In today’s fast-paced world, you can’t just keep pushing your team to change unless you create the space for them to adapt, change, and innovate. Unless you do this, even the people who want to change will get frustrated that they keep bumping into obstacles.
I’ve been doing a lot of work with leaders recently about building their AI capability because, of course, many leaders and teams recognise AI is an important change they need to embrace. Of course, AI is not the only big change now, and many other external changes are affecting everybody – in their professional and personal lives.
You might want your team to change – and change faster – but you might be making it difficult for them. If you don’t create the space for your people to change, it’s very difficult for them.
It’s like them running as fast as they can in a narrow tunnel, and you’re yelling at them to change direction, but they can’t. Even if they want to, they don’t have the space to change.
How do you create space for change and innovation?
You must give them three things:
- Permission: They need to know change is allowed, encouraged, and even something to embrace.
- Focus: You give them some direction, so they can channel their energy into creating value, which motivates them now and motivates them even more when the change succeeds.
- Time: Most people are running as fast as they can now – and still falling behind – they can’t even think about anything new.
Those three things – permission, focus, and time – work together to create space for change in your team.
For specific activities, in these three areas, download my worksheet, which will give you 15 ways to create space for change. You won’t use them all, but I’m sure you will find a few that will work for you and your team.
And if you’d like me to help you build that culture of change in your team, especially in this fast-changing world, I’d love to have a chat!
