Now that we’re a few months into a new decade, has the pace of change slowed down for you or your organization? Not very likely! Constant change is constantly with us for some time to come. Like the earth’s tectonic plates continuously grinding against each other, change is often produced with a massive earthquake-like shift. This can be a time of crisis leading to disaster or it’s a big opportunity leading to new success.

Whether grinding change and its sudden shifts are a tragedy or a triumph for your team or organization depends heavily on everyone’s change readiness. Here are a few keys to building flexibility and resilience:

•    Increase shared leadership throughout your entire organization around the critical concept that “leadership is action, not position.”
•    Provide practical approaches and shared language to improve morale, increase engagement, and boost energy by constantly discussing with all staff at all levels that  change, uncertainty, and turbulence are times for us to lead and move forward. We especially need to “stay off the Bitter Bus and out of Pity City.”
•    Get everyone involved in focusing on what we can control or influence and letting go of problems outside of control. Some teams have a “no scab picking rule” that involves getting the offender to put a few dollars in a fine pot when he or she “awfulizes” issues that can’t be changed or influenced. This wallowing behavior sucks the energy out of everyone.
•    Keep everyone focused on your bigger vision, goals, priorities, and core values or team ground rules.

Harvard Business Review published a short piece in their December 2009 issue entitled “To Be a Better Leader, Give Up Authority.” The authors’ research led them to conclude that “leadership is not really about delegating tasks and monitoring results; it is about imbuing the entire workforce with a sense of responsibility for the business. This applies mainly to knowledge organizations, but even production-oriented companies can benefit from having employees who feel more empowered and engaged.”

After a Toronto presentation on “Leading in Turbulent Times: Building Flexible and Resilient Organizations,” Canadian HR Reporter editor, Shannon Klie, recorded a four minute interview with me on the number one leadership challenge in turbulent times, how to get everyone leading, what leadership looks like as an action and not position, why it’s important to build leadership throughout the organization, and how to help people get out of negative wallowing and become positive. CLICK HERE to view the four minute interview in our Media Centre. It’s the second screen shot in the center of the page under the heading of “Canadian HR Reporter.”

You can also see my two minute video outlining how I wrote my latest book, Growing @ the Speed of Change, for dealing with constant change at http://www.growingatthespeedofchange.com. It’s at the bottom right corner of the page.