Map the steps

When you’re doing some new things with a team or project, it’s worth mapping out the steps so people get a sense of what’s going to happen.

This isn’t a table or list or spreadsheet - although they may hold some useful data about what needs to be done or supporting information that helps with decision making.

Sensemaking when things are unclear, unknown, uncertain or just new for people, requires us to do more than just write a few words, send a few emails or type a few messages.

All those words! Our brains are full already.

Just as a Google map shows us where we are and where we want to get to, we can use a map like that too. Include a few points like:

Here....

The path or steps to ...

There.

Add a few notes about what’s planned as you guide the team from one place... getting to that other place.

If you’ve got more of your team working remotely at the moment, don’t just rely on all the words or talking heads.

Show them a map they can keep referring back to ... later ... when they need to, when the words get lost and the talking heads are offline.

Swinging from uncertainty to certainty

We do it so many times a day.

Uncertainty about breakfast.

Certainty about breakfast.

Uncertainty about the bus.

Certainty about the bus.

Uncertainty about the meeting.

Certainty about the meeting.

Uncertainty about the decision.

Certainty about the decision.

We’re all just swinging from being sure about some stuff and unsure about other stuff. And the stuff changes. And the level of certainty and uncertainty can change too.

This is the U in VUCA. How are you going with it? How is your team going? Things are changing so you’ll be certain about some more stuff in a few minutes time. And some other stuff will become uncertain.

Notice the swing: go with the swing. Better than trying to keep everything still in certainty, expecting it to ‘switch’ to certainty and stay there. We’re going with it - oh look, more certainty approaching.

Changing conditions

Woah! Watch out, take care!

'Variable water depth and drop off’ says the sign at my local beach here in Melbourne, Australia. If this is the first time you’ve come to this beach, then this information is vitally important. It could save your life! Waters are clear but not so clear that we can always see the bottom.

The signs I’ve been sharing in posts this week may well be about water, beach and swimming safety, but they’re a brilliant reminder for us in many other situations.

Be ready; that solid ground you’re standing on could shift, move, change. And while we think conditions are set or predictable, they can and do change rapidly.

This is a common environment for us now in a world that’s labelled ‘VUCA’, in workplaces undergoing change or transformation, and in people who may be fed up hearing about all of those things!

We can become complacent, comfortable, habitual. And so an unexpected change or shift, is just that … unexpected. These times are about our ability to adapt, change and to be ready.

It is having a capability of adaptability.

Degree of Difficulty

There could be a degree of difficulty.

Trying new things, working in new ways or joining new teams can present challenges. Not everything is easy, simple, clear or certain to ‘go our way’. Any time you’re working with or on something new, there could be a degree of difficulty with it.

Yes, just like athletes in diving, skating, skiing - and many other sports - there’s a grade or tariff in a technical skill.

As the world of work keeps changing, your role may change, the system may change, the leader may change, customers change. And with every change, there could be some challenge and difficulty.

Rather than resisting, blocking, denying or ignoring the new, try it. Practice it, try it out, and again. No great skill, insight or learning came from persistent resistance.

New ways of doing things are new to some of us because we haven’t done things like this, in this way, using this system/process/app/tool/method before. As we try to think and do things in new ways, be kind to those experiencing these degrees of difficulty.

We've all been there. Don’t push people down the ramp. Let them take it step by step.

Change Leader : What's your front page and headline?

A paragraph in the change pack I spied at an organisation this morning read like this:

We need a more contemporary reimagining of our integrated administrative capability.

What? What does that mean!!? You're leading change and you're communicating like that?

You can read more thrilling gobbledygook here by using the automated generator! But really, do leaders still distribute uninspiring, time wasting and mind-numbing change messages like this?

Unfortunately they do.

But we must do better. We must be clear, inspiring, real, relevant, brief, to the point. And then get on with it and listen, engage, and keep inspiring throughout the change.

So how to communicate before, during and after change?

You can take a leaf from Simon Sinek's angle on Start With Why, or the earlier version of it from Bernice McCarthy and the 4MAT Frame, loved by trainers around the world.

Or you could go PR-style and craft out your key messages. In some of my earlier roles on communication campaigns and strategies we'd create a 'story house'.

We'd build our key messages from the ground up:

• what is a foundation message, must be delivered message (like the concrete foundation or slab)?
• what is a structural, framework kind of message (like the wooden frame)?
• what is a higher vision, overarching message (like a roof)?

Another approach is to think sharp and engaging; to think in front page and headline style. 

What will the front page of your 'edition' on change read like? What story will you be leading with?

Where is the investigative piece? The history piece... the bit about why this is happening, the inspiring information about others who have taken this path, the reason why the business needs to do this... and what it means for the team. 

What are the headlines about this change? Where can I find the further details, the background, the unpacked data and spreadsheets and research on it? Where can I find the 'long read'? Where is the photojournalism on it - show me what it will look like? Where's the shipping news: what will be happening when - what's arriving when and where? What will be starting, what's stopping and when is that happening?

Delete that workplace waffle that reads: We're going forward with our plans to implement systemised third-generation paradigm shifts.

Urgh!

Go clear, bold, strong, interesting, engaging. 

Create your front page and your headlines; build your readership for this change.