set, organizing and guiding people with ease.

06:00 – Next, they discuss how specific words can significantly impact sales and how subtle changes in communication can make a big difference when facing a change challenge. This is something you can apply directly in your leadership.

Mastering the Change Challenge with Behavioral Economics

10:01 – Melina also breaks down behavioral economics. A mix of psychology and traditional economics that focuses on how people actually make decisions. This is essential for overcoming any change challenge in your organization.

13:05 – The conversation shifts to why leading through change is a manager’s main job. With up to 35,000 decisions made daily, understanding how the brain handles a change challenge can help you better support your team.

18:02 – They dive into the metaphor of the elephant and the rider, representing the subconscious and conscious brain. Melina discusses how you can guide both to make any change challenge more manageable for your team.

28:01 – Finally, Melina shares a practical story about focusing on what’s most important to your employees. By addressing their real needs during a change challenge, you can significantly improve performance and outcomes.

The post The Change Challenge: Empowering Your Team for Success appeared first on Let's Grow Leaders.

Navigating the Future of Work: A Journey with Dan Michelson

0:00-0:23: Dive into an enlightening chat with Dan Michelson, the genius behind “Holy Shift.” He shares a golden nugget right off the bat: trust isn’t just about receiving; it’s about giving it freely as a leader.

0:23-2:03: David celebrates a milestone episode and a deep dive into the seismic shifts in our work landscape. The conversation teases a future focus on resolving workplace conflicts.

2:03-4:03: Dan commends the podcast’s success and emphasizes optimism in leadership. He suggests that leaders now, more than ever, are pivotal in navigating through challenges with a forward-looking attitude.

Embracing Change: The Power of Trust and Optimism in Leadership

4:03-5:36: Reflecting on his journey, Dan shares his unexpected path to leadership. It was shaped by personal challenges and a drive to make a difference.

5:36-7:19: Dan dives into the essence of leadership and underlines the power of making people and situations better. This will reshape our understanding of what it means to lead.

7:19-9:30: David and Dan discuss the often-overlooked aspects of leadership. A couple of examples are the role of insecurity as a driving force behind striving for excellence and the importance of self-evaluation.

9:30-11:56: Transitioning to Dan’s current endeavors, he introduces us to his innovative approach to fostering connections within organizations, especially in a remote work environment.

15:06-17:06: They explore a three-step methodology to embrace the future of work: recognizing the shift, changing mindsets, and putting plans into action to navigate through these changes effectively.

17:11-18:46: The discussion turns to setting ambitious goals for leaders, aiming to make your organization the best place employees have ever worked.

20:02-24:22: Addressing the CEO’s perspective, the conversation highlights the underlying reasons for wanting employees back in the office.  They are focusing on long-term growth rather than short-term productivity.

25:32-29:12: AI’s impact on the workplace is also scrutinized. Dan emphasized the dual nature of AI as both a threat and an opportunity, depending on one’s adaptability and willingness to learn.

29:12-33:17: The shift from managing to coaching is discussed as crucial for modern leadership, emphasizing the importance of continuous, meaningful interaction with employees.

Connecting the Dots: Cultivating Community and Purpose in the Workplace

33:58-37:30: They delve into the CORE framework, which focuses on Community, Opportunity, Relationships, and Experiences, as a foundation for addressing productivity, engagement, and retention.

37:30-44:59: Dan provides actionable advice for leaders to cultivate a sense of community and belonging within their teams. He urges you, as a leader, to personalize the company’s mission and values for your employees.

45:58-52:49: Wrapping up, Dan encourages leaders to facilitate conversations that allow employees to connect their personal experiences with the company’s goals, fostering a stronger sense of community and purpose.

This episode with Dan Michelson not only sheds light on the evolving nature of work but also provides practical insights for leaders to adapt and thrive in the future of work.

Thank you To Our Guest

Dan Michelson is the author of “Holy Shift: Moving Your Company Forward to the Future of Work” and CEO of InCommon which helps people grow their company and career by providing a dedicated, digital place to create relationships and build their professional network.

The post Strategies to Lead Your Company Forward to the Future of Work appeared first on Let's Grow Leaders.

Helping your team make change work is tricky. It’s easy to talk about empowerment, taking appropriate risks, or showing empathy, but it’s quite another to translate those concepts into practical daily actions.

