Own Up, Show Up, Stand Up

Own Up, Show Up, Stand Up

So you think you're a change leader? If you've been busy implementing new strategies, systems and processes, you may be ignoring one of the most powerful tools for change: yourself.

"Change in operations won't take hold without change in culture to back it up," says CCL's John McGuire. "And you, like it or not, are part of the culture."

"When you try to change the way things are done, you are asking people to change their behavior and their beliefs," McGuire continues. "As a leader, you need to be able to change your behavior and beliefs, too. Otherwise, colleagues, direct reports and employees will be skeptical of your efforts and will learn to create the appearance of support without investing in change themselves."

By changing "internal" factors such as beliefs, thought patterns, habits and assumptions, you have the opportunity to create buy-in for change at a cultural level.

To gauge your readiness as a change leader, consider three areas:

Your control center. The extent of your need to own or control change defines your "control center." Successful leaders of change move away from tightly held control and view themselves as guides or influencers of change. Leading change often involves letting go: behaving as if you don't have all the answers, listening more and looking to see what's really going on at deeper levels.

Giving up control is often a challenge. Think about your control center and its role in how you lead change by asking yourself:

• What role does control play in actually minimizing organizational risk versus just containing my anxiety?
• What if I'm wrong; what if I don't have all the good ideas; what if there are multiple right answers?
• What is the worst that can happen if I don't jump in/solve this/give my opinion?
• What might happen if I leave this to others?

Your time sense. Don't mistake speed for effectiveness. You need to slow down to speed up. The process of slowing down and taking time out for learning and reflection will often improve decision making, foster efficiency and foster change in the culture. Learn to ask questions, reflect and engage in dialogue.

To better understand your own time sense, ask questions such as:

• Am I confusing activity with meaningful action?
• Why can't this wait?
• Do I need to give this more attention?
• What do I gain from speeding up? From slowing down and learning?

Your intentionality. Intentionality allows you to build a bridge between beliefs and behaviors, to create a connection between your current state and your future focus. By keeping clear on your intention and direction, more and more decisions will be driven from the new belief structure -- the one that supports the new direction.

You can increase your intentionality by exploring these questions:

• Why change?
• Why am I leading change?
• Do I really mean to change myself and this organization, or am I just giving lip service to appearance and activities?
• What are my beliefs and assumptions about change? About this specific change?
• Are my decisions and behaviors supporting or contradicting what I say about culture?
• Am I being an instrument of change that gets us where we want to be?

Taken together, control center, time sense and intentionality are the three corners of readiness that allow you, as a change leader, to model behaviors that will support change. Without them your change effort will likely fail.

Of course, you won't single-handedly change your organization. But to begin, argues McGuire, "senior leadership must acknowledge their place in the culture, engage fully in the work and stand up first so that others may follow."