Top 3 Lessons Learned from a Huge Leadership Change
What I learned from changing the structure of the organisation, which impacted all members of my teams.
We live in a constantly changing world. However, I like to follow a plan, so each unexpected change induces unpleasant feelings. I am working on it but there is still a lot to learn. Surprisingly, big organisational changes are easier for me to comprehend than small unexpected ones.
In this post, I share my lessons from one of the biggest changes I had to implement - changing the structure of the organisation, which affected all members of my teams.
The only constant in life is change.
- Heraclitus
Painting The Picture
During the restructuring of the organisation we changed the reporting structure and leadership model for the technology division.
Before the Change
Technical leaders had five to seven team members. They used on average 20% of their time for leadership duties such as mentoring team members, running performance conversations, etc. and 80% of their time on commercial projects. Their team members were assigned to different projects.
This model worked for many years but over time when the portfolio of projects evolved it was more difficult to scale when the company was growing fast and leaders were resigning.
The Change
The change was to switch from Technical Leaders to People Leaders. This new type of leader was 100% dedicated to leadership duties, with no technical role. In other organisations this role might be called Resource Manager.
Together with other managers I was responsible for implementing the change in my teams, starting from announcing the change, through recruitment of People Leaders, to final handovers.
The details of the change itself are not important for this article; what matters is that each engineer was affected by the change as we replaced their Technical Leaders, with whom they had established relationships, with People Leaders.
Change Management Framework
How humans react to change is the baseline to change frameworks. In order to face the change, us managers were trained in one of many change management frameworks - ADKAR.
ADKAR defines these stages:
Awareness: people have to be aware of why we are changing, what is going to change and how it is going to affect them.
Desire: individuals need to understand the value of the change and want to participate in it.
Knowledge: people need to have the knowledge and skills to participate or implement the change.
Ability: individuals are able to implement desired skills and behaviours.
Reinforcement: people have to be reminded about what has changed to reinforce its effect and make sure they stay committed.
During the training we covered each of these steps. After the training we worked together with other managers to make sure that our organisational change followed the framework.
3 Lessons
With the Reinforcement step we often followed up with our teams to gather their feedback. In my teams it took more than 6 months to implement the change, starting from announcing the change to final handovers between old and new leaders.
Here are my three lessons:
Lesson 1 - Change Happens Individually, so Listen Carefully
It is important to remember that each of us has a different perspective, values different things and understands the change differently.
Each of us is on another stage of change. Some team members might already have the desire to change while others have a blurry image of what is going to happen.
I met with all our Technical Leaders individually to understand at what stage of change they were. I asked for their view on the change and what more they need to know about the new structure. One of their biggest worries was that any existing mentoring wouldn't be addressed by People Leaders, so we worked together to find a solution to this.
Lesson 2 - Keep Expectations Clear and Overcommunicate
As with "On Managing Expectations" - while communicating, be realistic about the future and point out what might change.
In the past, I did not particularly enjoy repeating myself. But, communication within the company is far from strict computer protocols, so we do not know how many of our messages were successfully processed by our team members.
One of the ways to maximise chances that people got our message was to repeat it.
Studies show that people do not care if their manager repeats the same announcement at every meeting. Too much communication is safer than too little. I was doing monthly meetings with all my teams in which I reminded them where we are on the timeline each month. Even with frequently changing timelines, people were constantly up to date thanks to these meeting.
Lesson 3 - There will be Resistance
Nothing is so painful to the human mind as a great and sudden change. The sun might shine, or the clouds might lour: but nothing could appear to me as it had done the day before.
- Mary Shelley, Frankenstein
The managers that designed the new structure put their own thoughts into the design. Due to this they were connected to the change and therefore invested in its success. The change felt right as it felt like we were solving problems and making life easier for everyone. As managers, with all the information available to us, it is difficult to imagine why someone might be opposed to the change.
All of us have different experiences, values, and perspectives (as talked about in Lesson 1). Some people will resist the change regardless for some it might be a trigger to resign. We have to be aware that some people will be dissatisfied no matter what, and there is only so much we can try.
Summary
Remember to address human nature while implementing changes. Communicate often, and manage clear expectations. Listen to your teams and help them fill any gaps. There will always be some reluctance, but do not worry. This is normal.
I wish you many successful changes.
Thanks for reading!
Michał
Post Notes
Discover Weekly - Shoutouts
Articles that might help you explore new perspectives which I have read this week:
“Most micromanagers are blind to being seen as one” from
by - The article presents an interesting dichotomy on the spectrum from being a supportive and helpful leader to becoming a micromanager.“How to regain your motivation as an entrepreneur” from
by - “It’s okay to NOT work.” - Orel shares his personal experience on regaining motivation.“Why We Stopped Charging Airbnb Cleaning Fee” from
by - Insights on behavioural science and the interaction between social and market norms.“My 25-Year Engineering Career Retrospective“ from
by - An excellent retrospective that distils 25 years into clear and actionable advice.
"Each of us is on another stage of change. Some team members might already have the desire to change while others have a blurry image of what is going to happen."
Yes! it's easy to forget that different people come from different backgrounds and that not everybody will accept the change the same way others do.
Even if it sounds incredible on paper and that it will benefit everybody, you need to communicate it well and repeat it multiple times.
Great article Michal!
Thanks for the mention Michal!