What happens when you’re hired to be a change agent in a company that’s stuck in molasses.
There are some coaching scenarios that drive our leadership clients crazier than others, like inheriting lousy team members (shame on the last guy, that corporate crime-committer!), being just plain smarter than their boss (crazy-making and so very common), and figuring out once and for all what business casual really is.
The craziest-making scenario of all just might be the leader who has been hired to be a “change agent”—someone to “shake things up around here”—and is then made impotent because of a culture that can’t, or won’t, support the change.
Any change agent is likely to face a number of challenges, but we see this one a lot. The fact is, change agents are usually hired into companies by well-intentioned leaders who really do want to grow, adjust, pivot, disrupt... in short, change. Yet sometimes good intentions aren’t enough, especially in organizations with long-standing cultures, systems, and budgets that don’t align with the fresh new vision. So how does a mover and shaker deal with a culture that’s not ready for moving or shaking yet? How does a hired gun handle a job with no bullets?
If you find yourself in this scenario, rest assured that there is still hope. Here are a few ideas for how to push forward:
Hold your horses. If you have a classic “change agent” profile, you might be finding yourself a tad impatient, yes? Before losing your cool and doing what you do best—CHANGING THINGS—don’t change your job just yet. Take deep breaths, work out, talk to a friend, pour yourself a stiff one—whatever it takes to press the pause button on the actions you might be clamoring to take.
Ramp up your self-awareness. You want to hit a home run in your new role, and this is likely making you come on strong with people who are used to doing things the old way, which they thought was just fine, thank you very much. Are you slipping into a stereotypical aggressive persona of the new guy/gal who’s out for your own agenda? Are you overlooking, diminishing, or ignoring valuable institutional knowledge just because it’s passé? Bottom line: are you acting like an asshole? Ask a trusted colleague to give you unvarnished feedback.
The honey vs. vinegar point. Your job isn’t to win a popularity contest, but you’ll never get anything done unless you make friends in all the places—not just the high ones. Are you getting buy-in from the key players around you so they’re likelier to support this new way of doing things? Have you “enrolled them in your vision” for what’s ahead.
Empathize, with pretty much everyone. Imagine what the existing team is thinking and feeling after watching you come in with a new agenda. Think of Carrie who has been doing her job the same way for 18 years: she might be worried that she’ll come across as outdated (because maybe deep down she knows that she is). She might think her job—that she’s got down to a science—might change or might go away entirely (because many people catastrophize in the face of mild change and adopt a scarcity mindset). She might be open to a new way of doing things but is scared to look like she doesn’t have the answers. She might be worried that she’ll have to work evenings and her childcare situation will get in the way. You get the idea. People are often insecure, fearful, and threatened in the face of change. Being able to put yourself in others’ shoes will let you relate a little better to the people you need to help.
Objectively overview the facts. You’re likely frustrated, so you might be skewing reality a tad. For example, if Carrie isn’t cooperating but everyone else is, it might not be such a permanent and pervasive issue. If Carrie is head of operations and you know you’ll never get things done without her and her team on board, that’s a more substantial problem. Maybe Sal supports the change you represent but just wants to take things slowly, inadvertently sending the wrong signals all over the place–that’s workable. If Rick in finance is a crusty curmudgeon to work with but really knows how to mobilize his team and always delivers in the end, then this is less of a change agent problem and more of a working with humans problem. Get the lay of the land and really look at who is helpful vs. resistant, and whether they are instrumental vs. ornamental in your big agenda. Do the same with processes, procedures, and systems. Outline what’s working and what’s not with a clear, objective perspective that an external consultant would take if they swooped in and observed things for a while.
Present your findings to your boss. Having the facts, rather than just feelings, will help with this conversation. Use this time to have a forward-thinking discussion about how things (all the reasons they hired you in the first place) are still possible provided “xyz” happens. This meeting can’t be a data dump of why things suck around here and how the wind has been taken out of your sails. Brainstorm with your boss (and maybe others) about ways to productively work with the resistant folks, while maybe revamping a policy here and there.
Renegotiate your success metrics. You were hired to build something, grow something, disrupt something, and you’re likely being evaluated on and paid according to how well you do that. If the reality is looking like you’ll never launch “Project Change Things Up” by November, use your facts to make that clear and agree on a new way to measure your success. For many leaders in this position, it provides relief to upwardly manage those expectations and not feel like you’ll be foregoing your bonus because Carrie is crippling your ability to do what you’ve been asked to do.
Find ways to feel good about different change. One of our recent “change agent” clients was disenchanted when he realized most of his colleagues didn’t support his ideas. After several months, he rebounded and saw that his challenge had changed from implementing newfangled ideas to building a team of supporters (who would eventually support those newfangled ideas). By recalibrating the nature of the job that he had in front of him, he took great pride in systematically winning over even his greatest nemesis.
Ask for reinforced communication. All too often, a change agent is brought into a team where no one knows they’ve been tasked to strategically blow things up. Leadership (the head honcho or one key person) needs to own the full communication plan, yet this often goes awry because they underestimate the depth of the discussion that’s needed to actually seed change, and/or they’re too chicken to announce the change they want and hope you’ll just get things done before an explanation is necessary. If you think people are still fuzzy on the reasons why you’re “blowing everything up around here all the time,” you’ll benefit from meeting one-on-one with them to explain your mission and hopefully relate your change to the bigger picture that they’ll benefit from, too. At some point, you might need to ask for support from your boss to revisit the reason you were brought in–either with key people (like Carrie) or in a group meeting where the vision is articulated in more detail.
Pick an expiry date. If the organization wants your help yet can’t support you because of a reluctance to move on from the parts of the past that are holding them back (like Carrie, or an old IT system, or a culture that gives below-performers 4s and 5s on their annual reviews and wonders why no one wants to work harder, etc.), this might not be the place for you. It’s your job to pull for that change—push for it a little bit too—and then recognize at some point you’re just banging your head against the wall if the cultural fit isn’t fitting. Give it a chance. Be upfront with your boss about your desire to make it work and your willingness to be patient, within reason. Agree that if certain hurdles aren’t cleared by “x” date, then you might need to amicably part ways. Maybe you can return when the cultural tides have shifted over time.
(Need to prepare for a difficult conversation where you’ll be giving hard honest feedback? Download our feedback-giving model here.)
It’s hard to be a one-person army, pushing your agenda forward all alone and often in spite of people who are afraid of what you represent. Shifting your mindset from, “This as a battle,” to, “This is still a cool opportunity with a few hurdles,” will be an important step. Bringing people into your excitement for what’s possible and making them feel important in the process, like you can’t do it without them, is more about coalition-building than arming up for war. Being willing to slow down a little while the ship turns itself around—presuming it IS turning around—might be time well-spent for someone who can make an important contribution. Waiting around for the company to change, when it’s clearly incapable of doing so because of a reluctant leadership team that’s unwilling to make tough choices is like waiting for a ship to turn that’s anchored in place… while treading water in the Arctic ocean. Time to jump off that ship and put your change skills to use where both you and the organization can flourish.