change is inevitable change is hard change is necessary universal truths that every business leader knows and yet these truths do not alter one other important truth that we as business leaders need to consider when we are preparing our organisations for transformational change and this is it most people fear change and why do we fear it change is a part of the human condition fundamentally from the day that we are born actually from nine months prior to the day that we're born we change as humans we change as a molecular level in fact if we don't change what happens to us we atrophy and we die and yet change is hard change is inevitable and change is something that most of us fear even those who practice it every day I was very fortunate for 16 years before I founded story forge I worked for a large international retailer and in those 16 years there were a lot of changes that we managed big transformative mind-blowing shareholder pleasing change we reorganized businesses we merged businesses we centralized businesses we had leader departures and arrivals we had sales of businesses and we bought businesses and some businesses be closed lots and lots of change and over those years those changes made us better better as an organization stronger as a team and better as people but they were hard but there's one thing that I learned over all of those years and those hundreds and hundreds of different change events and it's this the good news about change is that most of it is not inherently good or bad whether it's a strategic shift in a core business or a merger or an acquisition or a layoff change is not inherently positive or negative it's how we think about it and how we manage it that makes it so our feelings and leaders about change are a direct result of our thinking about change how we think about it how we feel about it and how we manage it and every change is an opportunity for us as leaders to strengthen our companies and to strengthen the connections that we have built with our employees with our partners and with our communities it's also a time however that when not properly managed those connections can be weakened and they can be broken entirely there's a great quote by expansive bacon that things alter for the worst spontaneously if they be not altered for the better designedly and I can't think of a better quote four major transformational change in business because not making a decision is a decision not communicating during times of change is communicating during times of change and not leaving your team through purposeful change is frankly just leading your team quarterly so what is purposeful change well it's something that we believe very very strongly inherits story Forge we believe that purpose will change is the difference between change lead well and change leads very very poorly purposeful change is a decision it's a decision to move intentionally and purposefully through change its knowledge that change is just a part of the human condition and we have to understand the human impacts of change before we understand the business impacts of change it is also an awareness that change like life is what we make of it and it's an understanding that during times of change are clear and singular purpose well articulated will build a stronger foundation for success so what does that mean well we know that purpose lies at the intersection of three things right number one our beliefs what we stand for and what we stand against number two it lies at the intersection of those beliefs and our stakeholders who they are and what do they want to need and then the third thing is our strengths what makes us strong as an organization what our expertise is what are we best at at the intersection of those three things is purpose and having that purpose already defined and communicated to your organization before you go through times of great change is going to give you such a fantastic solid foundation people will under stand better when you give them context around purpose then they will if you give them context around process so with purpose as our guide change is more likely to succeed and your team is going to have a lot of needs during this time of change they're going to be emotional they're going to be logical they're going to be physical needs and spiritual needs and there's only one person in your organization who's responsible for that who is responsible for leading this change and it is not in fact your HR leader it's you you are the chief change officer for your organization and I implore you before you go through change to think about the four things that you have to do as a chief change officer for your people the first thing is purpose so make sure you have a clearly articulated compelling singular purpose for your organization and you are able to talk about this change in the context of fulfilling that purpose the second thing I'd ask you to do is to paint a picture of what the future looks like help your employees understand how these changes are going to directly impact your ability to throw your purpose for all of your stakeholders not just for your customers not just for your shareholders but for all the stakeholders in your business the third thing I'd ask you to do is to plan and I know this sounds really simplistic because in many ways this is simple but hard and that is to plan for the change planned plan for all of the impacts that's going to have on your business and make sure that you dedicate time and resources and that means your own time to thinking about implanting this change the fourth thing I would ask you to do is to make sure that you help everyone in your organizations understand the part that they play in making this change successful everyone wants to play a part especially when there's a lot of change going on and people are fearful and there's a lot of high emotion understanding how this change relates to your purpose and the part that every single person can play in this change even if it's just checking in on their friends checking in on their colleagues understanding and telling the story of that change it's going to make you more successful and then the fifth thing I'd ask you to do is to remember people people are the fist and the most important thing that you as a chief change officer can do and that is to remember they are your responsibility and there are your leaders responsibilities so make sure that all of your senior leaders in the organization know the change cannot be delegated and that responsibility for people during change is the most important thing that they're doing over profitability so purpose understanding the five things that you need to do as a leader purpose picture plan part and understand your people those things will make you successful during transformational change and will get you through those moments when that natural human sphere of change bubbles up to the surface thanks for listen
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