In today’s Asking for a Friend, I  share a very practical technique you can use to help your team identify the behaviors that will have the biggest impact.

This exercise works well for several reasons. First, it starts by giving everyone a chance to really consider the behaviors for themselves. This ensures everyone is thinking about it and gives your more introverted team members a moment to think before participating in the group conversations.

Then, the group conversation helps to quickly general conversation at a very practical level about what the team can actually do. The dialogue is always so rich.

And finally, the prioritization process helps to identify specific next steps the team can agree on. The most important thing to remember here is to keep the list practical and short.

Isolate a few key behaviors that are observable. The best way to make change work is one behavior at a time.

Helping the team to (1) understand what behaviors matter most

(2) and picking a few to practice consistently can make all the difference.

Use this Practical Technique to Help Your Team Make Change Work

Related articles to help your team navigate change and uncertainty.

How to build a strong team vision

How to build a high-performing team, 10 vital conversations

Leading through change: Inspect what you expect (with curiosity and compassion)

How to help your team navigate their concerns about culture change

Your Turn.

What would you add? What are your best practices to help your team make change work at a behavioral level?

The post Make Change Work: How to Translate Your Vision to Practical Behaviors (Video) appeared first on Let's Grow Leaders.

What a tricky and important question. Because for your leadership training to be successful, it’s SO IMPORTANT that your leaders want to be there, with open minds, ready to learn, and most importantly APPLY what they’re learning with their teams.

How to Help Leaders Get Past Their Resistance to Learning

In today’s Asking for a Friend, I share a few of my thoughts including how to avoid SASRNT syndrome (So and So Really Needs This) and involving your leaders as teachers.

What is SASRNT Syndrome?

When you hear a concept, tool, or new idea, it’s tempting to say. Ahhhh, you know who really needs this? My boss. My wife. Or, my teenage son.

In this case, you might not be actually resistant to learning, BUT, you could miss it.

Of course, we would like nothing better than for you to share our books and resources with everyone you know. But the tricky part here is, that when you do that you run the risk of missing the learning for yourself.

So when you hear an interesting leadership concept or tool, I recommend you apply it to your own team first. Then, you will have much more credibility when you share it. “Oh, I’ve seen you do that! It does work. Maybe I SHOULD try it too.

Leaders as Teachers

And if a manager is resistant to learning, another way to help them engage is to involve them as a leader-teacher, teaching what they’ve learned to others. We share a lot more detail on that here.

What would you add?

How do YOU encourage managers who really need leadership training to engage learn and grow?

The post “I’ve Got This” How to Help Resistant Leaders Embrace New Learning appeared first on Let's Grow Leaders.

“It’s not that my team’s resistant to change. In fact, it’s the exact opposite. It seems like all we’ve been doing for the past few years is dealing with change at work. And it’s not that this next change is bad, I think it’s the right thing to do. But I’m tired. My team is tired. I’m just not sure how to rally them through another major change.

What should I do? How can I help them deal with  yet another change at work?” #AskingForAFriend

We’ve been fielding this and other questions about dealing with constant change at work in nearly every leadership development program we teach.

7 Ways to Help Your Team Through Constant Change at Work

If you and your team are tired from all the changes, even the good ones, you’re in good company.

Even good change requires adjusting. Here are a few tips that can help.

1. Start with empathy and authentic conversation

If your team feels like they’re stuck in a vortex of constant change, the worst thing you can do is to show up with toxic positivity and a shiny sales pitch. Give your team time to talk about what’s on their hearts and minds and acknowledge their emotions.

You could say something like, “I know there’s been a lot of change at work this year. How are you feeling about the latest announcement?”

Or, I know you put a lot of work into getting your team collaborating. This reorganization will likely mean you’ll lose some of those players and get some new ones. How are you are feeling about that? How’s the team doing? What can I do to be most helpful to you and the team?

And it’s okay to show up authentic too (just avoid coming across as complaining or blaming).

You could say something like, “I know this is a lot of change in one year. I’m feeling the pressure of all the pivots too. Quite frankly it’s a lot. But I believe in us and I know we can figure our way through this change, just like we did the others.”

