Several years ago, while travelling in Italy, we visited a winery outside the city of Cortona. The family has been making wine for generations. It was one of several we saw during our time in Italy. Although most of the wineries had adopted modern wine-making practices, one thing was common. Despite the modern equipment, all the owners talked about the need for patience.
The language of resistance is hurting your organizational change efforts and other efforts to enable change. That’s because the language we use to describe any situation or event influences our perception, beliefs, and the actions we will or won’t take. And those actions directly impact the outcome of your change initiative.
When you think about when you hear communication? For most people, it’s about the giving and receiving of information. But authentic communication is so much more than that. It is an intricate exchange that involves what we see, hear, and how we know the information.
When you announce a change in your organization you’ve naturally created uncertainty. You’re asking a lot of your team. You’re asking them to trust you to lead the change and that the organization can support and accomplish the desired outcome. You’re also asking them to let go of what they know and to adopt new behaviours and activities. It’s natural for them to have uncertainty. In this blog post, I want to explore our four responses to uncertainty and what you can do to help your team thrive with change.
18 months ago, many of you sent your employees home and set them up to work remotely. You did it quickly without much time to prepare. As you look to the future, you have a unique opportunity to consciously transform to a new steady state. It starts with writing your intended outcome story.
