The courage to change

“I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear.”

Nelson Mandela

Making the vital changes in our businesses and event models is probably one of the hardest things we all wrestle with. When the strategy has been written, the consensus engaged and the mandate drawn, there is often a quiet pause as the person in charge hesitates over the metaphoric red go-live button, everything grounds to a halt and the energy dwindles. Everyone just sits and waits.

The ‘what ifs?‘ seep in. The ‘is this really necessary‘ take resident and worse still, the 11th hour people pop up with ‘just to be devil’s advocate‘…

It’s a conundrum facing many leaders and business owners. And, in my experience it isn’t the lack of insight to know what needs to change, nor how much that change will cost or even what the likely outcome of that change will be. But the act of making the change itself that holds us up.

It is a common throwaway line to say people fear change hence why they don’t do it, but I wonder if it is more.

Change feels uncomfortable. It feels messy and it is one of those times where you have difficult, personal, direct conversations with people about the reality of what is going on. In large corporates there is also the ‘I didn’t do it‘ syndrome, where people are reluctant to make big changes for fear it won’t work – hence why companies stay with the status quo – even if that doesn’t work – to avoid any blame.

From my guest seat view of a lot of companies, it often appears that the change comes down as a directive, without the magic ingredient that goes with it. The why.

When designing internal communications programs based on change (or transformation), I always want to know why the change is happening. Is it market share, reputation, pending competition, the need to reduce costs, staff engagement? How does it link to the overall strategy? And most importantly what happens if we don’t change.

These small yet powerful questions often set the framework for the extensive staff consultation which follows, the strong communication loops back to everyone and the design of an extensive plan.

I’ve found that most people when faced with the bare facts of why change is occurring – the real and honest behind-the-closed-door reason – they get it. And then they get on with it. And ground swell erupts and the momentum moves the change forward and before long it is just the new normal. And if they don’t, the culture around them either ejects them or they self-withdraw.

Making the big decisions is hard. Sometimes it hurts, but if we as leaders are honest with ourselves about what makes it hard, and our ‘why’ for making the changes is powerful, pushing the red button becomes easier.

As the world speeds up and time seems to travel faster than ever before, we need to be better at designing, managing and facilitating change, for it isn’t going away. As Heraclitus the ancient Greek philosopher said, ‘The only thing that is constant is change’.

Zadro is an expert in strategic integrated communications. Find out more: www.zadroagency.com.au