2. Create clarity

Change can be scary because it comes with so many unknowns. If resilience reserves are low, it can be particularly hard to rally toward an unclear future. When your team has faced a constant barrage of change at work, create as much clarity as possible.

If the next big change comes with a sidedish of uncertainty, be candid about what you know and what you don’t know yet.

Narrowing the timeframe can help here too. You might say, “I don’t know exactly how the next six months are going to play out. But, here’s what we need to accomplish this week.

This article offers some really practical clarity tools and techniques.

3. Be honest about the benefits (for everyone)

The notion that all that employees care about is WIIFM—what’s in it for me?—is just not true.

Of course, employees want to know what’s in it for them. Most people ALSO want to know what’s in it for you, for their coworkers, and for their customers.

I’ve seen so many managers lose credibility in an attempt to spin a “what’s in to for you” story without disclosing the real reasons behind the change.

It’s not enough to be clear about the “What?” – they’ve got to know the “Why?” behind what’s changing as well.

In the absence of information about a change at work, people often jump to the worst-case conclusion. They fill in the blanks with assumptions about why you’re not telling them the truth (e.g., “they must be getting ready to do layoff).

4. Think it through

If your team has faced a bunch of change-at-work, do your best to think through the change before implementation. Sometimes too much change at work is a symptom of under planning.

Don’t advocate for an idea or change that’s half-baked or full of flaws. If an idea is half-baked, have the managerial courage to speak up and share your concerns.

If possible, test it first with a small group, take their feedback seriously, and get it right.

It’s tough to regain credibility. “Oh yeah, I admit this idea, process, or change stank before, but now it’s better,” only leaves people wondering why some bozo made a choice to sing praises for an idea, system, or process that was full of problems.

Even if it looks great on paper, your boss is sold, and it worked well in the IT war room, field test the change first.

Yes, this takes time. Go slow to go fast.

Take the risk of making some waves to make it easy for your team. You might be slower out of the gate than others, but when you get it right and everyone owns it, you’ll sustain your results and be ready for the next change.

5. Establish easy-to-access listening posts

This is perhaps the most important part. Really listen to what your people tell you. Respond to feedback with solutions, not selling. When you fix something, communicate it back using the 5×5 method – 5 times, 5 different ways.

Ask, “How can we address this concern and still make the change serve its purpose?”

6. Leverage reluctant testimony

Share as many testimonials as you can, especially from people who were doubtful (or the most tired) at first.

Have team members share how your new idea, system, or process changed their work for the better.

Your most influential stories will come from those who were least likely to value the change: the sales guy who never bothered with this stuff before, the new rep who’s now running circles around her seasoned co-workers because she uses the new system, the supervisor who got his entire team (including the union steward) to understand why this change is so much better for customers.

7. Involve the team in key decisions

No one wants stuff done to them, or even for them. With them goes a lot further. Ask employees, “what’s working well and how do we leverage it? What enhancements do we need? Where should we head next?” All these questions go a long way. Include employees by involving them in your change efforts.

The best way to truly support your team through constant change at work is to show up empathetic and authentic, interested, and supportive.

Your Turn

What are your best practices for helping your exhausted team deal with yet another change at work?

Related Articles:

How to Change Your Mind: Without Losing Their Trust and Support

How to Lead When Your Team is Exhausted

The post Yet Another Change at Work: How to Help Your Exhausted Team appeared first on Let's Grow Leaders.

Rapidly changing priorities can demoralize and frustrate your team if you’re not prepared to help them navigate the shifting landscape. Effective leaders prepare their teams for changing priorities, create structures to help the team shift, and advocate for their team to ensure their work is meaningful. These eight strategies will help you maintain your team’s energy and morale when goals change frequently.

1. Set Expectations
2. Create a Consistent Reliable Communication Strategy
3. Advocate for Your Team
4. Connect Priorities to Purpose
5. Retire or Table Old Priorities
6. Celebrate Effort
7. Align New Goals with Critical Behaviors
8. Create Space for Letting Go and Moving Forward

It was one of my earliest moments of workplace disillusionment. I was six months into a new job and my boss’s boss asked me to take on a major project. I was excited for the opportunity to add value and prove what I could do. I worked hard and gave the project my evenings and weekends until it was done.

