Leading Through Change
By Kristen Hayer
“The most difficult thing is the decision to act; the rest is merely tenacity. The fears are paper tigers. You can do anything you decide to do.”
-Amelia Earhart, the first woman to fly solo over the Atlantic Ocean.
This is a favorite quote of mine and embodies both what can hold us back from change – fear –and what can turn change into success - tenacity. Change is inevitable in business. Change turns startups into unicorns. Change helps companies that are financially struggling into companies that are leading in their field. Change helps companies refine their offerings, design new solutions, build out teams, expand into new regions, and adapt their culture. In short, change is what it takes to move a company forward.
As a leader, you will at some point be guiding your team through a period of change. In customer success this might be a shift in how you approach onboarding, a change in your offerings, price increases, an acquisition, or a new partnership. Unfortunately, humans are biologically wired to resist change. It shows up in our brains the same way that a mistake does and triggers a bunch of fears. Team members could fear a loss of control, a hit to their reputation, or more work that might come from the change.
Leading a team through change requires both boldness and tenacity, but it also requires a plan.
Here are 5 things you can do as a leader to effectively guide your group through change.
1. Develop the Vision – Creating a change plan that is simple means you can communicate it quickly (we’ll get to that in a minute), and people will remember it. Breaking your plan down into an elevator pitch will, again, help with communication to your team but will also help you explain your change plan to other leaders and groups. Making it compelling will make people want to adjust how they work.
2. Recruit Change Advocates – Once you have developed your vision, you can test it out on the team members you know tend to be open to change. They may help you refine the vision, or how you talk about it, and can also help to get the rest of the team on board with your idea. If you need to pitch change upward, recruit a few of your peers to help. Train these change advocates on your pitch so that you’re aligned.
3. Communicate, Communicate, Communicate – You can never communicate too much about change. Use every possible vehicle you can think of: Email, meetings, one-on-ones, videos, webinars, social, swag. Think of yourself as your own PR department as you lead this change effort. When you run into obstacles or negative attitudes, learn as much as you can about them and then adjust your messaging to tackle those issues.
4. Employ Incentives – Setting goals that are related to the change you are trying to drive can be incredibly effective, especially if your team is used to having and hitting performance goals. Another approach to incentivizing change, especially if you are trying to build good habits, is setting up a contest. Contests have the double benefit of rewarding behavior and acknowledging wins, which leads me to my next point…
5. Celebrate the Wins – Plan short-term goals that are relatively easy to achieve in the beginning. When those goals are hit, celebrate them in a big way. The momentum from the win will propel the team forward toward additional change and new wins, moving your entire change effort forward. The key to this is making the celebration public and notable – make sure everyone knows about the great work your team is doing.
Be bold and tenacious. Leading through change requires both. And now you also have a plan.
The Success League is a customer success consulting firm that also offers a certification training program for CS Leaders. With classes such as Leading Change and Managing Team Performance, you’ll add valuable new skills to your leadership tool box. Find out more at TheSuccessLeague.io
Kristen Hayer - Kristen founded The Success League in 2015 and currently serves as the company's CEO. Over the past 25 years Kristen has been a success, sales, and marketing executive, primarily working with scaling tech companies, and leading several award-winning customer success teams. She has written over 100 articles on customer success, and is the host of 3 podcasts about the field. Kristen has served as a judge for the Customer Success Excellence awards, and is on the board of several early-stage tech companies. She received her MBA from the University of Washington in Seattle, and now lives in San Francisco.
