Essential Leadership Skills for Navigating Change in Business

1. Introduction to Leadership in Times of Change

Consequently, businesses often hire managers and executives from the outside, meaning substantial costs for recruitment and training. In some instances, businesses find it very difficult to identify qualified external candidates, or to recruit such candidates for these positions; and businesses find that the candidate often has trouble adjusting to the corporate culture, be part of the team, and have a positive impact on the business right from the start. One option of businesses looking to develop a strong managerial and executive team is to invest in their current employees. Educational and personal development training can be set up at a relatively economical cost and business executives often find such training to be pertinent to the business as a group, helping each other grow within a corporate atmosphere already conducive to collaboration.

Leadership is an essential skill in today’s competitive and fast-paced business world. Leaders are required at every level of business, within each department. Yet many people receive guidance in leadership skills only when they are being prepared for a specific appointment to a managerial role, and some do not even receive training then. This lack of preparation often hurts the business by limiting the positive impact that such appointments should have on a business. Also worrisome is the fact that many businesses have an inadequate pool of employees properly trained and ready to take up executive and managerial positions when critical vacancies open. In many cases, businesses are not able to internally fill all leadership positions opened up by growth and standard employee turnover rates.

2. Adaptability and Flexibility as Key Leadership Traits

Because they readily adapt to new experiences, these individuals respond better to the variability of change – they respond in different ways to new experiences, because they continually discover new approaches to familiar but changing environments. At the same time, many are not willing to sacrifice boredom. Research tells us that they focus and do their best work when it is challenging and personally meaningful – and as a result of their success, they tend to embrace new, unfamiliar tasks. The challenges, in turn, bring creative and strategic thinking to the task.

Adaptability is the personal trait that helps an individual become the kind of person that can navigate change. Those who are adaptable are resilient because they are open to new experiences, they are willing to take calculated risks, and they don’t get stuck in their ways despite setbacks. In effect, adaptability is a healthy measure of our ability to cope with new information in the face of changes in circumstances. Adaptability occurs naturally in persons who are resilient. Whatever the change, they have predictive qualities or beliefs that help keep them on track toward reaching their goals, despite the changes. Some adaptive beliefs are: challenging oneself leads to achievement helps one grow and develop. What one does today affects his or her future.

3. Effective Communication Strategies for Leading Through Change

In certain situations, when communicating about a sensitive situation, such as material layoffs, it is better to communicate when all the facts are available. This not only calms down anxiety levels among employees faced with uncertainty, but also ensures financial analysts, bloggers, and newspapers who track the company have the correct information. It is crucial to encourage feedback and its open and honest evaluation. Feedback needs to be monitored and acted upon. Managers need to be honest when difficult news needs to be communicated. Different types of communication are required depending upon whether it’s a one-on-one conversation, a group meeting, written messages, or electronic communication. They all must actively listen to what is being said. As one senior manager said, “If we are going to connect with our employees we have got to listen to what is said rather than prepare our next statement.” With interpersonal communication, express appreciation, and show consideration. When conducting written communication, it is crucial to be accurate and to tailor it to the preferences of the audience. Keep it “short and sweet whenever possible.

The art of effective communication is complex and intricate. Especially in times of uncertainty, crises, or change, leaders need to act as master communicators. Specifically, good communication requires more than just talking at others. It actually incorporates a complex combination of verbal, nonverbal, and written messages that align and mirror the organization’s mission, goals, and values. There are several strategies for enhancing managerial communication. Open and honest communication is essential for establishing credibility, building trust, and gaining the support of employees. To be credible and build trust, you must be fair, have sufficient experience, and be trustworthy. Use the right communication channels, both formal and informal. Proper timing of the communication is also essential. People want to know about news quickly. Address employees’ needs and speak to their concerns as needed.

4. Building Resilience and Emotional Intelligence in Leaders

Resilience crosses over to the domain of emotional intelligence as well. While being resilient is important for the individuals mentioned earlier in this chapter, emotional intelligence is crucial to the interpersonal skills needed to lead effectively. The executive who can successfully handle difficult conversations, build relationships, energetic networks, enroll the organization in their vision, and embrace the varying skill sets that teams bring is the leader who generates talent and draws the best action from their teams in delivering superior results. It matters a great deal. As we navigate through times of change, we need our management teams and the employees at all management levels to be resilient. As they deal with the rapid nature of change, the emotional resilience of a manager is as important as the rational, logical decision-making capabilities and the vision to build a picture of the future.

Individuals show resilience when they can bounce back from unusual challenges. They generally embrace change well and thrive on new experiences. Building and developing resilience is not only important and possible—successful organizations should embrace it. The pressure to perform and deliver takes a toll on the strongest individuals, and if our management team becomes tired and disillusioned, we risk top-performing executives burning out and leaving their posts, or even worse, remaining as dispirited “dead wood” in positions that demand far greater energy and enthusiasm.

5. Case Studies and Best Practices in Leading Change

In conclusion, as you review these examples or cases, you may find a number of leadership and other best practice characteristics that you believe are partially or fully responsible for the whole or partial success of the horizontal collaborative efforts and the results achieved through the use of these cross-functional management organization teams. As can be shown by some of them, line and staff functional managers and ad hoc project leaders were active members of the teams and thus were temporarily redefined as team leaders. In each case, the dynamic and substantive characteristics and processes that outline development were found to conform to the best practice profile. With best practice opportunities recognized, and a powerful foundation of order development and organization supporting their role fulfillment, teams displayed the ability to rapidly learn and share knowledge so as to effectively lead the cross-functional propositions, goals, targets, or objectives and activities. Subparts of the substantive elements of direction played an integral role. Statements of purpose were used to generate team discipline and focus on goals and targets. Because of the close relationships they established with the belief in the value and effectiveness of leadership and other best practice characteristics and processes, organizations and departments and teams displayed how the 37 functional, technical, and transition leadership methods, techniques, and applications resonated with their shared interests and the public that they aimed to convince and compete with.

The next section focuses on how the new roles of leadership and management, along with the characteristics and processes that their companies have accomplished, have been used to renew these organizations. Seminars, speaker panels, coaching demonstrations, benchmarking studies, and application research were promotional vehicles that raised the visibility of numerous leadership and other best practice applications. Summaries, evaluations, and decisions regarding whether to apply these characteristics and processes proactively were made on the basis of information made available, for example, through literature, videotaped simulations, tailored demonstration sessions, and/or implementation case excerpts or copies. Open forums were hosted before, and leadership was observed during, the implementation or adjustment of a best practice. Informal debriefings, comprehensive review sessions, project consultation, survey and interview methods, pilot programs, and workshops focused on assessing and determining the eventual degree of success and network effect, thus promoting ongoing change, renewal, and revitalization. By leveraging employee leadership and other best practices, these organizations and others were able to solve numerous problems and challenges and could enhance their reputations for being on the cutting edge of technology and other change-creating corporate.

A range of industries including retail, hospitality, shipbuilding, ports, instant print and book production have undergone significant changes. Some of these changes were prompted by market, workforce, and technology factors, such as globalization, e-business solutions, the collapse of manufacturing and reemergence of more profitable retail activities, the demand for greater variety and shorter turnaround times, and a growing customer preference for personalization and customization. In all of these examples, various today’s best practices and the new industry norms are examples of how organizations can leverage their most important corporate asset: the knowledge, flexibility, and commitment of their employees, as the foundation for their success. This was accomplished by traditional and non-traditional HR and organizational characteristics and processes such as long-range strategic planning and horizontal collaboration, flexible corporations, knowledge management, evaluation and reward systems, education and training, personnel, leadership, and culture and communications characteristics and processes.