I just got off the phone with a leader who gets it:
He gets: If the train of change is already speeding down the tracks, it’s terribly difficult for people to “jump on board.” Either everyone you needed boarded the train back at the station – or you face the pain of slow delivery on your objectives. (Is that a light at the end of the tunnel – or a train heading this way?)
This leader gets: That it’s impossible to effectively communicate to someone in 10 minutes what you and your leadership team have been discussing for a year. If people don’t understand the context of the change, particularly why it’s important to them, no 10-minute sales pitch will do the job.
And this leader gets: The team has to believe that the future can (and should) be better than the past. When we believe this, we get past hurdles. If we don’t have this mindset, the train will go off the tracks.
It’s worth asking your team: What does a “better” future look like in the context of the change we’re proposing? (Whoever agrees on the definition of better is on the same train.) And, what questions of discovery will we ask that compel people to get on board?
These comments are so true; and really hit home in large companies where changes are not not always enrolled, embraced, and supported equally by all divisions; but, managements attitude is one of don’t ask questions, just accept it because they carte blanche accepted it and so on and so on up the line.