Coaching your team for change

“The only thing that is constant is change.” Heraclitus

Whilst many of us have acknowledged the constant change in our lives – our new challenge is dealing with the rate of change. Changes need to be made more frequently than ever before and we must adjust to this ‘new normal’.

In your personal capacity as a leader within your dealership, what changes will you need to look at making, and how are you helping your team deal with that change?

Hopefully the suggestions below will assist in getting you on the right track but if you need personalised assistance, then contact Craig Absalom from Transformd and let us help!

The ability to adapt to change—and even to embrace it—is a desirable one. In the following blog we revisit what the brain needs to change, and how habits are formed. We explore a coaching conversation model that can be used to raise our awareness of the need for change, and we also look at how to work with popular change tools in a brain-friendly way!

The Importance of Creating a ‘Toward’ State
A toward-response (accepting, approaching, embracing) supports us to see more options, choices, and opportunities, and allows us to take in more information. We are also able to collaborate with others better – these are all essential elements of being able to manage change in a positive manner.

The opposite is true for away-responses (ignore, avoid, detached); here we see fewer options, choices and opportunities, and our ability to take in information becomes limited.

Our role as leaders is to help our teams think about change in ways that encourage positive emotions and minimise any away-state emotions that will get in the way of the progress towards change.

Aligning our mindset is the first step – taking action is the next step in the change process.

Commit to Action & Build Better Habits
When we commit to actions that stretch us we can start to rewire our brains to think and behave differently. Changing our habits can often be the hardest and most frustrating changes that we have to make.

We know that new habits take time to become fully rooted, which means people will default back to their old way of thinking and behaving without sustained focus. The three keys to helping habits stick are positive feedback, attention, and repetition.

Here’s how we can build better habits at a deeper level:

STEP 1: AWARENESS OF THE HABIT
Changing habits starts with awareness. At times a member of our team will spontaneously become aware of a habit as part of their growth process. At other times we might have to ask them to try reframing a problem or an issue as a habit, then, have them identify what that habit is.

For example: “If you could define the issue as a habit, what would it be?”

Sometimes we will notice conversations returning to a familiar pattern and offer feedback on the habits we are observing, after first asking permission.

For example: “Can I share an observation on something I’ve noticed happening?”

Ask the team to be specific about the pattern or habit that you are exploring. Support them to define the habit in as few words as possible.

For example:
• “What would be the name for that habit?”
• “How would you say it in one sentence?”

Examples of habits
• “Speaking before I think”
• “I get scared, then quit.”

STEP 2: THE IMPACT OF A HABIT
Being clear on your team’s thinking about the impact of a habit (or many habits) can alter their relationship with it.

Explore how far-reaching the effects are and take time to move beyond the first, most obvious answers.

For example: A team member who has a habit of not finishing projects may realise that whilst they begin a project with enthusiasm, they soon feel that they might lose control and move onto the next project without finishing the first.

As leaders, we can ask:
• “What’s your thinking about the impact this is having on you?”
• “Where else is it impacting your life? How?”
• “How is it affecting your career? Your self-esteem?”

STEP 3: DEFINE THE HABIT AND TAKE ACTION
As we said earlier – once we’re in the right headspace we need to take action. This is when the powerful work that we’ve already started with our team starts to take exciting shape and we can begin to see the change!

In your team meetings, or personal growth meetings with an employee, you can ask things like:
• “What’s the new habit you’d like to create? What specifically would you like to change?”
• “If you could start doing something differently, what would you change?”
• “Which implementation intention would support the growth of this new habit?”

For example: “Every time I think of quitting, I must read my vision,” or “Do the difficult tasks first thing in the morning.”

STEP 4: SUPPORT THE GROWTH OF THE NEW HABIT
Repetition. Powerful change doesn’t happen overnight, it happens over time, with strategic intent. As a leader, it’s your responsibility to help your people grow and this requires support and encouragement from you, for as long as it takes.

A useful tool in supporting the growth of a new habit is to build in rewards. You want to have small, regular rewards that give the members of your team hits of dopamine. Keeping a focus on the small wins helps them stay motivated until the action becomes a habit.

Remember, change is happening whether we like it or not. The sooner we can equip ourselves and our teams with the right tools and skills to positively manage that change, the better.