Book Club-Emotional Agility

Emotions get a bad rap, especially in business.

As leaders, we are often told to leave our emotions at the door and act and think rationally. People also view leaders who show emotion as weak and poor decision-makers.

Yet clear, present and rational thinking requires leaders who can tap into and navigate their full range of emotions.

In a world that pushes leaders to be strong, decisive, rational and relentlessly positive, by either ignoring their emotions or focusing only on positive emotions, Dr. Susan David, author of Emotional Agility: Get Unstuck, Embrace Change and Thrive in Work and Life, offers an alternative.

Grounded in science, David’s approach helps you tap into one of your most powerful navigation systems for dealing with life’s challenges.

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3 Traps that Create Resistance to Change

Resistance to change is often cited as one of the greatest obstacles to change. However, it doesn’t need to be. You can prevent it.

The challenge is that leaders can easily fall into traps that cause them to interpret normal responses to change as resistance. When that happens, they can unintentionally create a toxic cycle that makes change more difficult.

Here are three traps that can deceive leaders into believing their employees resist change.

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Why Innovation Thrives on Stability

Chaotic.

That was how John described the changes in his organization.

Just as he started to gain traction and feel like he was making progress, the organization appeared to switch direction or add a new change initiative that felt like it was undoing the progress he had made.

Employees could never get anything done. There was no stability.

If you’re thinking, Wait a minute. We can’t stand still. We must constantly move or we’ll stagnate. Consider this:

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Book Club-No One Understands You

Communication is one of the most challenging—and essential—elements of enabling organizational change.

Every leader must determine what to communicate, to whom, and when. Yet even when those decisions are made, there is still another challenge: ensuring the intended message is actually received and interpreted as intended.

If you’ve ever said:

“He knew precisely what I meant.”
“I was perfectly clear when I told her.”
“I’m an open book.”

…only to discover your message was misunderstood, you’ve experienced what social psychologist Heidi Grant Halvorson calls the transparency illusion.

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Four Key Elements of an Effective Change Communication Strategy

What makes communication during change effective?

When I ask that question, employees and leaders consistently respond with the same qualities: consistency, accuracy, relevance, clarity, timeliness, and transparency.

The foundation for building that level of communication is your change communication strategy.

Communicating to create healthy and sustainable change involves much more than simply giving and receiving information. It is the way we interact and engage with people, interpret data, make meaning, develop understanding, and build—or, in the case of poor communication, destroy—relationships.

Communication is the thread that weaves through every aspect of your change efforts and your organization. It is reflected in what you say, what you do, and even what you don’t say or do. It is an essential element of every change.

Although communication serves many purposes throughout the change process, it has one overarching purpose:

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