When I returned the completed project to my boss’s boss (ahead of schedule and with better quality than anything he’d seen), he frowned. “Oh, we’re not doing this anymore. Can you do this instead?” and outlined the new goals.

No acknowledgment of my work. No recognition that I’d busted my tail to get it done. Just a new priority. No explanation. Nothing.

Frustrated doesn’t begin to describe it. I fumed. And I never fully trusted this guy again. (Also, I committed myself to helping leaders avoid these soul-crushing mistakes. So good did come of it.)

Whether you work in a fast-growing startup or a more established company that’s adapting to a rapidly changing world, priorities will change. Healthy organizations always adapt, innovate, and shift their goals. That’s life. But how you handle those changes makes all the difference in whether or not your team adjusts and engages with energy or gives up with futile frustration.

Leading Through Changing Priorities–Before the Change Happens

These first three steps take place before you communicate changes with your team.

1. Set expectations.

One of the most important parts of your communication is to let your team know that goals will change – and how frequently they can expect it to happen. Ideally, this starts in the hiring process. Some people enjoy shifting priorities. It keeps things interesting. For others, it’s maddening if they can’t finish what they start.

2. Create a consistent, reliable communication strategy.

The faster the change in your business, the more important it is to have a consistent, reliable communication strategy. We’ve seen leaders who leave changing priorities to instant messaging threads or word-of-mouth. Chaos and frustration are predictable.

Instead, if you can’t give the team predictable goals, give them the confidence of knowing exactly how they’ll know – and when.

3. Advocate for your team.

As priorities shift and your leaders ask you to change course, engage with them about the decisions. Can you add context to help them understand the impact on the team and other priorities? Help them to examine the tradeoffs. Often, leaders don’t have all the information and you can help them improve their decisions.

If they decided and it’s final, you can also advocate for your team by ensuring that you understand the bigger picture. When people move quickly, they can forget to connect what they’re asking to why it’s important. Ask how the changed priority fits into the larger goals and how it will help achieve them. You’ll need that information when you speak with your team.

Leading Through Changing Priorities–After the Change

These next five steps happen once the decision is final and it’s time to work with your team on the new priority.

4. Connect priorities to purpose.

As you communicate the change, connect “what” to “why?” There is a reason that things will change. Help them connect to and understand the bigger picture.

5. Retire or table old priorities.

You can help your team transition between shifting priorities with an intentional stop-doing or pause-doing routine. If the previous goal is going away, be clear about that. For example: “This was our goal. It no longer is. We can let it go.”

This process of consciously retiring old priorities can help your team avoid the mental drag that comes from open loops and unfinished projects.

There are times, however, when you won’t set aside a goal–you just have to pause working on it while you focus elsewhere. In these cases, it can be helpful to have a system where you and your team document progress made, next steps, and lessons learned. Then, when it comes time to pick up the project again, it will be easier for the team to get moving.

And–every 4-6 months it is useful to review these paused projects and ensure they are still relevant and need to be done. If not, retire them so they aren’t dragging down your team.

6. Celebrate effort.

An important part of your “stop-doing” routine is to intentionally close a task or project by asking the team what they learned and what they can carry into future work. Celebrate their work, what they learned, and the progress they made.

This creates a formal ending for the unfinished goal. You can have fun with this and create team ceremonies that honor the work they’ve done and the process of moving on.

7. Align new goals with critical behaviors.

As you introduce new priorities, be sure they aren’t just abstract goals. Does everyone on the team know what success looks like–both in the big picture and in what they observably do day-to-day that will lead to success?

8. Create space for letting go and moving forward.

Change comes with emotion – and changing priorities are not exempt. Your team will be able to move forward with more energy and creativity when you pause and give them room to process the change.

It doesn’t have to be a tumultuous grieving session. You might say something like:

“I know everyone worked very hard on that last project and we would have liked to see it through to the end. I know I would have enjoyed seeing that too. So, I want to pause and acknowledge what we learned. All the wins we had …

“Now, let’s take a deep breath …

… and look at the future with this new goal. Here’s what we’re doing. Here’s why it matters. This is what success looks like. Let’s talk about how each of us contributes …”

 

Your Turn – How Do You Address Changing Priorities?

