In my initial post on leadership, I emphasized the importance of leaders and managers assessing the needs of members, and empowering employees to lead in their own roles through the provision of support, guidance, space, tools, and skills development (Chan, 2022). While I still feel that these aspects are important, I feel that it is highly possible to find ourselves in the circumstances where employees have all of the needed tools and skills in their belt, but remain disengaged from the change process or avoid leadership opportunities and roles.

This disengagement could be attributed to a lack of organizational readiness, starting from the individual level, but culminating into an overall lack of readiness across the community. Weiner (2009) defined organizational readiness as a function of change valence (I want to change) and perceived implementation capability (I can make this change). Finding out where the disengagement stems from can direct efforts and strategies to increase motivation to change. If it is a case of low change valence, change leaders can evaluate whether the change they are driving is perceived as a real need in the member community. Does the change benefit the members? How do we gain buy-in from the members? If it is a case of low implementation capability, how can we help the members feel more confident in achieving change success?

In this effort to increase organizational readiness, reflective feedback can influence the change plan and subsequent strategies for member commitment and empowerment. Some questions for the change leaders would include:

• Who benefits from this change plan the most?
• Who does it benefit the least, and how can we mitigate resistance from this group?
• Are there any adjustments we can make to create a bigger positive impact on our members with this plan?
• What are we asking our members to commit to and how will this fit in with their existing commitments?

After a change plan has been presented, Biech (2007) supported that obtaining feedback from the members will help leaders understand what the community needs in order to be ready and motivated to engage in the change process:

• How do you see yourself contributing to this plan?
• What resources do you need in order to actively participate in the process?
• What challenges do you foresee arising from this project in relation to your regular work? What challenges would you see as a team?
• What would make you feel more confident about this proposed plan?

These questions address Weiner’s (2009) elements of organizational readiness such as change valence, change commitment, and change efficacy. While Weiner described these as pertaining to the role of the member, these also impact the actions of the leaders. Taking time to reflect on the plan from the perspectives of both a leader and member, and understanding how the stakeholders feel about it will help leaders diagnose what members need in order to be motivated and empowered to change.

To conclude, my initial reflection on leadership highlighted the importance of addressing member needs and empowering them with the tools and space to lead change efforts. This step can be more successfully implemented by a precursor step where leaders reflect on the goals, benefits, and impact of the change plan in various stakeholder perspectives, and most importantly, reach out to the members to find out what they need in order to realistically engage in the change plan. While we would expect change agents and plan leaders to initiate the process of reflecting and obtaining member feedback, I believe that this process is also something that I can initiate as a member who has been introduced to a new change effort. As a team member, I would see it as part of my role to speak up and let leaders know what seems achievable, and where I would need additional support or resources in order to be successful in their plan. By doing this, leaders and members can set expectations for each other in terms of the commitment and involvement they can contribute to the change effort, ultimately holding each other accountable for the success of the change plan.

References

Biech, E. (2007). Thriving through change: A leader’s practical guide to change mastery. Association for Talent Development [Books24x7 database]

Chan, J. (2022, February 5). Leadership reflection. Royal Roads University MALAT WebSpace. https://malat-webspace.royalroads.ca/rru0211/leadership-reflection/

Weiner, B. J. (2009). A theory of organizational readiness for change. Implementation Science, 4(67). https://doi.org/10.1186/1748-5908-4-67