By Slingshot25 change expert and coach, Courtney Smock
I have used a marathon analogy to teach many lessons around change because part of the reason that it’s difficult for leaders to make change stick is the fact that people go through change at a different rate – just like in a marathon. People start at a different place and experience different things.
I am not a marathon runner myself (so kudos to you if you are), but in the big marathons like New York or Boston, there are thousands of people running those races. When you have that many people waiting to run the race, there are actually people in line to run the marathon who still need to start the race when the fast runners who got to go first have finished.
When you think about change management as a marathon, the thing that makes leading change so hard is that there is a group of people in the business world who are the fast runners. They are the ones who get to go first and complete the race quickly. Take a guess – who are they?
It’s leadership, right? Or a project team or a small group of people.
What we find in organizations is that the people who had the idea, the people who got to go first, are at the ice bath massage tent, while others haven’t even started this journey. The people who haven’t started don’t even know what the change means to them yet. They don’t know where we’re going. And that’s a BIG disconnect in many companies – the proverbial “pothole,” if you will.
Here’s why it matters.When there’s a big disconnect in the change experience, there is also a disconnect in the emotions, reactions, and feelings between someone who finished the race and someone who is just getting started.
For example, let’s say that in the marathon, the first runner started at 8 a.m., and it’s now 11 a.m., right? The people who are done are like, oh, that was great! Let’s see the results. And the people who are just starting are anxious. They’re worried. They have questions about what is going on. They might be seeking information or looking for clarity. And so people are in completely different places in the change experience.
What should you do?When people need information or feel anxious or worried, the people who should take care of them are the leaders and those on the other side of the change—the people who are taking their celebration tour.
Equip your leaders to support employees going through change. Helping them understand specific ways to support others in reaching the finish line will help companies avoid the potholes of change early in the process.
Want to learn more?
To learn more about change management, check out Slingshot25’s change management courses or contact us about conducting change workshops in your company. We teach the principles you really need to know when managing change in a way that makes sense and is applicable immediately. We also give you simple tools that anyone can use.
Watch this short testimonial from a recent Navigating Change Masterclass participant!