Leading through changing priorities requires preparation and nimble leadership to maintain your team’s focus and morale. I would love to hear from you—have you seen, or do you have, a fun or cool way of acknowledging the past while changing focus?

You might also like:

• How To Change Your Mind and Not Lose Their Trust and Support
• Leading through Conflicting Priorities
• Leadership Skills: 6 Competencies You Can’t Lead Without

Does your organization need a Courageous Culture – with higher engagement and a results-oriented approach to innovation? Where your employees speak up, share their ideas and drive quality performance and productivity? Visit our Strategic Leadership Page to learn how you can partner with Let’s Grow Leaders to bring human-centered leadership development to your organization. 

The post Leading Through Rapidly Changing Priorities appeared first on Let's Grow Leaders.

“Hey Karin, I’m so proud of my team. We had such an incredible pivot. We accomplished some incredible things. AND as it turns out we made some faulty assumptions, and we’re going to need to pivot again. How do I admit we were wrong without discouraging the team?”

#AskingForaFriend

Gain Big Credibility With Your Team, Even if You Have to Admit You Were Wrong

Here’s the truth, if you’ve made a mistake, it’s likely that your team already knows. When I think of leaders I’ve worked with who had real credibility with me, I could count on them to tell me the truth and admit their mistakes.

If you find yourself having to quickly change directions, start here.

1. Start by thanking the team for all they’ve done.
2. Explain what is different now.
3. If you’ve made a mistake, admit it.
4. Be very clear about what’s next and what you need from them.

Your turn.

What’s your best advice for helping your team move forward when you’ve learned something new. How can you help them “admit we were wrong” and move on gracefully?

The post How do I Admit We Were Wrong? (with Video) appeared first on Let's Grow Leaders.

You’re a human-centered leader working to create a courageous, speak-up culture filled with psychological safety. A culture where employees feel invited and encouraged to speak up and share their ideas and express their concerns.

Even if you’re a rock star human-centered leader, doing all the right things to encourage micro-innovation and problem solving, it’s also likely that you have a few team members who still have best practices and ideas they’re holding back.

How to Include Your Reluctant Employees in Your Speak-Up Culture

Start by getting underneath their reluctance to speak up. People choose to hold back their ideas for a variety of reasons.

It could be they are an introverted, silent ponderous types who could use some extra time to formulate their ideas before sharing.

Or, it could be they’ve worked for a toxic leader before and the scar tissue is just too thick. It feels safer to stay silent for these silent wounded types.

Of course, sometimes in a speak-up culture, you can have too many ideas coming from an idea grenadier or a schmoozer who just wants people to like him and his ideas, with no intention of following through.

In this article, we share ideas for helping all your people think more critically so they contribute more fully as you build a speak-up culture.

Silent Ponderous

Help your silent ponderous employees bring you better ideas

Your silent ponderous types are a great place to start. These are folks with great ideas, who might appear to be disengaged, or even frustrated by the wacky ideas of others—but who still hold back.

To draw out the great value silent ponderous people can contribute to your speak-up culture, start by giving them time to think.

For some meetings, this means giving them the main topic a day or two in advance and asking them to think about it. In some settings having everyone write their ideas first will give them time to process.

Another strategy is to clarify that you’re not asking for a 100% accurate answer.

When you ask them for their best thinking at the moment or a range of ideas, it gives them permission to explore, rather than commit to something they haven’t thought through yet.

Silent Wounded

Your silent wounded need encouragement to participate in a courageous culture

Working with silent wounded in your culture can be a bit heartbreaking. You know they have good ideas, but psychological safety is low and fear is high.

They don’t trust you—and with good reason.

It’s not that you’ve done anything wrong. It’s the three managers who came before you who abused their trust, told them they weren’t hired to think, stole their idea, and then took credit for it. Now you have the same title and, fairly or not, all the negative baggage that comes with it.

Your job is to rebuild their trust. This will take time, but once you’ve built that trust, these team members are often very loyal. Start small.

Ask a courageous question and receive the answers graciously and with gratitude. Build up to deeper questions and focus on responding well.

Celebrate people, generously give credit, then ask for more problem solving and ideas to better serve your customers.

Idea Grenadiers

Of course, when building a speak-up culture, it’s possible to have so many ideas flying around that very little gets done.

