Beyond decision fatigue: Getting started leading change
“Everyone knows what we need to do, we just need to do it.”
Sometimes we don’t have full visibility into how our organizations need to evolve, or we might have confusing market signals about the best path forward. But often the most salient ways we need to transform are already in the organizational bloodstream. We talk about them during meetings, over the watercooler, or in group chats; they’re a frequent topic of concern during all-staff meetings.
That’s why I’ve heard refrains like the one above, spoken to me recently by a client, so often. We know what we need to do: leadership has often tried to cast a meaningful vision for the future that has the potential to be compelling. But we struggle with how to break something big and consequential up into a manageable work plan.
In enterprises like the ones 18 Coffees works with, creating the organizational will to direct resources toward transformation is often the first step. But in smaller companies, local nonprofits, or other organizations with fewer employees and less bureaucracy, leaders often know what needs to change, but don’t have the resources or experience to know how to get change off the ground. When I’ve worked with these organizations in the past (often through pro bono projects) what I’ve found is that they are often scrappy and willing to put in the work—they just need a roadmap.
As change leaders, it’s our responsibility to break down major shifts in our organization (e.g. a leadership turnover, a shift in strategy, a major tech implementation, an acquisition, etc.) into their implications for our employees. Answering a few key questions can help:
What unique value will each individual see because of this change? How will they share in its success?
What role does every person have in ensuring the change is successful? How does that role fit into the organization’s larger theory of change?
How should their roles change so that their contribution isn’t just on top of their day-to-day responsibilities?
Giving people not just a disruptive vision of the future, but a tangible way the organization can get there helps relieve some of the anxiety that naturally arises when we’re asking people to think differently about their jobs.
At 18 Coffees, we’ve found leading teams through exercises—sometimes facilitated, often with tangible worksheets or other concrete takeaways—has been a helpful way to get everyone on the same page, break down work that can seem scary into bite-sized pieces, and assign responsibility accordingly so that everyone knows what happens next (and who is responsible). Now we’re making some of the tools we use in our everyday work available for everyone.
By debuting the “18 Coffees Changemaker’s Toolkit: Getting Started,” our hope is that leaders of organizations of all shapes and sizes can take advantage of what we’ve learned from 1000+ hours of work leading transformation for social impact organizations, Fortune 100 enterprises, and everything in between. Now change leaders of all kinds can break down a potentially intimidating transformation initiative into something everyone can understand, to which everyone can contribute.
Our hope is that this toolkit can help those with decision paralysis find a place to get started. Because disruption happens to us more often than we realize, and transformation is urgent. If you didn’t start making change yesterday, today is the next best option.
