Before You Change Everything: A New Leader’s Guide to Sustainable Change

At the beginning of many new professional roles, there can be this energetic charge of excitement to dive into something new and figure out where you can be the most helpful or what needs your attention the most. And then there can be the added pressure of the newly hired professional to prove themselves and the choice that the right decision was made. New leaders should be aware of this critical juncture point of this journey, because the new leader has to find a way to have a sequenced approach to making sustainable change.

A new leader has to balance the immediate operational needs of their role with relationship-building, create a plan to assess the effectiveness of new changes, and what ways changes need to occur. It can be easy to confuse visible activity with meaningful progress towards sustainable change. Therefore, it may be helpful to think about a four-part approach to change:

• Step One: Take the time to listen to understand the nuances of the issues you are facing.
• Step Two: Stabilize the urgent operational needs, because no change can prosper on a broken foundation.
• Step Three: Assess the patterns you observe in your time in your new role and be curious about the root causes.
• Step Four: Then create a sequence to longer-term change, because change that is sustainable does not happen overnight.

During the first few days and the proceeding weeks, it will be crucial for a new leader to be able to distinguish a crisis from a chronic problem. Each of these issues require a different level of response and the corresponding energy you put towards the issue. This tension can be a major area of burnout for a new leader.

In addition to this tension, staff that are influenced by the new leaders need opportunities to provide input on the work or issues, consistency, and clarity about their vision for change. By the new leader offering opportunities for input, this allows staff to feel heard and seen in the work they are committed to doing. A new leader has to think about the ways they can provide consistency to the way they show up for others. And lastly, during times of change it is natural for staff to want clarity about how this new leader hopes to lead the change.

Here are some questions a new leader can ask themselves in their first 30 days in the role:

1. I am being asked to assess many priorities at once; it feels like I am constantly juggling. What are my plastic balls that can bounce back if dropped? And what are my glass balls that will shatter?
2. How can I utilize my supervisor as a thought partner during this transitional time.
3. How can I be intentional about pouring back into myself to allow me to show up in my best version?