Becoming a successful change leader: introducing the theory of change
Change is one of the only certainties for an engineering leader - be it daily changes in agile software development, during a product pivot, an acquisition, a high-growth period, a pandemic or a recession. Times of change are some of the hardest to lead in - not only do leaders need to be able to respond to change and deal with high degrees of ambiguity, but they also need to take charge of creating change and steer their teams and organisation in the right direction.
So how can you be an effective leader in uncertain times? In this article, I introduce the theory of change, laying the groundwork for more intentional leadership and effective management of change. Want to dive deeper? I’m hosting a workshop on this topic in San Francisco (October 25th) and Berlin (November 2nd) where you’ll learn even more practical, tried and tested tools and techniques to help you and your teams succeed in driving and responding to change.
Guiding principles for change
Change is hard. It’s also part of everyday work life at a startup, especially an early stage one. Responses to change come in all shapes and sizes, and they rarely follow textbook-style patterns precisely. Before attempting to manage change, it’s helpful to understand what change actually is, and why it can be so complex.
Change can be small and incremental, or big and structural. We can categorise change by the following:
Preparedness: planned vs. unplanned e.g., a recession or pandemic
Scope: structural vs.team-level e.g., m&a, re-org, new teams, new org chart
Approach: transformational and transitional vs. swift and sudden, e.g., new tech, change in mission, new employee skills required, agile transformation
Cause: remedial, reactive vs. innovative and proactive, e.g., loss of talent, customer issues, outages
People-centric: people changes, e.g., new hires, employee up-skilling, promoting from within
Change for businesses
In a fast-evolving world, adaptation to change caused by internal and external factors is inevitable for businesses. It’s a prerequisite, not just for success, but for survival. Change for businesses comes with a range of challenges and risks:
Amount, order, or type of change can negatively impact productivity
Change is insufficient to meet strategic or business needs
Expected benefits aren’t realised
Barriers to adoption
On the other hand, there are upsides that come with adapting to change:
Prerequisite for success
Basis for innovation
High change rates can be easier to manage ( → DevOps culture)
Can lead to better results
This leads to an ambiguity of change in a business context: it’s crucial, but it needs to be run and managed well in order to yield the desired results.
Why is change so hard for humans?
Change is a social process. Change can affect relationships, status, sense of identity, and self-perception of competence and worth. (Esther Derby)
Our brains are hardwired to protect us from danger, and any kind of change will be perceived as a threat at first. On top of that there are other factors which determine how we react to change (I go into more detail on this here):
Researchers have studied what it takes to create fulfilling work environments. Turns out it comes down to a few core needs which are all essential to make us feel valued and satisfied. Choice and predictability are two of these core needs, which directly clash with enforced change
Change often triggers a fight, flight, freeze, or fawn response
Tolerance and desire for change vary from individual to individual
Individual needs and reactions to change also vary
The processing of change can be linear, circular, or take other forms and patterns
Change fatigue may make further absorption of and productive response to change difficult
The impact of uncertainty
On top of that, the impact of uncertainty adds an extra layer of complexity.
Research has shown uncertainty can be more painful than physical pain
When uncertainty doesn’t stop, this can lead to exhaustion and stress
Ambiguity is tiring and makes us anxious - in uncertainty, we default to what we know and are familiar with
Change leadership vs. change management
The terms “leadership” and “management” are often used interchangeably. I believe they’re distinct types of work and require distinct skill sets:
Management is about coping with complexity: it brings order and predictability. Leadership is about coping with ambiguity and change.
In the context of change, I’d roughly separate them as follows:
Change management: tools and structures to handle and guide, control change, minimise distractions and negative impacts.
Values guiding change management: Containment, control, limitation of impact, order, imposing, administrating change, minimising disruption.
How change management views change: “Change is extraordinary & eventually over.”
Change leadership: Owning visions, processes, and driving forces that facilitate transformations. Shaping culture. Making change better & easier.
Values guiding change leadership: Empowering, influencing, motivating, urgency, taking leaps and some risks, openness, moving quickly, being proactive & people-centric, driven by vision, holistic
How change leadership views change: Change is an opportunity which is vital and ongoing. It’s a process.
So how do we manage change as effectively as possible, bearing the factors above in mind? As change leaders, change is what we do. It is not some undesirable side effect or distraction. Change is the work. Our responsibility is to lead change, support teams and build effective systems.
Change leadership traps
In my work managing teams of only a handful to several hundreds of employees, I’ve seen change leaders fall into familiar traps. Here’s some of the common pitfalls change leaders encounter - once you’re aware of them, you can recognise and avoid them!
Our own biases inform responses
May trigger our own fight / flight / freeze / fawn response, may threaten our own core needs and feel draining
Our operational horizon may focus on immediate tasks and needs
Priorities may be hard to determine (“everything is 🔥”)
We may need to make judgement calls and decisions about complex systems with limited context
Change may come with tensions and difficult tradeoffs
We may be asked for answers that we don’t have ourselves
You can start improving your skills as a change leader today already, no matter where you are in the world. One of the most crucial foundations for change leadership is clarity on your values and vision: in chaotic times of high change, these provide guide posts and stability, not only for yourself, but also for your teams. Run through this self-coaching exercise (guided by me!) to connect with what really matters in terms of getting more clarity on your values and vision, and setting yourself and your team up for success.
Get started on becoming a better change leader today!
If you work in a high-change organisation and want to learn better tools, techniques, and improve your confidence, sign up for my workshop “Becoming a successful change leader” in either San Francisco or Berlin. There will be a ton of takeaways that you can immediately apply in your role to boost your confidence and thrive in times of high change.
