We’re all used to dealing with changes in the workplace. But how do you lead your team when a MAJOR change comes out of nowhere? In her February 15 “Your Best Next Move” video, Bobbie LaPorte explains why it’s so important to take action—even if you’re not sure what the right action might be.
VIDEO TRANSCRIPT OF “YOUR BEST NEXT MOVE”: How do you lead your team when a MAJOR change comes out of nowhere?
Hi everyone, Bobbie LaPorte here again with my weekly tip for your Best Next Move – where I help you have more agency in your work, acknowledge your capacity to act and see what you can do right now.
In these weekly tips, I’ve been talking about how you can take action – in an environment that often makes it challenging to do so – to achieve your goals in 2021. Most of the time this involves specific issues you are dealing with, or perhaps an unexpected situation that arises that has you stumped. But the challenge can sometimes be a more significant, unexpected change – one that wasn’t planned for or anticipated..like some major – and I mean MAJOR – change that comes out of nowhere.
In the uncertain world in which we live and lead, internal changes have become kind of common, but we are still never quite ready for them. So, what do you do when something BIG hits you and your team: your boss is gone, the whole org is in transition, you don’t know who’s really in charge? The ground feels like it is moving under you. It’s just too much, too major, too sudden for you to get your bearings.
When this happens, it’s natural to feel like you are not in control; you recognize it, and your team feels it. This is a stop on your journey you had not planned for or anticipated.
To add to the drama and challenge, many of your colleagues might also feel rudderless, mourning the loss of the familiar; digging I their heels against just one more change to deal with.
So now what do you do? Well, in this case – using the personal power of “agency” might feel very different than with more minor situations or issues. But you need to do act!
So, here’s my tip
Let go of the exact “what” you are going to do and instead focused on movement..doing something, taking action. Set a new process in motion: one step at a time, focusing on what is really needed by the business – now. It doesn’t have to be the “perfect” move – just what makes sense to you. This will restore some sense of normalcy for your team, to show them a path forward out of this situation – even if you are not sure exactly what the road ahead looks like. No one does.
Focus less on what you’ve done in the past to what you can do now. That’s your first best next move. After that, you can decide what your next step is, and the next.
As I’ve said in these tips before: I want 2021 to be a year of momentum for you, one of possibility thinking where you take advantage of the agency we sometimes forget we have.
That’s my tip for this week. I’ll see you next Monday; take care of yourselves!