Build a courageous culture by helping your idea grenadiers refine their ideas

Some people are idea machines–their brain works overtime to see the possibilities in every situation. Nearly every team is better off with someone who can creatively look at what’s happening and see opportunities to improve or transform.

The challenge comes when the idea-person tosses all their ideas in your lap, and wants you to do them, but won’t do the work. These are the idea-grenadiers—tossing their ideas like grenades and then running in the other direction.

When you’re working with someone like this as you build a speak-up culture, it helps to have a direct conversation that calls them back to what matters most and asks them to engage. For example:

“I’ve noticed that in the past month you come to me with four different ideas about how we should improve security, revamp the training program, change our workforce management, and reorganize product management. There is merit in your ideas—and we can’t pursue all of them right now. Which of them do you think would help achieve our #1 strategic priority? Is that a project you’d be willing to help with?”  (See Also: Too Many Ideas: How to Help Keep Your Team Focused, and Creative).

Schmoozers

Encourage your schmoozers to build the confidence needed for execution

Most organizations have a schmoozer—everyone likes them and they talk a great game, but when it comes time to get things done, somehow, they never implement that plan that sounded so amazing when they presented it.

The challenge is that they undermine trust in your speak-up culture. Ideas they share lack credibility and they’re less likely to be entrusted with good ideas because they won’t implement them.

The best strategy with schmoozers is to ignore the charm and focus on the results. Healthy accountability conversations that help them raise their game will help restore their credibility. When you talk with them, be ready for an elegantly worded explanation for why they didn’t get it done. If it happens again, you need to escalate the conversation.

For example: “This is the third time we’ve had this conversation. Your credibility is at stake. What you said sounded wonderful, but if you can’t implement it, your team can’t rely on you and neither can I. What can we do to get this on track and completed?”

Change Resistors

Help your change resistors connect to a more meaningful “why”

Your change resistors aren’t necessarily lazy, stuck, negative, or even “resistant.” Rather, they’re normal. Resisting change actually makes a lot of sense.

After all, if what you did yesterday worked—it got you through the day alive, fed, and healthy—why spend energy to do something differently? That’s a waste of time—unless there’s a good reason. To address this, start with the problem, not the solution.

When you start with the solution, you deprive your team of the understanding and connection that drove you to action.

The post Speak-up Culture: How to Encourage More (and Better) Ideas appeared first on Let's Grow Leaders.

If you’re like many leaders with whom we’ve shared our new book Courageous Cultures, you’re mentally indexing your team and wondering if they’re capable of micro-innovations, problem-solving, and advocating for your customer. You want them to contribute, but they’re reluctant or clumsy.

You might be thinking about the “idea grenadiers” who present countless ideas, none of them quite relevant to your business. Or maybe you worry about the people who seem to have a “tell me what to do” attitude. Can they make it in a Courageous Culture?

Some leaders look at their people, shake their heads, and say, “They can’t get there from here.”

Sometimes that’s true. But often it isn’t. If you’re serious about building a true Courageous Culture before encouraging them to opt-out and find another job, we invite you to pause and think about how you can adapt your strategy for more opt-ins to help them engage and contribute.

How to Help All Your Employees Contribute

Let’s look at several types of people who are reluctant to share their ideas or present other challenges for leaders working to get more creative contributions from their teams.

IDEA GRENADIERS

Some people are idea machines—their brains work overtime to see the possibilities in every situation. Nearly every team is better off with someone who can creatively look at what’s happening and see opportunities to improve or transform. The challenge comes when the idea person starts tossing all his ideas in your lap, wants you to do them, but won’t do the work. These are the “idea grenadiers”—tossing ideas like grenades and then running the other direction.

When you’re working with people like this, it helps to have a direct conversation that calls them back to what matters most and asks them to engage. For example:

I’ve noticed that in the past month you come to me with four different ideas about how we should improve security, revamp the training program, change our workforce management, and reorganize product management. There is merit in your ideas—and we can’t pursue all of them right now. Which of them do you think would help achieve our number one strategic priority? Is that a project you’d be willing to help with?

SILENT WOUNDED

They don’t trust you—and with good reason. It’s not that you’ve done anything wrong. The three managers they had before this job abused their trust, told them they weren’t hired to think, stole their idea, then took credit for it. Now you have the same title and, fairly or not, all the baggage that comes with it.

