3 Steps to Achieving Meaningful Change for Your Business

It’s that time of year when businesses begin planning for the coming year. Some companies seem to do a great job of setting and achieving goals while others struggle.

Achieving goals can be difficult. And while great leaders know change comes with any business model, it can be difficult to implement.

Effective leaders must understand the 3 key components of the process before meaningful change can happen.

These components are frustration, vision and next steps.

The first two steps help your team understand the need for change and the third sets the stage for taking the next steps to get there.

Frustration

As unpleasant as it may be, goals start with frustration. Feelings of uncertainty and insecurity about the current state of your business indicate change is needed. But for change to occur, there must be a reason to do things differently. Your frustration with how the business currently operates becomes the fuel needed to change habits and patterns.

Frustration might show up as “not enough” time, money, clients or teamwork.

Or it may show up as “too much” stress, uncertainty, negative feedback or competition.

It’s important to identify the specific frustrations in your business to ensure you are setting goals to solve the right problems.

It’s easy to set a goal for something that might be fun or exciting but doesn’t address the biggest problems of your business. Look for emotions such as frustration, disappointment, insecurity, or distrust. They are the best clues to finding where change is needed most.

It’s important to remember, communicating frustration is not about blame. Rather it’s naming the emotions that are showing up around what is lacking or overwhelming the business. Frustration requires honesty about what isn’t working and identifies what needs to change.

Some leaders are hesitant to communicate frustration because they don’t want to worry their staff. For example, you might avoid letting employees know if cash is low because you fear the employees will panic and leave. Instead, you put a lot of pressure on staff to increase sales. In doing this, your team has no idea why you’re being so demanding. And ambiguous management strategies don’t lead to a productive work environment.

Have faith that your team will be able to step up and help you solve the frustration. It’s showing you trust them and reinforces the strength of your team.

Vision

Once you know the key frustration, your team can begin setting a vision of how things might be if you change them. What would your business look like if you had more customers or less stress? Vision sets the ultimate goal for your team to navigate towards.

A clearly understood vision is like planting a flag on a golf course. As your team takes steps towards that goal, they can check their alignment and adjust along the way.

Since vision is about overcoming frustration, it’s important to set goals that tie directly to the main problems.

The greatest benefit of discussing both the frustration and vision with your team is being open to their ideas and feedback. Because others have different perspectives, they can give you valuable feedback on how your ideas align with improving the key frustration. They may offer ideas for making the vision even better. Or they may help you identify an even greater frustration within the company that needs to be addressed.

By giving them a chance to participate, you create their buy-in for changing the routine.

Once your team knows both the frustration and vision, it’s time to create a plan to change things. But it must be done with caution. Taking the next steps involves taking one step towards the vision and then pausing to assess if you are aligning with the goal.

This is the tricky part because you are asking people to do something different. This is when it gets scary for everyone.

When you try something new, the outcome isn’t guaranteed. You hope for a certain outcome, but it’s not certain. It can’t be. And stepping into this place of ambiguity can create a lot of anxiety and fear because the human brain is wired for survival. And part of survival is relying on certainty.

When your team takes a new step and they succeed, confidence grows. If they fail, they may revert to the old way of doing things. The old way may not alleviate the frustration but at least they know the result, which feels safe to them. But reverting to the old way will never lead to change.

Taking the next steps is about learning rather than achieving.

Instead of focusing on a specific outcome, make the goal to see what can be learned by each step. Have your team report back on what they learn. With this knowledge, check the alignment with the vision. Are you getting closer or further from where you want to be?

Then plan your next step, take it, and bring back the new information. Repeat until you reach your vision.

Flexibility

Taking the next steps requires you to pay attention to opportunities that, at first glance, may not appear to align with your vision. Some opportunities are “diamonds in the rough.” If you are willing to pause and consider what you’re learning, you may find a surprising path. Or, better yet, you might discover a path that leads to an even better destination. Don’t be afraid of changing the vision. That‘s how companies capitalize on opportunities and ultimately grow.

Here are some questions to help you embrace the concept of change as you set goals for the next year:

· What has been frustrating about this past year? Where is your business experiencing “not enough” or “too much?”

· How would solving this frustration make the company better?

· How can you communicate your frustration and vision to your team and get them involved in the process?

· As your company takes each step into change, how will you focus on learning and seeking opportunities?

Great leaders stay with their team during change. They listen to what is happening. They help them navigate the Next Steps. They keep guiding their team towards the vision of what they hope to achieve. And they always are willing to pivot towards something even better.

How might you use the concepts of change in setting your goals for the next year?