#88 No More Mr. Nice Guy

As a change leader you can't always be nice. Don't be mean! but being nice and trying to please everyone will undermine the very change you're trying to make successful. There is a difference between being nice and being kind... and I get into what that looks like from a leadership perspective and why its so hard.

Full scale organizational culture change is incredibly hard to do successfully. But what if you're leading a team and you want to change just the culture on the team? Approaching things at a small scale and keeping in mind 3 important things will help you be successful. Want more amazing change & transformation content? Sign up for the Navigator Newsletter here: https://www.connectedchange.com/newsletter

Are you a leader who is planning a big change for your team, but doesn't know how to get your team ready for change? Often with big strategic changes or reorganization, we can't provide details before the change is announced. But if your team is completely in the dark, it makes responding to the change harder when it comes as a surprise. In this episode I talk about a recent example of how a leader prepared a team for change using 3 key tools. But here's the inside scoop -- I can tell you why they worked, and how to apply them. Want more amazing change & transformation content? Sign up for the Navigator Newsletter here: https://www.connectedchange.com/newsletter

Have you ever wished for a crystal ball so you would know when change is coming? When we're trying to figure out how to be better at managing and leading change, an unexpected change can completely throw us off track. But what if we knew that change was coming? In this episode I walk through the 5 biggest indicators that change is coming that you should be looking for. Think of be as your back-pocket secret that can help you anticipate and prepare for big changes when you're colleagues have no idea they're coming! Want more amazing change & transformation content? Sign up for the Navigator Newsletter here: https://www.connectedchange.com/newsletter

Emotional responses are a fact of change -- but why do they happen? Context is really important and how people have to show up inside organizations, we are rarely in control of our organizational destiny and it makes change feel like it is happening to us instead of being in charge of it. This episode covers the 4 fear responses and what they look like inside the organizational environment and why we rarely see anger expressed openly. Change curves are an important part of the research and I introduce another way to look at this collectively to help indicate the individual and group emotional state. Lastly, facing the negative responses to change is not something we can avoid. I walk you though why leaning into the negative responses is essential to getting the results you desire. Want more amazing change & transformation content? Sign up for the Navigator Newsletter here: https://www.connectedchange.com/newsletter

Change is happening all the time, and guess what? It happened to me. Well that's not the whole story, but I've taken a break after some time away and I have to tell you that this has been the best decision, but not for the reasons you may think... I've been spending the past few months testing out Connected Change and I have some incredible things to share with you that I know will make us all more effective transformation leaders. Want more amazing change & transformation content? Sign up for the Navigator Newsletter here: https://www.connectedchange.com/newsletter

Traditional Change Management approaches focus on two key things... communications and training. But what if your change isn't a giant implementation requiring thousands of people to attend training sessions? What if your change is simpler than that? Well, this might get change traditionalists a little upset, but sometimes you don't need a training plan at all! In this podcast I go over how to figure out if your change needs a training plan or not, and what tools and approaches exist to create a blended communications and training approach that meets the needs of various programs large and small, and how to tailor your approach to find the best fit for your program. Want more amazing change & transformation content? Sign up for the Navigator Newsletter here: https://www.connectedchange.com/newsletter Show notes: www.connectedchange.com

Going "back to school" can mean a whole bunch of different things, but certainly for those of us who have school-aged children, and for those of us who work as educators, we're experiencing a massive shift from "summer schedule" to the "regular schedule". For those of you who are not currently in the back to school routine, the shift certainly has a ripple effect as many of us experience a transition back to routine after Labour Day. But the question is: even though we do this every year, why does it seem so hard? Shouldn't it be a lot easier? Like flipping a switch? I get into why in this episode, and how our very human expectations get in the way of experiencing change smoothly, and why it takes a bit to get into the groove. Want more amazing change & transformation content? Sign up for the Navigator Newsletter here: https://www.connectedchange.com/newsletter Show notes: www.connectedchange.com

Summer means special episodes at the Change Course Podcast! We're running some selected episodes from our sister series, Change: The Conversation. These were originally run as a video series, but we've transformed them into podcasts just for you! We hope that you enjoy them! We're back in this bonus episode with Stephanie J. Marshall, alignment coach, with a short, but unmissable episode. How can we bring a sense of ease, joy and curiosity to change instead of feelings of stress and overwhelm. Stephanie illustrates with with an illuminating client story that shows us how we can dig into change, manage through uncertainty and help us bring a sense of ease and fun to change. Want more amazing change & transformation content? Sign up for the Navigator Newsletter here: https://www.connectedchange.com/newsletter Show notes: www.connectedchange.com

Summer means special episodes at the Change Course Podcast! We're running some selected episodes from our sister series, Change: The Conversation. These were originally run as a video series, but we've transformed them into podcasts just for you! We hope that you enjoy them! In this episode of Change: The Conversation we continue our conversation with Stephanie J. Marshall. Resistance is the bane of the change manager's existence! So what about resistance? We're back in this episode to continue our conversation with Stephanie J. Marshall, alignment coach, on the power and purpose of resistance in personal change. Her approach? Resistance is where the GOOD stuff is. Resistance comes from our assumptions about change and how we are going to feel. Steph talks about how she approaches resistance and works through it with her clients, and walks through her approach. Managing resistance within ourselves is the key to leading change successfully and is an essential journey for every change leader. Learn to expect resistance, wrestle with it and excavate it for yourself, and you'll become a much stronger leader. Working through and dealing with emotions is one of the thorniest areas of change both personal and professional and we talk about the conflict between logic and emotion and how to address it. Want more amazing change & transformation content? Sign up for the Navigator Newsletter here: https://www.connectedchange.com/newsletter Show notes: www.connectedchange.com