For many of us, October 1 marked the beginning of Q4 in the fiscal reporting cycle or, in my organization’s case, the beginning of Q1 for the programming cycle. During this season, I am tasked to reflect upon last year’s initiatives and offerings and brainstorm how to shake things up for the new year. Admittedly, change can stem from a place of sincere desire to improve customers’ experience or to reduce costs or waste. Too often, however, management proposes ‘innovative changes’ in order to appear cutting-edge or to beef up their successes on the annual reviews – in short for all of the wrong reasons. Data-driven decision making exists as an aid to avoid this common managerial mistake, yet as long as upper management demands something new for novelty sake or as a means to inject the ‘wow factor’ in the quarterly report, middle managers and team leaders will continue to spin their wheels. Beyond the fruitless investment of their own time, leaders pressured to implement change must burden the team with additional, unnecessary policy and procedural changes, rather than investing energy and effort into the organization’s day-to-day functions.
Change fatigue, or the inherent drain on employees caused by incessant changes at the worksite, can be demoralizing given that “70 percent of transformation efforts fail” (Kotter, 2011). Reframed differently, only the best ideas get traction. If teams see more failures than successes, then it is management’s responsibility is to put up as many ‘W’s on the board as possible. Certainly, my mandate to ‘do the right thing’ for the sake of the men and women who devote their professional life to the organization, is easier said than done, unless one has adopted the Authentic Leadership style.
Authentic Leadership is characterized by self-awareness, genuineness, a focus on the long-term, and leading with one’s heart (Northouse, 2016) (Kruse, 2013). Authentic leaders build “strong relationships…[and have] the capacity to open…up and establish connections with others” (Northouse, p. 199); authentic leaders do – no, they must- be people-centric to maintain their networks. All this is to say, an authentic leader will not burden his team with unnecessary busy-tasks to say a new initiative is underway, rather he leverages transparency and honesty and openly shares that a change is needed but solicits the input of his troopers. In this way, change is not an action taken by management but rather a participatory event to eliminate pain points and engage in meaningful professional growth to help customers.
Unstructured, haphazard attempts to shake up a company can lead to turnover, which is expensive and demoralizing for remaining staff. Leaders shouldn’t shy away from change, rather they should approach it with caution. Real or perceived organization instability caused by “management’s constant reorganization [or] changing direction…causes frustration leading to confusion” (Smith, 2009) therefore incessant pivoting is not recommended. Authentic leaders know this; they have a “clear idea of who they are and where they are going” (Northouse, p. 198) and their True North helps them avoid temptation to buy into the latest fads to their own determinant.
The advent of October’s Q1 reminds me to inspire my staff to stay upbeat despite the ongoing organizational shifts, perhaps my compassion and concern for their wellbeing is a testament to my self-concept – I am an authentic leader. Change fatigue is always on the horizon, my purpose and values compel me to help to keep its deleterious effects at bay for my team’s sake, it is the right thing to do. Management mandates that I promote ‘new and improved programming or products’ and my team and I do. Otherwise, I mostly avoid the hype associated with change and, instead, fall back on solid management techniques. How can I, in good conscious, advocate for more change when we haven’t settled on simple matters, such as whether Q1 begins in October or January?
References:
Kotter (September 15, 2011). Change Fatigue: Taking Its Toll on Your Employees? Forbes. Retrieved from: https://www.forbes.com/sites/johnkotter/2011/09/15/can-i-use-this-method-for-change-in-my-organization/#1e5cc96e1ce6
Kruse, K. (May 12, 2013). What is Authentic Leadership? Forbes. Retrieved from: https://www.forbes.com/sites/kevinkruse/2013/05/12/what-is-authentic-leadership/#1206ef70def7
Northouse, P. G. (2013). Leadership: Theory and practice (6th ed.). Thousand Oaks: SAGE.
Smith, J. (December 2009). 12 Reasons Employees Leave Organizations. Peoria Magazine. Retrieved from: https://peoriamagazines.com/ibi/2009/dec/12-reasons-employees-leave-organizations