How Are Your People Adapting to Change?

In our previous blog How do I help my team adapt to change? we referred to the 4 core reasons why people choose to follow others. These insights come from the work of Prof. Don Clifton and global research by Gallup.

Two of these were ‘Stability’ (leaders provide us with an anchor in rough waters) and ‘Hope’ (where leaders put wind in our sails to move us forward despite uncertainty).

Another two reasons we follow others have been identified as ‘Compassion’ and ‘Trust’. At Rapid Teams we hear people talk about these on a weekly basis.

compassion

When it comes to compassion, Gallup’s latest research on more than 10 million people were surveyed to respond to this statement; “My supervisor, or someone at work, seems to care about me as a person.”

It is no surprise that a positive response to this statement, leads to an increase in employee longevity, engagement, productivity and profitability for the organisation. As far as we see it, this is going to become increasingly more important with time.

Especially as our workplaces become more digitised overtime, where change is constant and the demands of everyday life continue to stretch us all. The challenge for business leaders is on how they can continue to foster cultures of compassion, whilst leading from the front.

According to ‘Strengths Based Leadership’ (Tom Rath & Gallup), the challenge it seems is partly that, ‘most leaders are hesitant to show genuine compassion for the people they lead’. During Rapid Teams’ programs, we find that our participants resonate with this statement and that this ‘hesitation’ for genuine connection, is intrinsically linked with Trust.

trust

The forming of trust is equally important for employee productivity and engagement. Gallup states that if employees do NOT trust company leaders, the chances of them being engaged at work are 1 in 12 (a stark contrast to 50% being engaged if there is trust).

Prof. Don Clifton and Gallup are not alone in emphasising the importance of trust, it has been spoken about on several podcasts and in numerous texts. Patrick Lencioni (in his work in ‘The 5 Dysfunctions of a Team’), states that trust is the foundation of all high performing teams. Being authentic in our approach goes a long way in building trust with our teams. We have a natural talent for sniffing out those who are anything but genuine, or authentic and we can’t help but give them a wide berth. It all starts with intent.

Without trust, we cannot enter meaningful relationships, nor lean into difficult conversations and navigate relationships through their ups and downs. Trust is a complicated topic, and author Brené Brown’s research states ironically, “most people believe they’re completely trustworthy, yet they trust only a handful of their colleagues.”

Where to from here?

If you are looking for tips on leading with Trust and Compassion, Brown offers The Braving Inventory framework in her book ‘Dare to Lead’. It identifies 7 behaviours that make up the anatomy of Trust. For more information, click here. 

In a nutshell, Brown simply reminds us, “one of the most important dimensions of a social species…no trust, no connection.”

Note to readers: this content and the associated blog was written by Rapid Teams facilitators and is not AI generated.

Programs with rapid teams

Whether your team needs to strengthen their communication skills, improve team alignment, or clarify goals, our Ways of Working Workshop was developed to help build high-performing teams.

Our Ways of Working Workshop includes an online team DiSC assessment and a half or full day workshop where your team can learn to put their new skills into practice.

If you’re looking to give your team the tools they need to go from ‘good’ to ‘exceptional’, inquire today about our Ways of Working program.