as easy as... managing choice

So, we know that leading change requires energy. Energy that you, the leader, produce and direct to four priorities. These priorities meet the requirements of change, or what your employees need from you to bring the change to life.

Over the last few weeks, we’ve talked about this need for energy and the first two priorities: Direction and Engagement. Briefly, dedicating a portion of your energy to mapping the Direction of the change allows you to satisfy the need teams have for vision and trust. Part of the leader's work is to define the mindsets and behaviors that will make the change a reality. Similarly, measuring Engagement allows you to understand the intensity of need for connection and compassion. Communicating in ways that appeal to the head and heart is the leadership practice that lets employees picture themselves creating the change and existing in your shared future.

This week, we turn to the third leadership priority for change: managing choice. Let's be clear: the "choice" we are talking about here is not yours. This is the moment that the action and effort going into the change move from you to the team. I know, for many leaders, talking about giving employees choice is nearly as nerve-wracking as talking about change. Don’t worry! Choice is not a free-for-all. Instead, this is about establishing a clear set of options for your team that are unquestionably connected to the change.

Where direction and engagement have, metaphorically, let us talk about the head and the heart, choice is the part of change leadership that quite literally puts the change into your employees’ hands. Up to this point, you have done the work of establishing why change is needed, where you are going, and what part each person has to play. Choice is about giving employees their turn. It is the moment in a change initiative when you take the vision and give it to your team to make it a reality.

That being said, leading effective and lasting change is rarely linear. It requires iterative effort and simultaneous management of competing workstreams. But to discuss the skills leaders need, it is necessary to tease a semblance of order out from this interconnected whole. The intersections and connectedness of your work to lead change become especially apparent when talking about Choice.

Just as change needs you to blend innovation and stability, and leverage logic and passion, it requires that employees know their responsibilities and the bounds of their freedom. That knowledge, combined with their choices, has the power to create the results and pride that will make change happen.

You see, choice during change provides leaders with a daily demonstration of their employees’ understanding and abilities. Through their choices, employees show you they either know what is expected of them and have the information, skills, and resources they need to perform the work, or that they do not know nor do they have what they need. It is a real-life, real-time display of the planned change at any given point.

This process begins by naming what I call the Conditions of Choice. This means getting and staying clear about where employees have either responsibility or freedom during the change. The good news is that you have already started (or even completed) this work: the behaviors and mindsets you identified while mapping Direction now serve as the Conditions of Choice. Because behaviors and mindsets are fundamental elements of performance management, you will see that throughout this process, it is imperative to provide ongoing feedback and coaching. This will ensure you are confirming understanding and making corrections along the way.  Anything else is not change leadership.

Imagine a simple two-by-two matrix. The two columns are for Responsibility and Freedom. The rows can be labeled Behaviors and Mindsets. This is one way to think through the process of defining the conditions of choice.

	RESPONSIBILITY “Must do” | Yes or No	FREEDOM “Want to” | Open
BEHAVIORS  (what we do)
MINDSETS (how we think)

Let’s consider a very simple example. Say that your dress code policy is changing to require that all employees now wear closed-toe shoes. Wearing them is a responsibility. The policy makes this a binary option: Yes or No. Employees must follow the new policy or face clear consequences. On the other side of the matrix, we can name employee Freedom. The brand, color, and other features of the shoes are subject to freedom. Employees can choose what they want; it is open to them.

I do want to acknowledge that mindsets and the idea of "must do" (read, "must think") can be a little tricky. We can't dictate thought. However, we can describe the mindsets and ways of thinking that support the required behaviors. For the new dress code, you could outline how the change is intended to ensure employee safety, and thinking about their choice of shoes as a way to protect themselves can help employees adapt with less disruption.

Obviously, handing over the change to your team does not end your role. It does shift the focus from your effort to theirs. Now you begin to compare employees’ results (the outcomes of their behaviors) and the goals of the change. Are they aligned? Additionally, you want to keep a pulse on how the freedom to have personal decision-making power is impacting employees’ pride in their work. Are people connecting to the purpose of the change in meaningful ways or actively disengaging?

Framing this stage of change as behaviors and mindsets (results and pride) is another way to connect the work of employees' hands to their heads and hearts. It also means that, even in the midst of ambiguity, you, the leader, are consistent in how you talk about the change and people's roles while managing their choices with feedback and coaching.

The really good news here is that feedback and coaching are simple. I'm not saying they are easy. But the techniques you use for each are related and simple. We can even use elementary language to introduce them: What, Why, and How.

If you’ve been here for any length of time, you’ve likely heard about this framework from me before. (I talk about it a lot!) Today, I want to approach this a little differently. While feedback and coaching are generally applicable in all management moments, I hope to give you a perspective that is change-specific.

In this case, the feedback you provide will be explicitly connected to the Responsibilities you’ve defined. This “Observational Feedback” should be based on observed behaviors and the change-related results the employee achieved. Your goal is to make logical, objective connections between change-related expectations and employee behaviors.

WHAT: Provide a specific, detailed account of observable behaviors and measurable results, presented without interpretation.

WHY: Share a clear and simple rationale for the reason the behavior had an impact on the work and why it matters, in the context of the change.

HOW: Be compassionate, neutral, rational, appropriate, and stay focused on the result versus the person.

The companion practice, what I call “Explorational Coaching,” is your tool for uncovering mindsets during conversation. Your goal is to demonstrate compassion for the employee while they navigate the change. Additionally, this is your opportunity to affirm the employee’s freedoms.

WHAT: Ask open questions to elicit insight into the employee’s perspective, experience, and thought process.

WHY: Engage in dialogue to reach an understanding about the root cause of the employee’s mindsets or attitudes. Note that you are not trying to change the employee’s mind. Instead, you want to understand what mindsets could be preventing the employee from doing the change-related work.

HOW: Be compassionate, collaborative, and let yourself focus on future possibilities versus past mistakes.

When you create and encourage choice, you fuel change. You equip employees to get results that are in line with clear responsibilities and to feel pride from the freedom of personal decision-making. This practice depends on leaders possessing critical thinking skills, compelling communication abilities, humility and empathy, and professional savvy. Deploying these competencies effectively means a leader can

• Discern between employee responsibility and freedom,

• Clearly deliver new expectations and feedback,

• Show kindness to others who may be struggling with the change, and

• Accurately apply their knowledge of the business to the change at hand.

Ultimately, managing choice is how change becomes real. Not in theory, but in the everyday decisions and behaviors your team brings to life.

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Supporting Competencies

CRITICAL THINKING

• Is actively curious and open to new ideas and points of view

• Approaches situations, problems, and ideas with objectivity

• Easily and accurately imagines multiple outcomes and discerns the best course of action

COMPELLING COMMUNICATION

• Organizes clear, concise messages, suited to the needs of the audience

• Delivers messages in a manner that prioritizes understanding over personality

• Balances logic and emotion to create effective, meaningful messages

HUMILITY AND EMPATHY

• Practices care for and awareness of self and others

• Acknowledges and learns from mistakes, laying the foundation for psychological safety

• Demonstrates respect for people’s intrinsic value and worth

PROFESSIONAL SAVVY

• Scans the external environment for trends and opportunities

• Continually assesses the organization’s structure and performance with an eye to improvements

• Understands the business and how to optimize operations