Podcasts
Dr. Paul Hersey and Situational Leadership®
Dr. Marshall Goldsmith discusses Situational Leadership® and the legacy of Dr. Paul Hersey, founder of The Center for Leadership Studies.
Change happens. It’s a necessary part of life, and an even more necessary part of building a lasting business. When it’s time for your company to move forward, the way you address change matters.
Leading change with intention is about being strategic and purposeful in how you lead your team through change. It’s about understanding your team’s needs and providing them with what they need to navigate current and future transitions successfully. As such, knowing how to intentionally lead is a critical component of your change management toolkit.
Countless professionals lead with intention every day without even realizing it. What that really means is that you are intentional with your choices and actions. You have clear goals or ideals that provide you, and by extension, those you lead, with motivation and direction.
Leading change with intention does not mean you must fully understand what’s coming. After all, change can be both expected and unexpected.
While it’s important to seek to understand an upcoming change, leading change with intention is more about developing a culture of preparedness and adaptability. When you and your team members have developed adaptability, you’ll be ready to handle any changes that come.
Whether you’re currently working through change or want to be prepared for when it comes, these are some of the best strategies to lead with intention and help yourself and others navigate change with purpose.
Your “intentions” are simply your vision of how you expect or want change to progress. Naturally, determining your vision has to be your first step in being an intentional change leader. Ask yourself questions like:
Your vision will guide everything you do and help you explain the “why” to your team. So, make sure you take the time to understand what’s changing, its purpose, and how it will impact each person. With a clear vision, you can develop a tentative strategy for moving forward.
Once you have a clear vision, it’s time to communicate openly with your team members. Whether you talk about the change during scheduled one-on-ones, hold a teamwide meeting or do both, it’s important to be transparent about the change and the reasons for it.
As you meet with employees, encourage them to ask questions and share their concerns and feedback. By asking for feedback, you invite employees to become part of the change process. This can build buy-in because employees aren’t just receiving a decision about how a change is implemented; they’re helping to make it. Since team members bring frontline experience to the conversation, their feedback can also help reveal blind spots.
Also, by creating an environment where team members feel safe expressing their thoughts and concerns, you can help them overcome any change-related resistance they’re experiencing. You’ll show them that change is manageable and not something they’ll tackle alone. This can build employees’ confidence about facing the upcoming transition and those that occur further down the road.
Goal-setting is crucial for an intentional change leader. By setting clear goals, leaders create a roadmap for implementing a planned transformation or adapting to an unexpected shift. Goals also provide direction and focus that leaders can use to help others modify or establish objectives and adapt to change.
Setting goals that are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-bound (SMART) has become the standard. SMART goals remove confusion and can provide a structured way to determine exactly what needs to be achieved to hit a change-related milestone.
For example, leaders might set a SMART goal to ensure team members have the resources to adapt to change successfully. This might include something like “Identify specific training needs for each team member within two weeks.” They can also help team members set SMART goals around the same vision. For example, they might encourage a team member to set a goal such as, “Spend two hours over the next week identifying my top three training needs related to the change.”
Recognizing wins, big and small, and rewarding team members for their efforts is an essential part of intentional, proactive change leadership. It reinforces the adaptable mindset you want to see in team members by creating positive associations with change while also making them feel valued and appreciated. This is crucial for keeping your team motivated and engaged during a change, and it gives them more incentive to embrace future evolution.
What makes a good leader? Flexibility. The best change leaders are agile in their workflow, able to adapt to new opportunities at a moment’s notice. They’re also willing to flex their approach to provide their team members with the support and direction they need to be successful, even if it means using a leadership style they don’t naturally lean toward.
How do you change your leadership approach to suit the circumstances, whatever they may be? The Situational Leadership® Model centers on this skill. This framework was designed to help leaders become more flexible and adaptable, teaching them how to select a leadership style that matches the situation and team members’ needs.
At The Center for Leadership Studies (CLS), we specialize in turning potential into performance, creating agile, intentional leaders ready to guide others through any change. Our Situational Change Leadership™ course enhances self-awareness, resilience and initiation while guiding leaders through the best strategies to manage and motivate team members through major workplace changes.
Discover who you can become with the right skills and guidance. Sign up for a workshop today or contact us and learn more about the course offerings best suited to your needs.
