Leading in an era of constant change

Successful leaders focus on connection, communication and clarity

Photo by Fabien Bazanegue on Unsplash

If you’re a leader feeling overwhelmed or depleted due to the volume of change happening at work, and in the world, right now, there's a good reason for that. A recent Gallup State of the Global Workforce Report showed that global employee engagement has declined to 21%, marking only the second decline in the past 12 years. Alongside this, the number of large-scale changes for leaders to execute continues to climb, often north of ten per year. The pressure on leaders to support people whilst also navigating a rapid pace of change has never been greater.  

At times, it can feel like we didn’t have time to process the human impact of the pandemic before we faced this acceleration in the pace of change. Much of this change can be exciting, especially the technological advances, but what mustn’t be forgotten through this era is that the people we are leading are not robots, they’re humans. Humans who all have the fundamental need to feel safe, secure and contributing to something bigger than themselves. 

Like many leaders, I’ve been upskilling in AI recently, both in terms of the practical use of AI tools to improve my efficiency at work and through immersing myself in leadership discussions related to the impacts of AI on the world of work. I attended an executive briefing on AI this month at the Meta HQ in London and, amidst all of the discussion around the rapid, systemic changes that AI will make to the world of work in the next few years, I was struck by one thought:

The need for strong, emotionally intelligent leaders will only increase during this next phase of history. There’s never been a more crucial time for good leaders to rise to the challenge. 

We can’t ignore the data that tells us people are feeling burned out. We also can’t freeze time and resist change: we’re already in the flow of its current, with more to follow. 

The solution? Lead with intent: focusing on connection, communication and clarity. 

Connection

You’ll notice something about magnetic leaders, the type that people follow when they move organisations. They are the ones who, before sitting down to check emails, take the time to stop and say hello to their team members - with a smile, eye contact and a genuine curiosity. They know their team and ask more than tell. They understand the currency of leadership, remembering people’s names and keeping a record of their birthdays, and reflecting and celebrating team wins - however big or small. Their modus operandi centres around connection. 

They have done the work on themselves, building their emotional intelligence so their ego doesn’t get in the way of what their team needs. They know that, deep down, even grown adults get scared, wobbly and insecure when faced with too much change, and they are acutely aware of the privilege of being an anchor for people during turbulent times. 

Communication

During times of multi-layered change - restructures, the pressure of retooling to incorporate new technology, cost of living pressures, and a background of geopolitical tensions, the need for simple and clear communication is more important than ever. 

Good leaders adapt their communication style to meet different needs, and for different times. There is a time for consultative, two-way communication, but it’s not what’s needed in the middle of a crisis. There is a time for rapid, unilateral decision-making, but it’s not when there is time to seize an opportunity for learning and the empowerment of others. 

Good leaders know that they need to be flexible with how they communicate: in person, via email, in one to one meetings, over Teams messages, and in larger forums. 

Good leaders know that they have to deliver the same message five, or maybe ten times, for people to really hear it. It’s not that people are slow or uncooperative, it’s that they are overwhelmed due to the volume of information for our brains to process during continuous change.

Clarity

Whether you chose it or fell into it, leadership is a privilege. With that privilege comes the responsibility to lean into opportunities for personal development, including upskilling in how to give and receive feedback. It’s not an option to tap out, and whilst doing this effectively takes planning and practice, it is an essential skill that will boost the success of not only the leader, but the whole team and the next generation of leaders. 

They say feedback is a gift. Vague, cryptic feedback that leaves someone unsure of whether they’ve just been praised or reprimanded, is not. 

The CAR method for feedback isn’t just clear, it works.

It looks like this:

C - Context (the situation or setting)

A - Action (what they did)

R - Result (the outcome from their action)

This framework gives people a blueprint for success: it essentially says, what you did worked, and this is why. Do more of that! 

It can also be adapted for constructive feedback, by adding a suggestion for an alternative path of action next time:

AA - Alternative Action (if you’d done Y instead of X…)

AR - Alternative Result (you may have seen this result instead)

In addition to feedback, leaders are also gifted with painting a vision for their team. Even if that vision involves change or upheaval, people deserve to be included in the journey and given time to process the reasons and emotional reaction. We can easily forget that there can be grief in change, because it involves saying goodbye to the way things were done, even when it’s change for the better.

In this time of continuous change, the leaders that succeed will be the ones who focus on connection, communication and clarity. 

And the more years I clock up as a leader, the more I see that it often boils down to one thing: connecting people with a purpose, then letting them free to fly towards that purpose.