Your number one leadership job with the silent wounded is to rebuild their trust. This will take time, but once you’ve built that trust, these team members are often very loyal. Start small. Ask an almost-courageous question and receive the answers graciously, with gratitude. Build up to deeper questions and respond with regard as the answers are more vulnerable. Celebrate people, generously give credit, then ask for more problem solving and ideas to better serve your customers.

OXYGEN SUCKERS

And then there are the folks who suck all the air out of the room. They often talk so much, so loud, or so vehemently that others don’t have a chance to contribute. Oxygen suckers can spark drama that derails a healthy conversation and wastes time on tangents. Oxygen suckers often lack self-awareness and don’t recognize how their behavior affects others. It’s up to you to facilitate in a way that manages everyone’s time to speak.

To help your oxygen suckers, start with a direct conversation. Privately explain that you are going to run meetings differently and that your goal is to make sure everyone participates equitably. Be specific about how you’ll do this. For example: “In some cases, I will time people’s comments to ensure everyone gets a chance to speak. I may ask you to speak after I’ve asked some of the quieter team members for their perspective.”

JUST TELL ME WHAT TO DOERS

Often people who want to be told what to do feel comfort in just following directions because they know that made them successful in the past. Through much of school and in many organizations, you can get along quite well by just following instructions. Often, they were hired for this same characteristic. The challenge for these people is the same as for organizations everywhere: the world is changing and computers are far more efficient at being told what to do.

For this group, there are three steps you can take. First, discuss the changing nature of work and what it will take for your business to thrive. Next, reframe what success looks like for their role. In effect, you are still answering their need to “be told what to do” but in a way that asks them to consider the opportunities and problems facing the organization. Finally, equip them with the ability to contribute ideas.

40 percent of people surveyed in our research said they don’t feel confident to share their ideas and 45 percent say they haven’t been trained to think critically or solve problems. These are both common challenges shared by just-tell-me-what-to-do-ers. Here’s one of our favorite techniques to address both challenges.

Help them Share an IDEA

If you want better ideas, help your employees know what differentiates a good IDEA by giving them a few criteria to follow. When they can think through these elements, their idea has a better chance of being used and making a difference.

click image to download full size PDF of the IDEA Model

I—Interesting. Why is this idea interesting? What strategic problem does it solve? How will results be made better by this idea (customer experience, employee retention, efficiency)?

D—Doable. Is this idea something we could actually do? How would we make it happen? What would make it easier or more difficult?

E—Engaging. Who would we need to engage to make this happen? Why should they support it? Where are we most likely to meet resistance?

A—Actions. What are the most important actions needed to try this? How would we start?

With all of these challenging types, your approach and the conversations give them a chance to participate in a Courageous Culture.

The post How to Help Your Change Resistant Employees Contribute More appeared first on Let's Grow Leaders.

Changed Your Mind? How to Bring Your Team Along

Does this sound familiar? You started the year with a clear vision and direction. You’ve rallied people around that vision and worked hard to engage everyone’s hearts and minds. You connected what to why. And had brilliant momentum. No one ever anticipated you would change your mind.

Not about THAT.

And now, THIS.

• “Quality is our biggest priority. We don’t launch a new product until it’s undergone six months of field testing.”
• “We’re a 4-star restaurant, we don’t do delivery. That would cheapen the brand. People come here for the experience.”
• “We never start a new hire until the CEO is available to meet with them in person and shake their hand.”
• “Never submit a proposal until you’ve met with all the stakeholders and fully vetted the plan.”
• “The security issues are too great to let people work from home.”
• “We always meet the client on-site when we’re making important decisions.”
• “We’ll weather this storm together. We won’t do layoffs.”

Circumstances changed. And now you’re looking to do the best you can, with what you have with where you are.

You have new information, but certainly not enough. Everything is still changing. You need to change your mind—even to consider places you never thought you would go. And the truth is, you might have to change your mind again.

How to Change Your Mind Without Losing Momentum

So how do you change your mind without losing momentum?

The post How To Change Your Mind and Not Lose Their Trust and Support appeared first on Let's Grow Leaders.