Every room asked the same question
Over the past nine days, I’ve delivered keynotes in four very different rooms.
It started with a 200-strong group of senior leaders driving growth in energy infrastructure in Manchester. Next up were 300 incredibly impressive entrepreneurs in Kraków. Then 200 forward thinkers in the textile services industry in the Cotswolds, the people behind the clean sheets on hospital wards and the workwear that keeps people safe. And 300 ambitious global leaders in Nantes, bringing three businesses together as one.
Different sectors. Different countries. Many different languages from around the globe.
There was a very clear underlying pattern in every room: how do we get everyone on this journey when none of us can see exactly where it ends?
Three ways it shows up
Letting go. The hardest thing to change is something that's working. The habits and ways of doing things that got you here have earned their place. Letting go of them feels both uncomfortable and risky.
Confidence. Leaders don't have all the answers, and their teams can tell. When you can't see the end of the journey, it's easy to start doubting yourself.
Bringing people with you. Some push back. Some go quiet. Some nod in the meeting and change nothing afterwards.
After one of the talks, an innovation leader shared photos of messages that resonated strongly. She'd photographed two slides: "One conversation can change everything" and "Every team has huge untapped potential." She shared her wish that the senior team would take these messages to heart.
That's the pattern in one moment. People who can see what needs to change, and aren't sure everyone else is on the bus.
People are weary of change
It's not surprising. Gartner research found the average employee went from experiencing two planned changes at work in 2016 to ten in 2022. Over the same period, willingness to support change fell from 74% to 43% (Harvard Business Review).
People haven't stopped caring. They've been asked to let go of too much, too often, without enough trust to carry them through.
What makes the difference
The same research points to the answer. Employees who report high trust have 2.6 times the capacity for change of those with low trust.
Confidence doesn't come from certainty. It comes from trusting the people beside you.
At sea we never knew what the next 24 hours would bring. We got through the storms one watch at a time.
What made that possible was deliberate, specific and conscious work on our values - to ingrain our culture. In simple language, how we were with each other when things got tough.
Culture often only really reveals itself when we are under pressure. Pay lip service to it when times are easy, and you pay the price when times are tough.
It’s a non-negotiable when you’re in it for the change journey.
How is your team with each other when things get tough?
Three experiments to try
2 minute experiment
Write down one thing you do on auto pilot because it has always worked. Ask yourself honestly whether it still does.
5 minute experiment
Take the free 3-minute team assessment and see where your team is strong and where it's stuck on trust, ownership and pressure.
10 minute experiment
Have the conversation you've been putting off about where you're heading. Ask how they feel about it, then just listen.
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