Establishing a company culture that fosters positive engagement for your employees begins with the leaders in your organization. They set the tone for teams to either show openness and understanding or instill a fear-based culture. Leaders must believe in their message to effectively convey its benefits and engage those necessary for creating a positive culture. What do you look for in those leading change in the workplace, and how do you find the skills you need to revolutionize your culture?

Motivation

Best Buy’s CEO Hubert Joly spoke about what makes a leader in an online article from businessinsider.com, stating, “you must be clear about the purpose in life, what drives you, and make sure it’s connected with the purpose of the company.” We should seek leaders who are motivated by their team and embrace change positively. Everyone has financial motivations, but strong leaders go beyond their own interests to support their employees and teams. Exceptional leaders recognize that employees want to feel valued and actively seek opportunities to support and praise their teams.

Change Communication

Leaders of change have the skill of knowing when and how to communicate information and what else is needed for change management. Change is challenging, but an effective leader will simplify the implementation plan to ensure everyone in the organization understands it. These change leaders excel in communication, engaging everyone involved in the necessary processes and behaviors for successful change.

You need someone who will voice concerns, objections, and advocates for the change in the workplace that is required as a voice for the people while also being a voice for change. Balancing frontline feedback is essential for adoption, while highlighting challenges to leadership helps avoid downstream resource losses. Change in your company often needs a disruptor and an outside perspective to challenge the status quo.

Finding the Right Leaders

While finding the right leadership to drive change is critical, organizations must also empower their leaders accordingly. Enabling leaders to drive change is crucial for developing successful leaders.

Empower leaders by allowing them to define implementation and communication plans and actively participate in executive reports. They will see the crisis coming and will need to inform those in charge of course correct. Second, the authority must come with boundaries: time, resources/budget, and basic project management. Provide everything upfront to prevent confusion and enable them to remove those unwilling to change. Finally, you need to show full executive support for the leader’s decisions to make sure they are in the best place to succeed.

Being a catalyst for change involves open communication and active listening, helping your team find purpose and embrace new changes. An environment that allows employees to influence and collaborate on projects fosters higher-performing teams. Involve them in the vision and its implementation so they feel their contributions shape the change and culture.

Using these tips, you can help your company manage change in the workplace and find leaders that can bring you through to success.