How can leaders support their teams through change while working toward achieving sustainable growth?
Change has always been constant, but it continues to grow complex and occurs more rapidly every day. As organizations expand and evolve, leaders are faced with the dual challenge of managing rapid development while ensuring teams remain cohesive, engaged, and aligned with the company’s vision. Establishing continuous, rhythmic, and clear communication of the why and where change is happening, staying attuned to how the workforce is experiencing change, and teaching employees how to adapt to change are just a few strategies that can help organizations achieve sustainable high growth.
The experts in this EXLEARN Talks episode discuss the challenges of leading high-growth organizations through change and share strategies for balancing performance and employee well-being. They provide insights on the following questions:
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- 2:40: What grounds you through change?
- 7:59: What is specific to change in high-growth conversations?
- 13:07: Can you share an example of a time you were faced with a growth-driven change, how you responded, and what you learned from that experience?
- 17:20: How can organizations balance performance and the well-being of their teams?
- 20:21: Is it possible to have a high-performing organization without a healthy culture? What about a healthy culture without growth and high performance?
- 23:32: How do you rhythmically communicate information about your company’s current state to employees in a way that’s not surprising or overwhelming? How do you provide space for your people to process this information?
- 36:36: How can high-growth organizations articulate the need for change and the potential benefits of that change, listen and collect feedback from employees, and prime them for change?
- 41:33: How do leaders need to show up differently in high-growth organizations and situations with constant change?
Highlights from the Panelists:
“So much change is happening everywhere, and so [it’s about] really trying to be thoughtful in meeting people where they are on the change journey… [It requires] a whole humanistic approach of meeting people where they are, being clear and consistent in communicating the why behind the change, and being patient and aware that we’re not just experiencing change in the workplace…everyone is experiencing change in their personal life and economically as well.”
– Allison Ellison, CHRO at Avēsis
“Because change is constant, it becomes critical to constantly stay attuned to how the workforce is experiencing work and experiencing change. What that means is connecting with people at the team, organization, and individual levels…and really trying to put yourself in their shoes to understand their perspective. That’s where empathy comes in and truly trying to understand the experience people are going through so you can support them in a positive way.”
– Anna Grome, Principal at TiER1 Performance
“If you want to have a truly high-performing organization, you cannot do it without having people who are thriving personally and engaged, fulfilled, and connected [at work]. High-performing organizations are built on healthy cultures, but the reverse is true too. Healthy cultures have to have high performance because it creates opportunities for people, and it creates stability and growth potential and all these things that people are looking for that when they’re absent, it devolves into stress, political issues, and internal distrust… You have to have both. They reinforce each other. They’re not in competition with each other; there’s synergy across them but they have to be thought about in that light.”
– Greg Harmeyer, CEO at TiER1 Impact
A Visual Capture of the Discussion:
Designed by Ramsey Ford
