Talking Change with Jen and Rebecca – Details, episodes & analysis

Talking Change: Must-Have Conversations for Successful Leaders is a great reference book to help you lead change that sticks - through conversation. There are three parts to the book:

Part 1: The foundations of change, definitions, resistance, and why change is often challenging.

Part 2: Why and how to have conversations and with whom. 

Part 3: 20 pivotal conversations broken down into three sections (1) Self-Reflection Conversations - to uncover your approach to leading during change, (2) Planning and Managing Conversations - to plan and manage change with confidence, and (3) Engagement Conversations - to engage your employees and teams to build buy-in and commitment to change. 

In all the other Talking Change with Jen and Rebecca podcast episodes we dive deep into each conversation to discuss why, when, and how to have it. Each conversation has a purpose - get out there and have them! 

IMPROVE YOUR CHANGE GAME

Are you managing or supporting a change initiative? Take the Leading Change for Project Managers course to build your confidence, skills, and toolbox to plan and manage change with ease.

Are you leading a team through change – whether you chose the change or not? Bring the AIM Changer program to your organization – it will change the way you lead forever.

The final conversation in the Planning and Managing Conversations! Did we achieve what we set out to do - that is the focus of this conversation. Rebecca and I talk about when to have it, with whom, and some which conversations to revisit to create your success measures. 

Enjoy! 

IMPROVE YOUR CHANGE GAME

Are you managing or supporting a change initiative? Take the Leading Change for Project Managers course to build your confidence, skills, and toolbox to plan and manage change with ease.

Are you leading a team through change – whether you chose the change or not? Bring the AIM Changer program to your organization – it will change the way you lead forever.

Why are we changing? And why now? Two very important questions to answer as you embark on a change in your organization. In this episode Jen and Rebecca dive into one of the first conversations needed to lead change successfully. For those instigating the change, this conversation (likely to be had many times) helps them move through their transition to adopt and then lead change. The Why Conversation is a chance to brainstorm ideas, wrestle with ideas, debate, and decide on why things need to be different. 

For those impacted the by the change, this conversation is a chance to understand why change is happening now and buy into the reason(s) it's happening. 

There are lots of questions to consider when having the Why Conversation - and they can be the same questions whether it's a chosen or imposed change. Listen to the podcast to hear them all and a few real-life examples along the way. 

IMPROVE YOUR CHANGE GAME

Are you managing or supporting a change initiative? Take the Leading Change for Project Managers course to build your confidence, skills, and toolbox to plan and manage change with ease.

Are you leading a team through change – whether you chose the change or not? Bring the AIM Changer program to your organization – it will change the way you lead forever.

In this episode Rebecca and I talk about chapter four in Talking Change: Must-Have Conversations for Successful Leaders - Why Conversations are Needed. We discuss the benefits of conversations and why conversations are needed to create change. In the book I refer to AIM Changing Conversations - conversations that help people commit to Action, make an Impact, and create Movement towards change. The goal of AIM Changing Conversations is to be curious and create common understanding. 

Being curious sets the stage for truly impactful conversations. And developing common understanding among team members is so important in today's diverse (and busy...aka distracted) workforce. 

I quote the Grateful Dead, we talk about the perspective of an ant, and there are a few kid-laughs in the background of this one. Tune in for those points and hear all the benefits (and our real-life examples) of why conversations are needed to make change stick. 

IMPROVE YOUR CHANGE GAME

Are you managing or supporting a change initiative? Take the Leading Change for Project Managers course to build your confidence, skills, and toolbox to plan and manage change with ease.

Are you leading a team through change – whether you chose the change or not? Bring the AIM Changer program to your organization – it will change the way you lead forever.

In this conversation I mention Timbits - so it must be a good one! (Timbits are mini donut holes from Tim Horton's for those unfamiliar with the term). This is the last conversation in the Engagement Conversations section of Talking Change: Must-Have Conversations for Successful Leaders. But this doesn't mean change is over and it certainly doesn't mean you should only have this conversation once. 

Celebrating progress and wins - big or small - and saying thank you keeps people motivated to keep going, even when times are tough. People like to be appreciated, the questions in this conversation will help you think about what people have contributed and how you can celebrate those contributions in a way that will have the most meaning for them. 

Thank you for listening! Rebecca and I are truly enjoying these conversations and hope you are as well! 

IMPROVE YOUR CHANGE GAME

Are you managing or supporting a change initiative? Take the Leading Change for Project Managers course to build your confidence, skills, and toolbox to plan and manage change with ease.

