You get the point. Current strategies are designed for momentary realities.
Question: How is your current strategy meeting the demands of your actual reality?
Change Management
When I worked for a consulting firm, we specialized in helping clients solve problems. That’s basically all we did. Occasionally we were blamed for creating problems to solve, but that’s another story.
Inevitably, every solution required something to change. Whether it be the organizational chart, product mix, or service offerings, something always changes as part of solution execution. I mean, it’s hard to solve a problem without changing something. If nothing needs to change, we wouldn’t have a problem!
At our firm, change was a big deal. It was also the most challenging aspect of consulting. Anyone can uncover a problem. It took a unique approach to implement the solution. To help ensure we served our clients well, our firm had an entire department dedicated to change management. That’s all they did. They came alongside each consulting engagement and client team to help lead the change process.
I doubt you have a change management department. If you did, the complexities of change wouldn’t be holding you back.
Question: How is an inability to change keeping you from moving forward?
People Leadership
Leading people is a never-ending challenge. People are always tough to lead. But people are why we lead.
Effective people leadership requires we hold two things simultaneously: truth and tenderness. Great leaders are willing to have hard conversations, admit organizational realities, and make difficult decisions. They also do these things with a compassionate, people-first posture. One without the other holds leaders and organizations back.
Too many organizations are held back when point leaders refuse or are unwilling to grasp these two leadership realities. An “all truth all the time” leader is left with only positional authority to make progress. As you’ve probably experienced, these leaders rarely attract or retain great leaders. A leader relying on positional power is left relatively alone in time.
On the other hand, the compassion-at-all-cost leader is beloved, often because they never push their team forward or hold people accountable. I’ve seen many leaders over my lifetime of leadership who were loved because they allowed everyone to remain comfortable. These leaders aren’t leading. But they are loved.
Question: How well are you holding truth and tenderness? How well would your team say you hold truth and tenderness?
I don’t know your organization’s specifics, but I do know every organization can improve in one way or another. When you see a problem and are ready to solve it, which of the above issues holds you back the most? Next, how do you plan to push forward in the face of organizational, strategic, change, and people resistance?
This article originally appeared here and is used by permission.
