Leadership

Let’s Do This: Developing a Change Mindset Within Your Team

Published on Oct 17, 2022

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You want your team to learn and grow. You want your firm to evolve and develop and get better and better. You, the leader of your firm, have a vision for what you want to see your firm achieve in the future. But, to get there, everything cannot stay the same as it is now. Change, growth, and evolution must happen.

You will need to embrace the latest technology.

You will need to hire the best new talent available.

You will need to continue to refine and develop new workflows and processes.

You will need to develop new strategies and approaches.

You will need to evaluate new problems and market shifts.

Have you ever been here?

You approach your team with a new idea, a new method, a new system… you are excited! But there it is…that dreaded deer in the headlight look from them. Then you begin to feel the silent groans, the words they are thinking even if they aren’t saying them to you… “Ugh…more change. Why do we have to change the way we are doing things? The way we are doing it now is working. It’s fine. Why mess with it?”

They fear this change will be for the worse, won’t work, or will create more work for them. They are comfortable with how things are now. They are GOOD at the way they are doing things now.

Where do these feelings come from?

Your team remembers. If every time they turn around, there is another change, they will grow weary of it. Or worse yet, if you’ve tried to change things in the past, and it didn’t work out, they will hold onto that failure and its aftermath for years and years.

Your team may be skeptical, too, if changes have been approached cavalierly in the past with little to no thought put into how they will affect the team and firm as a whole. These kinds of events create the mindset that change won’t be successful in your firm no matter what they do.

Creating the change mindset

If your team doesn’t commit to change, your chances of success severely diminish. What do you need to do in order to get that precious buy-in from your team? As Vista Consultants, we see adversity to change amongst teams frequently. We visit firms that have asked for our help. They WANT change. Yet, their teams resist. Here are a few things you can do to help gain that buy-in from your team:

Start by embracing failure!

Seems a little backward perhaps, but try to remove the stigma around failure. As Thomas Edison once said, “I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.” I do sincerely hope it doesn’t take you 10,000 tries to get it right, but if it does, it does! Set the tone that when something doesn’t work out, it was a mere stepping stone, not a true failure. It was a learning opportunity, and as a team, you are not deterred. One of the biggest and best ways to get your team to feel good about trying something new is to take the fear of failure out of it or at least lessen it. We are going to keep taking that shot until we hit the target, and we are going to take that shot together as a team. When a team member is truly resistant to change, they may simply be afraid of letting you down. Share your own failures and successes, and make sure they know that you are all in this together- as a team.

Promote a learning culture within your firm.

I will recommend a learning culture for many reasons, but as far as change goes, your firm culture should never allow stagnation. Your culture should promote continuous learning and growth in all aspects. Set the tone that lifelong learning is the foundation of your firm’s success. Help your team let go of the notion that you, they, or anyone has mastered the best method of doing anything. A key element of a learning culture is the understanding that there is ALWAYS room for innovation and improvement. Your team wants to feel successful in their work. In order to embrace change, they must first be willing to admit that their way wasn’t necessarily the best way- that takes courage! Redefine your firm’s definition of success from that of becoming an expert, to that of continuous growth and improvement.

Communicate, Communicate, Communicate!

If you just throw out a big change to your team, and they don’t understand it, getting that buy-in will be a much bigger challenge. Explain the why behind the what. If your team is smart and inquisitive, they will want to know and understand why the change is necessary and what the goal is. They deserve to know that. If there is confusion regarding the change, make sure it is alleviated. Properly explain what is happening and give them insight into the bigger picture. Effective communication can be accomplished by group meetings, or you can utilize team leads or department heads to help with passing along key information. Department heads can not only explain the change, but help their team understand how it directly affects them, and what they do in that specific department.

Support your team.

Make sure they have the tools and training to be successful. It’s never enough to create a change and just run with it. Stop and look back to evaluate success. Continue to communicate and solicit feedback from your team on how they perceive the change is going. If you need to adjust- adjust! Change should be collaborative. If you want your team to hear you out and give you that buy-in, then stop and hear them out as well. If they need additional training or equipment to be successful, make sure you are providing that to them. Make sure you are truly setting them, and your firm, up to be as successful as possible. It will be difficult for them to ever embrace change if they feel unsupported by firm leadership during the adjustment.

Get ready

These simple tips can help shift your firm’s mindset towards change. Developing a culture that embraces change rather than fighting it can make your firm more productive and successful. When your team lets go of fear for fear’s sake, you will notice an environment where innovation, passion, and dedication thrive. That’s something every organization seeks out. Now, you know where to find it.