Marcia's Leadership Q and As: Genuine Gratitude (Copy)
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Q. With constant challenges facing our organization (labor shortages, AI, technology, economic shifts, etc.), how can we lead our teams to change rapidly?
A. Leaders today face nonstop turbulence and chaos. Technology shifts. Customer expectations rise. Talent needs evolve. Labor shortage increase. Competitors pop up overnight. Too many managers react with fear or fall back on outdated management habits.
They cling to certainty, rely on best practices that add waste, and chase numerical targets that distort thinking. These behaviors do not help organizations thrive. They create a culture of fear, confusion, frustration, dysfunction, and stagnation.
Leaders who progress and succeed in times of uncertainty think, act, and communicate very differently. Their language doesn’t focus on change (that’s an outcome.) Leaders don’t encourage people to change. They encourage them to improve, collaborate, and innovate! It’s a powerful difference.
People resist change (or being changed.) They don’t resist working together to improve and innovate!
When leaders bring clarity (of the aim for all), courage, and curiosity to every challenge, the staff can contribute. Leaders study and transform the system, remove barriers, involve people in sharing ideas, and use rapid collaborative learning as their competitive advantage.
They know their organization doesn’t improve because of slogans and incentives. They transform because they inspire people and give them good work to do! Leaders guide their teams toward quality improvement, innovation, relevance and growth.
1. Curiosity is the Goal, Not Certainty
The most respected and effective leaders don’t pretend to have all the answers. They don’t believe they’re the experts who always needs to be right. They ask better questions and become explorers. They create a learning organization for all. Curiosity opens doors to new ideas and possibilities. It moves the culture from fear-based reactions to learning and testing ideas.
2. Symptoms, Problems, or Broken Systems Are Breakthroughs
Leaders understand the differences and understand their role to redesign the system and not waste time blaming people. They understand the customer experience and where it is lacking. They guide their organization to create a direct line from the customers’ needs and wants to what the organization needs to deliver. Quick fixes and merely searching for problems and pain points are replaced with long term progress, making improvement continual versus episodic.
3. Fear Decreases as Trust Emerges
Engaging conversations across an organization is a bedrock foundation for building trust and success. Hierarchical, bureaucratic organizations flounder. But when leaders ask questions and tap into the wisdom of the people closest to the work, a powerful pivot happens. People take ownership. They support what they help create. They want to keep improving it (and don’t resist change) to better serve customers.
4. Exponential Learning Flows
Leaders and teams don’t wait for the perfect solution or plan. They run through experiments that test insights and reveal insights. They expect early failures and consider them valuable information. The faster a continual improvement process can be applied, the faster new products, service, and customer solutions can emerge. Decisions cannot get stuck in committees that have become too democratic and stale. Bold actions are embraced.
Through continual quality improvement, a focus on exceptional customer experiences, and innovation, change occurs. But change is the welcome outcome. But leaders don’t start with a focus on change; if they do, they create resistance and fear. Instead, they have a powerful opportunity to pivot, disrupt, and transform for more success.
