Change isn’t easy, especially if your team is already overworked and overwhelmed. Instead of trying to make big changes, shift your focus to smaller habits that become part of your day-to-day work, to foster a culture that’s more open to change in the future.
You don’t need a futurist to tell you about all the external change happening in our world. And I’m sure you know that because of all this external change, you, your team, and your organisation also have to be open to change, embrace change, and even lead the change.
But change isn’t easy, and different people respond differently.
🙅 Some are resistant to change.
🚫 Some actively reject it.
😬 Some reluctantly take a few steps, then fall away.
It’s worse if your team is already overworked and overwhelmed. Even with the best of intentions, people get excited about a change initiative at first, but then fall back into their old ways.
So how do you start the change – and keep the change?
We address this in my leadership programs. Broadly, there are two parts to the program.
First, I show you how to look into the future and scan wider, so you understand more about what’s over the horizon and around the corner. That lets you make better-informed decisions about what to do now.
Second – and more importantly – I show you how to take those ideas back to your teams and foster a culture that encourages them to change.
And many leaders struggle with that second part.
The biggest mistake they make is to make change a big deal.
They might say things like:
🤖 “AI is here, and we’re falling behind! We all need to be AI-positive.”
📈 “We just went to this great strategic off-site, and we’ve come back with our new strategic initiatives. Let’s make sure that everything we do focuses on that.”
🔮 “I’ve been to this great workshop with this futurist. We’ve identified these three trends for our future. Let’s make sure we prioritise them.”
Those things might be true. But when people hear that, they often get a sinking feeling of:
😒 “Here we go again”
🙄 “Just another thing that won’t make any difference”
📋 “Here’s something extra I need to add to my big to-do list”
😟 “I’m frightened by this change”
So, instead of making change such a big deal, start small. In fact, I often say (tongue in cheek!),
“If you want to be more successful, lower your standards”
Now, don’t get me wrong – I’m not suggesting we should have low standards!
But if you make the change initiative such a big deal, you’re setting yourself up to fail. If it succeeds, great! Or if your team culture loves change, wonderful! But most workplaces aren’t at that stage yet.
So, to build this culture of change, start small.
Here’s an example: Reverse mentoring.
Ask somebody more junior in your team to be your mentor (instead of the other way around). That’s “reverse mentoring”. You invite somebody to meet you for a coffee every week for, say, three months, and your job is to just listen and learn.
That’s already easy to do: You don’t need an organisation-wide mentoring program, you don’t need to announce it to everybody, and you don’t need anybody else’s permission.
But you can start even smaller, to make it even safer. When you invite the person, don’t talk about a three-month “mentoring program”; just ask them for a quick coffee meeting because you value their input. That way, you’re making a bigger commitment – unless you both want to, at the end of the meeting.
The key is to set the bar so low at first that it’s impossible to “fail“. You just keep trying things, keep what works, and ignore the rest.
For more ideas like this, download my worksheet about everyday innovation. These are all small things you can do to help build a culture of change agents. Choose one, try it, and if it works well, keep doing it. If it doesn’t, quietly stop doing it and try something else.
