The Power of ‘Change to be Proud Of’ in Leadership Development
We’ve recently completed a Maier brand refresh, including a review of our vision, mission, purpose and marketing strategy. It’s taken a lot of teamwork, and we’ve hit a few bumps along the way, but overall, we’ve enjoyed the process—particularly the discussions around clarifying and refining our why (or ‘just cause’ as Simon Sinek would say).
‘Creating change to be proud of’ bubbled to the top for us, inspiring us as our new guiding vision and ambition. It also reflects where we are in our own journey as a business. To celebrate the launch of our refreshed website, Ella, Director of Maier, shares more on what creating change means to us, the power of a great vision and how it informs our approach and work with our clients, including our bespoke leadership development programmes.
Connecting Your People with the ‘Why’
In our leadership development programmes, particularly with executive and senior leadership teams, we often start with a review of team purpose and how it relates to the organisational why. What we’ve found is that when leadership teams neglect to intentionally review and assess their vision and purpose, it impacts not only the executive team, but the entire leadership population.
For example, they might agree on the company vision as an executive team and think they’ve communicated it to the organisation but in reality, they haven’t spent enough time engaging and articulating with employees on why it matters and how it connects to individual roles. In our experience, the how is extremely important for people to truly get it.
Lack of clarity on vision and purpose can lead to disengagement and reduced productivity in the long run. Research also shows that people who live purposefully tend to experience better overall health and well-being. In our opinion, anything with a potential health benefit is worth investing time in.
Here are a few key areas to consider when connecting people with vision and purpose;
- Regular Communication: Even if you think you’ve communicated it, repeat, repeat, repeat (think Kotter and his 8 stages of transformational change).
- Aligning Goals: Working with People and HR to create KPIs that link with the organisational ‘why’, both for teams and individuals.
- Leading by Example: Consistently demonstrating the behaviours you expect from your team, fostering a culture of honesty, motivation, and trust.
- Training Line Managers: Providing conversational tools for them to use with direct reports in connecting vision to career goals.
- Celebrating Achievements: Recognising achievements that contribute to the vision by offering incentives and sharing these accomplishments across the organisation to inspire others.
- Adapting Vision Over Time: Being open to evolving and adapting the vision based on new insights, stakeholder feedback, market dynamics, and opportunities ensures the organisation stays relevant and responsive.
In our experience, ticking off these elements as part of a leadership development programme and in your communications will likely result in increased engagement, connection, belonging, empowerment, and collaboration.
Trust Your Gut, and the Rest Will Follow
While ‘trusting your gut’ might not always be the best methodology when developing a company vision, it’s essential to tune into the instinctive immediate feeling you get without the need for reasoning. It’s why many entrepreneurs often ‘go with their gut’—it plays a key part in decision-making. Personally, creating ‘change to be proud of’ gave me that gut feeling. It aligns with my coaching philosophy of ‘life-long learning,’ our business transition, and numerous client stories where they achieved positive, significant ‘change to be proud of’ as part of our leadership development programmes.
For example, I was coaching a client only yesterday, when a shift and change occurred in the session and the ‘lightbulb moment’ happened for them (this comes close to a dream coaching scenario!) The client started the session feeling unclear, unsure, and emotional but left feeling upbeat, with increased confidence and clarity on her next steps. She wanted to create a mind map, and when I asked her central topic, she smiled and said, ‘Change.’ She was no longer fearful of it but excited.
Checking-In
My new daily check-ins as a result of adapting our vision also offered me the space to celebrate the small wins and work on what I’m prioritising (or not). Now, I ask myself…
- Have I created change to be proud of today – for my clients, for the business, for myself, and for my team? Where’s the evidence of that?
- Do my clients share experiences of how Maier has helped them effect change to be proud of?
In a Nutshell
For us at Maier, change to be proud of…
- Encapsulates the essence of transformational leadership.
- Highlights the positive outcomes that can arise from embracing change.
- Encourages leaders to view change as an opportunity for growth, innovation and progress rather than a threat to the status quo.
How much work do you put into connecting with your organisational purpose?
Talk to us if you’re interested in bringing organisational purpose to life for your people and teams through a Maier leadership development programme.