Adapt to change with flexible leadership styles!
As you may know, change is the only constant in life, and the same goes for the corporate world. When you gain insight into the world of work, you will realize how much can change in a decade. In 2007, the major issue for HR professionals was leadership development. Annual reviews were the norm for evaluating progress, rather than the constant feedback expected today. Social media was considered a threat to productivity, not an essential hiring tool as it is now. The only method for hiring was the traditional approach, and recruiters often had to cancel or reschedule interviews, unlike today where video interview software is widely used.
The Impact of the Pandemic
After the pandemic outburst, leaders worldwide are facing increased complexity and change. The entire situation has introduced new uncertainties, circumstances, and challenges in the workplace. Technology is rapidly evolving to meet these new needs, making adaptability crucial to staying competitive. Change is inevitable, and leaders must be flexible to embrace and navigate these changes effectively.
Navigating Workforce Changes
From regulatory changes to leadership transitions, there is constant unrest in the workforce. Employees globally are experiencing significant organizational changes that are impacting their jobs. According to a recent survey, almost one-third of employees are unaware of the reasons behind these changes. It is the leaders’ responsibility to accept these changes and enlighten their employees about the reasons behind them.
Leading Through Change
Leading through change involves creating and communicating a clear vision for change. This vision drives business solutions and helps leaders avoid career derailment. By accepting and embracing change, leaders can guide their teams more effectively and ensure organizational success. Be a leader who can adapt, embrace, and lead through change.
Inspire people with a compelling vision for the future!
Being a leader comes with various responsibilities. Leaders have to be proactive all the time to encourage and motivate their teams through these changes. When people experience a change in a time of uncertainty, they need a clear view of the path ahead. As a leader, it is your duty to share what you know about these changes.
Keep your employees informed about changes by having regular communication with them. Start with sharing why the occurring changes are important and how they will positively affect the entire organization. This should be the basis of your communication. Connect the changes with the company’s core mission, and offer your employees an inspiring future vision. Tell your employees that the changes that will occur today will help them achieve the vision for tomorrow.
Change events are often stressful, unstable, uncertain, and risky. Have a clear purpose or meaning behind the change and strengthen your case. Try to articulate this to your employees and build a better understanding of the business strategy.
Access your VIEW to be more flexible!
Employees always take cues from their managers about how to respond to changes. Therefore, it is essential for leaders to have their point of view on how to accept and lead through changes. For responding to changes, there could be different VIEW models. A leader should be
• Enthusiastic
Maintaining a positive attitude is critical to overcoming all barriers. Have a focused mindset that motivates others as well to face upcoming challenges. With a positive mindset, you can encourage your team to adapt to changes.
• Visionary
Leaders can’t just focus on today’s results. They need to think about the future as well. Have a clear vision for the future of the organization, and challenge the status quo. When you anticipate the unexpected, you can easily take calculated risks.
• Wise
Being smart and wise is critical for business leaders. With your view and knowledge, anticipate the occurring problems and be a problem solver. Have knowledge about the organization, its processes, and people to address issues in advance.
• Inspiring
When leaders say something, it highly influences employees, as words from their leaders are very important to them. So make sure to be inspiring, and motivate your employees to overcome arising challenges. Model the intended changes, and sell the vision to your employees. Encourage them to join the changing future.
Tips to be a more flexible leader
As mentioned above, adaptable leaders are more flexible. They can easily prevail through tough times without hampering their productivity. Leaders who are flexible know how to master new skills to adapt to changes seamlessly. Additionally, they look for more innovative ways to solve problems. For them, changes are not a threat; these are just occurring challenges that they need to overcome. As a leader, you should not only respond to change but make sure to steer it. Following are some of the tips to adapt effectively to changes and guide your team.
• Always have another plan
Sometimes the situation is not favorable when you try to reach your goals. Therefore, you should always have Plan B or C ready to implement. Plan B is important because it makes your organization more resilient.
• Ask plenty of questions
To be a flexible leader, you need to be curious about everything. Explore things, and consider your observations before deciding anything. When you try to explore more things, you gain a better understanding of things that make you a more flexible leader.
• Immerse yourself in new situations
When you are confronted by change, make sure to try to immerse yourself in those new environments. To adapt to changes, practice by joining activities, trying new things, and meeting new people.
• Involve employees
Keep in mind that you can’t do it alone. You need to have a support system if you want to adapt to all changes. When any changes occur, have an interaction with your employees. Encourage them to deal with these changes and be a part of the changing future. Together, you can all overcome challenges easily.
• Understand your own reaction
Being a leader, you have to be clear about your own response to change. You can only help your employees and be a flexible leader if you are clear about your thoughts about the occurring changes. The clarity in your thought process will help you to be straightforward with others.
Types of flexibility that help leaders adapt to change
The ability to adapt to change is necessary for leaders. To foster flexible leadership, leaders should practice the following 3 components of adaptability.
• Emotional flexibility
Leaders who have emotional flexibility know how to vary their approach to deal with their own and others’ emotions. Many leaders fail to consider this area, but it is an important area. Emotionally flexible leaders are comfortable with the process of transition, including anxiety, complaining, grieving, and resistance. Leaders without emotional flexibility are dismissive of others’ emotions and concerns. On the other hand, emotionally flexible leaders adapt to change faster.
• Cognitive flexibility
Leaders must have the ability to use different mental frameworks and thinking strategies. If they can think about scenarios in their mind and see when they need to shift, they are more likely to adapt to change quickly. Cognitive flexibility means interest in developing new approaches, divergent thinking, the ability to leverage new connections, etc. These types of leaders always try to learn from their experiences, and they can easily find out which approach is not working for them.
• Dispositional flexibility
Every leader should practice the ability to remain optimistic and realistic at the same time. Leaders who show dispositional flexibility have a positive mindset, but they are always grounded in openness and realism. They have the ability to visualize a better future while acknowledging a bad situation. Leaders with dispositional flexibility see change as an opportunity rather than as a danger or threat.
Practice behaviors that boost your emotional, cognitive, & dispositional flexibility to become more adaptable. When you can adapt to changes easily, you can help others also to embrace these changes. Employers and employees both need to adopt specific skill sets or behaviors to be successful. When leaders model changes, the organization is five times more likely to be successful.
Wrapping it up
Leading change is all about having a clear vision for the change, which is not directly tied to a project. It is transformational and beneficial for business productivity. Lead change with a positive mindset, and make your employees a part of the change. Not letting your employees understand the reason for the change will jeopardize your change initiative. It will also impact the productivity of your company. So, whenever there is a change, be sure to inform, inspire, engage, and empower your employees. Having the ability to lead change within your company effectively is necessary as it affects the overall organizational culture.
