DEVELOPMENT
relationships and build that cornerstone of trust.
What’s wrong
with change?
Nothing, says Bryan Whitefield. It’s the
uncertainty that is the killer. In their position
EAs are often in the know about major
corporate change. You know much of the why,
what, how and when. What about others?
THE EXPERT
Bryan Whitefield
mentors executives in
organisations to increase
their influence and
improve decisions across
their organisation. He is
the author of Winning
Conversations: How to
turn red tape into blue
ribbon and delivers
his Persuasive Adviser
Program across all
sectors of the economy.
Well those poor souls are hearing rumours or
being drip fed the strategy or are provided with
a bombshell piece of news that means massive
change is coming but clarity for staff is not
available just yet. And even when management
think they are providing certainty about the
change, it is very difficult unless there are very
high levels of trust in the leadership.
It is not that staff don’t like or even
want change. Many will welcome it with an
adventurous attitude. Others will fear it. Not
change itself, but what it will mean for them.
They fear the uncertainty.
Sitting in what might be best described as
“the middle”, what can an EA do about the
uncertainty of staff? You can be an advocate for
them and remind leaders about their need to
maintain and build trust.
An organisation’s leadership-staff relationship
is complex and full of surprises, and leaving the
change program unaddressed can leave staff to
simmer and sometimes erupt. And the single most
important aspect of leadership-staff relationships
is trust.
As we all know, trust is built over time and can
be snuffed out in a millisecond. Here are a few
points to get you thinking about how you can help
your leadership team manage leadership-staff
62 Chief of Staff | Issue 2 2019
Perceptions
We have all heard the phrase “perceptions are
reality”. This phrase exists because we are often
taken by surprise by how people view us or a
certain situation. The leadership team will need
to think about, seek out opinions on and test staff
perceptions.
Suggest the leadership team meet to discuss
what they perceive the key staff stakeholder
groups think of the leadership group. The first
sign of risk is if the team does not reach consensus
on each stakeholder group’s perceptions.
While your leadership team may decide all is
well, they would not be the first to be universally
wrong about how they are perceived. Suggest
they test these perceptions in staff forums.
Consequences
Ask the leadership team to put themselves in the
shoes of each staff stakeholder group. Ask them
to think about what is important to them and
how they would feel about their performance in
reading the organisation for change.
Remind them staff may have little appreciation
for how difficult the situation has been or is
about to be. Some will only see or care about
themselves.Then suggest they think through how
staff may react to different options for the change
program.
Remind them of the domino effect. If staff start
to perceive them badly and start acting on those
perceptions, how fast and far can this ill feeling
spread? All the way to customers?
Opportunities
Risk is not all about doom and gloom. A change
program is taking a risk to realise the upside of
the change program. Remind leadership that
improving their relationship with staff is a massive
opportunity for ensuring the change program is
successful.
Help your leadership team consider how to
ensure staff and leadership have common, or at
least closely aligned, goals. It’s the best way to
ensure leadership and staff have a mutual desire
for each other to succeed.
While the uncertainty of a thriller in the movie
theatre is entertaining, the uncertainty of change
for staff is unsettling. It must be dealt with. The
secret is trust. The more staff trust the leadership
team to act efficiently, fairly and transparently,
the less staff will worry about the outcomes.
The more they will get on with their current
job ,the more they will engage with the
change program as it unfolds. As that happens,
uncertainty dissipates rapidly for everyone. S
www.bryanwhitefield.com