Grab your suitcase

 

Change landed with a dramatic thud last year.

 

Consider the transition that you and your business have experienced in that time, going into lockdowns, the periods between, and now evolving into something beyond. We are clinging onto a promise of increased certainty for the future, so now is the perfect time to consciously think about how you grow as an organisation.

• How are YOU transitioning your company?
• How are YOU managing the transition for your employees?

Being intentional about how we develop needs to extend beyond day-to-day practices, such as hybrid working. We need to have clarity and a strategy about how to define the workforce, your collective vision and how you ‘are as a company’. It is no longer about doing the same things in the same way in the new world in which we operate.

 

Past, Present, Future

So, gather your colleagues around the suitcase.

 

Decide what you want to put inside… everything from the past at work that you want to bring with you, to keep hold of going forward.

 

Now add the behaviours, values, skills and qualities that you value about the present that you consciously want to take into the future.

 

Next, imagine you’re able to time travel ahead into the best place your company can be. What does it look like, feel like, sound like? What are you observing and experiencing? Did you forget to add anything necessary to your suitcase to get you here?

 

This is such a powerful exercise for teams to take stock of the journey they’re on and to intentionally create the future. It moves from change being just a process to something more tangible.

 

 

Change is Something We Can be Certain About

Change is continuous. Yet too often companies rush into a future state without considering endings and beginnings, a fundamental part of our psychological processing during transitions. When we know what it is that people want to hold on to and let go of, we can create a work culture that is fit for its people, that aligns with their values, that inspires, motivates and increases commitment. And all that drives results.

 

Adding Value

I have been lucky enough to work with the very talented Amanda Page of Change Tempo Ltd for the last year, working with companies who have their eyes wide open to the need to get the people side of business right before anything else. Particularly now.

 

Amanda has brought this powerful process to the table and together we have taken leadership teams on a change journey that has really strengthened their identity, direction and resilience. Once teams know what they’re striving for, in terms of what success looks like for the  future of the company, they have a solid foundation for paving the future with their employees, partners and clients.

 

Sounds simple! It’s great to start this conversation in your teams. But remember, this is an activity that fits into a bigger picture all about a culture that supports psychological safety and empowerment. Simply asking the questions is not enough if you have not given thought, time and commitment to setting up expectations that encourage honesty.

 

Managers leading the enquiry often influence the responses they receive. Creative hats that enable us to think outside the box are harder to wear when our brains naturally revert back to unconscious bias and expectations. How do people step outside the mould to have an authentic voice?

 

That’s where Amanda and I come in. We guide teams through a process that puts your colleagues in the strongest, most aligned position, for you to lead your people on a journey towards a conscious destination. And when this is part of a bigger picture connecting with Culture Working Groups across the organisation, employees at every level become aligned and are able to experience a two-way process to change and development. Then you’re onto a winner!

 

We have some brilliant tools to share to get teams really interacting and thinking differently, even when they continue to work remotely.

Get in touch to find out more!