The best time to transform to a radically new leadership style is when you start fresh with a new team. But that’s not always practical or feasible.
You’ve been reading blogs and books, watched webinars, and received some 360 feedback—but your team doesn’t know all of that. If you transform your style now, what will they think? If you suddenly start asking questions instead of recognizing their wins, or take a sudden interest in their personal life, will they trust you?
If the transformation is dramatic, your teams may be shocked, or at least skeptical. They may even distrust your motives. Even so,
Working on becoming a better leader is always worth it.
So, how can you ensure your team will take you seriously and that you are transforming with credibility?
4 Ways To Transform in Trust
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- Explain why you are changing.
Tell them you are working on your leadership. Be a role model for taking development seriously. Explain why you are making this change. - Be specific about the changes.
Tell them specifically what you are working to change, and what they should expect to see because of your efforts. - Share your feelings about changing.
Change isn’t easy. Let them see a bit about what excites and scares you. - Ask for help in changing.
Ask for feedback about how you are doing along the way. If there is a specific behavior you are working on, ask them to help you recognize that. Consider developing a signal or other safe and easy way for them to let you know they are noticing, or that you need to remember that you committed to change that behavior.
- Explain why you are changing.
Remember, growing and changing for the better is always worth the effort. Making a sincere effort to change and to communicate honestly about it will go a long way in building trust with your team.
Have you ever transformed your leadership midstream? How did you make the transition go smoothly?
The advice to “be specific” is huge. It’s all to easy to remain aloof among vague references and platitudes. It takes a lot of work to boil things down to specifics, but it’s worth the effort
Scott, so great to have you as part of the contribution. Agreed… specifics takes effort and can be scary.. now we have to do what we say… but it’s worth it.
Karin,
This is such a great topic! Whenever I talk with leaders who’ve had a “transformative moment” and wish to change the way they show up at work – this is exactly what I warn them about. Team members will be very skeptical (to say the least!) if a “new” person all of a sudden shows up.
Jennifer, Thanks so much for joining in the conversation. I like the thought of “transformational moment.” That’s a great way to think about it… it sometimes takes more than a minute for others to catch up with us.