The above chart on 5 Steps to Planning a Change I share with almost every team and manager I work with. They nod their heads in agreement and share examples of each of the possible outcomes…
A department, that I’m consulting and coaching, made a major change to how their managers would report their work and progress of accomplishments by their teams and employees.
In the roll out meeting heads nodded and we had agreement.
BUT one area so far of resistance is
Skills
Meaning; Did the directors have the skills to accomplish the change that was required?
Talking to the managers the answer is NO.
This falls into a systems-drive-behavior problem not a people problem.
The system was changing and the organization (and the managers) did not determine what skills existed and where needed, develop / train / reinforce and lessen the learning anxiety of these skills to be effective.
Now we see anxious managers creating more anxious staff and executives…creating a false start on this change.
How to fix this?
It may not be that easy, and working with the team through the following questions will be effective.
- In what ways might the staff and your existing skill set be useful for the change?
- What new skills will be needed?
- How will you accomplish training these new skills?
- Explain, in detail the necessary skill set for completion of change (if multiple people have/need multiple skills, list the key responsibilities of the change and the necessary skill sets for success)
- What skills will you as leader(s) need for implementation of the vision?
- How can the Leadership team partner with you to enable completion?
- Can we partner those weakest in the skill with those that are more accomplished?
- How might support be offered in the long term to reinforce the skills?
- What kind of job-aids can be created to reinforce the skills?
- What small steps of achievement and recognition can we develop?
What do you think?
Have you had to make a change to your work, while lacking the necessary skills to be effective? In what ways might you have solved this?