Leading Change – Are you Agile?

Change is never too far away.  How your teams respond to change will depend on the change culture of your team and your business… A change culture can be divided into 4 categories:

• Chaotic – The perception might be that the business isn’t scared of change, but when implemented, it can appear to be a little chaotic. Businesses also fall into the trap of launching change for no reason, giving off the impression that change is happening for changes sake and this leaves people feeling uneasy and uncertain

• Static –Here, a business is stuck in their ways and probably feel that things are ticking along nicely and as a result they feel they don’t need to change. The business will ultimately pay the price in the long run

• Confined – The feeling here might be frustration. The employees know that change needs to happen, but the business isn’t quite as receptive.  This might be because they are blind to change, or because of a lack of resources.  The business runs the risk of losing good people because of their frustration

• Agile – A business that is change agile is ready for change. The feeling around the business is that change is seen as positive and is a good thing.  Employees are looking for processes and procedures that can be improved.  The leaders are open to ideas and welcome challenge.

Here’s a short video from Mike to explain more about the 4 cultures of change 

The PU View   

We use this model in our ‘Leading Change’ course and it really helps to get the delegates to reflect on where their business is at when it comes to their change culture.  It’s always a mixed bag.  Interestingly, a lot say there is a difference in perception when it comes to how they would describe the culture and how their SLT would describe it, e.g. the SLT would say the culture was agile, but the employees would describe it as chaotic.  This lack of awareness leads to increased resentment and a lack of trust.  In your next team meeting, ask your team how they would describe the culture and why.  Then, work together to identify how you can make your team a little more agile.

Book Recommendation    

A leading guru in the world of leading change is John Kotter.  A book we would recommend by him is ‘Leading Change’.  Not the sexiest of titles but a great book none the less!