Practical change leadership tips anyone can implement

Photo by Kalen Emsley

Change happens continuously in the world around us. I find learning valuable lessons from our natural environment to increase change projects' effectiveness educational. In this post, I share 3 lessons from nature that help me better understand change management dynamics.

1. Everything in life has a beginning and an end

Life and death. These are the two certainties of our existence. As soon as life ends, there is room for a new life—the process of birth, growth, maturity, and death.

The Indians already understood this centuries ago: you must feed and train a horse to become powerful. And as soon as a horse is no longer strong enough, it is time for a respectful farewell and an opportunity to train a new horse.

Within companies, I often see different practices. To stay with the Indian horses' metaphor: we try to keep dying horses alive as long as possible and optimize the dying animal's conditions. Even if we know the old horse will not deliver what we expect and need. And fully aware that we do not treat the old horse respectfully.

Why are we doing this? Maybe because it is difficult to recruit a new horse. Or because we have gotten attached to the old horse too much.

As a leader of change, you can help your organization improve if you create room to respectfully pay tribute to the old horse. And give yourself time to find a fully-fledged new horse. Using this practice helps you deliver better results in the long term, and it gives you new energy, too!

2. Growth takes time

Change has to be done fast. I see business leaders trying to accelerate the transition by increasing pressure and splitting change projects into smaller, manageable parts.

Let's compare this to a well-known biological process: pregnancy. Is a pregnancy more efficient if we divide the 9 months into 9 1-month periods? Of course not.

Change is often a growth process. New ideas and practices have to mature. Like pregnancy, it is not the sum of individual activities but the process of a growing whole - the same principle applies to change within organizations.

New initiatives need time to grow and to get used to them. Let's accept this and stop emphasizing that change always takes longer than you anticipated. We already know that.

3. Letting go is a biological process

The comparison with bereavement often emerges as a metaphor when we must let go of a current situation. Rightly so. Grieving has several stages that everyone goes through at their own pace at a particular time.

Letting go of something we are used to is a kind of grief. Usually not as drastic as coping with losing a loved one, but it has similarities. Change leaders who are aware of this process engage people in this process on time. To ensure that people are physically and mentally ready for the new reality once the change is real. Give room to let go of the old situation at their own pace. These people will likely engage with the difference when they are ready.

Learn the lessons

These are three simple lessons from the world around us. You will find many more valuable tasks if you take a closer look. Understanding natural change processes lays a solid foundation for confidently leading people through change. And that significantly increases the chance of success.

Want to know more about how to how to use these 3 lessons in your change projects? Subscribe to our newsletter or contact us directly