Are you leading a team through change – whether you chose the change or not? Bring the AIM Changer program to your organization – it will change the way you lead forever.

How often do we take the time to think about what's working and not working - and then actually change things? The Lessons Learned Conversation will do just that. Reflecting on what you're learning during a change is key to successful implementation. Course corrections will be needed - big or small - and giving people the opportunity to stop and think about what they are doing and learning also gives them permission to make adjustments for greater success. 

This conversation is fairly straight forward - What's working? What's not? What will we do differently going forward? Sounds a bit like The Coaching Conversation! 

And don't forget to document your lessons learned, and most importantly go back and read them so you don't make the same mistakes twice - or better yet, so you can repeat the things that work great!

IMPROVE YOUR CHANGE GAME

Are you managing or supporting a change initiative? Take the Leading Change for Project Managers course to build your confidence, skills, and toolbox to plan and manage change with ease.

Are you leading a team through change – whether you chose the change or not? Bring the AIM Changer program to your organization – it will change the way you lead forever.

This is the conversation many people want to have but they are too scared to actually do it. You have people on your team who are not doing what you need them to do - they aren't working in the new way, they are actively resisting, they are impacting the rest of the team - and it's time to do something about it. Here is the playbook to prepare for and engage in this conversation.

People avoid this conversation because they assume it will be contentious and create conflict - something most people prefer to avoid. The key is to prepare for it then not make assumptions about how it's going to go. Jen's questions and structure, coupled with Rebecca's experience and insights from having these conversations over the years provide invaluable nuggets of wisdom right to the end of the podcast. 

A big lesson - have this conversation sooner rather than later. Putting it off creates more problems. You have high performers who are on board with your change and you need to spend time with them, so address your resistors by finding out 'Are you on board?'

IMPROVE YOUR CHANGE GAME

Are you managing or supporting a change initiative? Take the Leading Change for Project Managers course to build your confidence, skills, and toolbox to plan and manage change with ease.

Are you leading a team through change – whether you chose the change or not? Bring the AIM Changer program to your organization – it will change the way you lead forever.

In order for people to do something more, better, or different - thus to make change - they need coaching. Engaging in a coaching conversation is the opportunity for people to learn through self-reflection, based on the questions that a coach will ask. Three simple questions will set up a great coaching conversation - listen in to this episode to hear Jen and Rebecca outline these three questions and other powerful questions that will get to the heart of challenges and opportunities and help people deepen their learning and take action to improve their performance. Anyone can coach - you'll find out how in this podcast so you can start (or continue) coaching today!

IMPROVE YOUR CHANGE GAME

Are you managing or supporting a change initiative? Take the Leading Change for Project Managers course to build your confidence, skills, and toolbox to plan and manage change with ease.

Are you leading a team through change – whether you chose the change or not? Bring the AIM Changer program to your organization – it will change the way you lead forever.

One of my favourites! This is the chance to gather useful information from your teams, employees, and even customers about what makes sense to stop, start, and continue and what needs to take priority to deliver on your most important activities. Take this conversation to the plant floor, the boardroom, or the field office. People know the activities that add value and the ones that don't - ask them! This is a conversation that will help combat workplace stress, fatigue, and burnout. Rebecca and I talk about how to have the conversation - different ways to structure it and where to have it, what some of the tricky parts might be, and how this conversation can improve the decision making skills of your team members. 

IMPROVE YOUR CHANGE GAME

Are you managing or supporting a change initiative? Take the Leading Change for Project Managers course to build your confidence, skills, and toolbox to plan and manage change with ease.

Are you leading a team through change – whether you chose the change or not? Bring the AIM Changer program to your organization – it will change the way you lead forever.

You’ve seen this movie before, so why will it be different this time? The Change Track Record Conversation helps teams and organizations identify what has worked or not in past changes and provides the clues to what you can do more, better, or differently to ensure success this time. Having this conversation in a group is really interesting – you realize that everyone has a different perspective on the same changes that have happened over the years. 

Listen in to learn why and how to have this conversation – another great one to engage team members to embrace change and lead better. We talk through the key questions to ask, effective ways to lead this conversation, and provide examples of what we’ve seen while facilitating this conversation. 

Knowing what baggage people are bringing to the next change will help you navigate a path forward and aim to change the ending to the movie! 

Enjoy! 

IMPROVE YOUR CHANGE GAME

Are you managing or supporting a change initiative? Take the Leading Change for Project Managers course to build your confidence, skills, and toolbox to plan and manage change with ease.

Are you leading a team through change – whether you chose the change or not? Bring the AIM Changer program to your organization – it will change the way you lead forever.