Leading Others Through Organization Change Requires Effective Brain-Friendly Plans

Yes, when dealing with change, the details of the change are important.

Equally important are the plans we develop to bring others along with the change.

We often omit creating a plan that our team can own. We make a barbaric blunder and create a plan about the details of the change. We forget about a plan to help our team adopt the change before we talk about the details of the organizational change.

Sources: Authors Dr. Sandra Bond Chapman, Dr. Henry Cloud, Dr. Charles Stone, Dr. Al H Ringleb & Dr. David Rock

Leading Others Through Change With A Plan Guided By NeuorInsights

You don’t want to force change on your team. You want to encourage it. So you need to develop a specific strategy that will invite, lead and empower your team through the change.

Once you understand why your team’s brains resist change, then you’re ready to develop a buy-in plan.

This is the second step in ACE: C-Creating A Brain-friendly Change Buy-In Plan.

Here are some of the things you’ll want to consider as you develop this change buy-in plan.

1. Walk in their shoes.

What will be your team’s concerns? How will they feel about this change? What do they fear? What will be their biggest objection?

2. Describe the benefits of the change.

When the brain knows the benefits of the change, it is more likely to engage and welcome the change. Help your team visualize and imagine the advantages of the change versus not changing.

3. Consider the power of their expectations.

The brain likes to know what to expect. Help your team prepare for and anticipate what’s coming. Anxiety rises from uncertainty. Manage those expectations. Help them envision the change.

4. Invite input.

A change management plan helps others own the change. People don’t like being told what to do. They prefer to come up with their own ideas.

5. Create a culture with a change mentality.

The more your team becomes familiar with change and how the brain responds to it, the more they can embrace new things. Help your team see change as an opportunity, not a threat. Encourage your people to be more reflective about change and their reactions.

6. Start with key leaders.

Help your leadership adopt a culture of change. Regularly include conversations about change with them. Help your organizational influencers see change as a normal rountine of the 21st Century. Encourage them to think and talk about it with others. See change management as a core competency that you expect from leaders and staff.

7. Include aspects of change in all strategic plans.

Make change and change management a core component of every planning process. Keep change conversations front and center. Help others think of ways to stay ahead of changes instead of reacting to them.

8. Discuss how change is the normal way of life today.

Share personal stories of preparing for and adopting change. Allow others to share their positive experiences with change. Stories connect, move and motivate.

What is your organization doing to seed a change mentality into its culture, leadership and staff? What are some ways you can solicit input from your team to get buy-in to organizational change?