This 7 Word Sentence Will Help You Create Change In Your Organization
These words are like a beacon to help guide you in the right direction.
Creating change in an organization is one of the most challenging tasks a leader can take on. Why? It’s simple, people don’t like change. Even if it’s going to make their job, and life better, they will resist you until you either earn their buy-in or they exit the organization. Change is hard. These words will help.
If you’re in a new leadership role or at a new organization you may be trying to figure out where to start. Fortunately, there is a magic phrase people share to help guide you in the right direction:
“We have always done it this way.”
When you’re trying to create change, these are the sweetest words you can hear.
How to Uncover These Words
Now that you have identified the key words, the step is uncovering them? It may seem like a challenging task but in reality, it’s easy: be fundamentally curious and ask your why we do something a certain way.
It’s on you to actively listen to your team. As Jim Collins says in BE 2.0 (Beyond Entrepreneurship 2.0), there is a big difference between someone saying “this is why we do things this way” and “that’s just the way we do things” (the 7 word cousin to “we have always done it this way”).
The Leadership Tools You Need to Successfully Use These Words to Create Change
There are 3 leadership tools you’ll need to make this 7 word sentence a catalyst for change:
Fundamental Curiosity: Ask why with the intent of understanding and learning. Avoid having a preconceived notion that you know better than the person doing the job. Let them tell you what’s wrong so you can learn and fix it.
Active Listening: Listen with the goal of understanding and learning. If you’re goal in asking the question is to prove you know the answer or are smarter than your team this will fail. Listening is the key to uncovering.
Giving Up Credit: After understanding the why, engage your team in the improvements and give them credit for it. This will encourage people to participate and be a part of the solution instead of hiding the problem.
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