We wouldn't head off on a journey into the jungle without knowing what to expect, knowing what to do, gathering needed resources and getting prepared. It should be no different with leading journeys of change.
The heroic journey provides a wonderful map of what to expect. It provides a foundation for designing the best strategies for managing the journey, determining the resources required, preparing people for their roles and responding with confidence to the inevitable surprises and setbacks encountered. Every journey of change is unique, but they will follow the age-old pattern of the heroic journey.
The specific challenges encountered on a journey of change can come in a stunning variety, but they will almost always fall into one of five general categories. And those categories are manageable.
1. Be the author of the experience vs. a victim. This is a self- management challenge for individuals. For leaders it is a challenge to lead the journey vs. be managed by it.
2. Let go of old ways. Endings and dealing with loss can come in many forms and many degrees of difficulty. The experience is manageable - if we engage it directly and with confidence.
3. Discover and master the new ways required. This is the deceptively dangerous challenge because both its importance and its difficulty are consistently underestimated.
4. Deal with the strange land in-between endings and beginnings. Leadership is challenged to maintain commitment, direction and energy in the midst of the natural uncertainties, doubts and anxieties of this "inbetweenity."
5. Finish Strong. The final challenge requires dealing with the ripple effects of our changes, re-aligning the parts of the organization and attuning people to the new ways. It's about maintaining leadership focus and discipline right to the end of the journey.
1. Prepare your leadership team(s) for the experience that they, and those asked to follow, will encounter. This is the foundation for wise choices of strategy as well as confidence in implementing it.
2. Prepare people for the journey. "Normalize" the experience for them and give them the foundation to understand and support leadership's strategies as well as successfully self-manage.
3. Be prepared to respond quickly and confidently to the inevitable surprises and setbacks that will be encountered. Even unanticipated challenges can be understood and responded to quickly
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QuickStart packets are designed to guide leadership teams in applying the concepts of that chapter. Each QuickStart has a set of guiding questions as well as worksheets and templates to capture the team’s work. The QuickStart packets work whether you are in the midst of a journey or planning a journey.