There’s a delicate tension of leading change – Patience and Drive
One of the hardest tensions in leadership is knowing how hard to push change and how patient to be with people.
I’ve been leading change in organizations for a long time. And I’m still learning how to balance these two.
Change leadership requires both patience and drive.
You have to be patient with people.
Every change evokes an emotion. Even good change can hurt.
- Something familiar is being replaced.
- Someone may feel they’re losing influence or control.
- People may have invested years in something you’re now asking them to do differently.
- Others simply need more time to understand what you already see.
Remember, as a leader, you’ve probably been thinking about the change much longer than everyone else.
You’ve processed the problems, considered the alternatives, and imagined what could be.
Now you’re ready to move.
But everyone else may just now be hearing about it. You can’t expect people to embrace in a moment what it took you months to process.
Good leaders understand this. They listen, communicate the why, give people time to adjust. And they recognize that resistance isn’t always rebellion. Sometimes it’s simply grief over what is being lost.
But there’s another side to this tension.
You also have to drive the change forward.
If the change is necessary and worthy of the mission, you can’t simply stop every time someone is uncomfortable.
Some people will resist any change. Others may never fully embrace the direction you’re leading.
And sometimes the greatest resistance comes just before you begin making meaningful progress.
Leadership requires courage.
You have to make decisions. Push through obstacles. Keep reminding people where you’re going and why it matters.
You have to help write a better story for the organization, even when moving forward is difficult.
You can have change without leadership, but I’m not sure you can have leadership without change.
If you wait until everyone is comfortable with change, you may never change anything.
And that’s where the tension gets difficult.
Push too hard and you can damage trust, exhaust good people, and create resistance that didn’t have to exist.
Move too slowly and you can lose momentum, frustrate those ready to move, and miss opportunities that may not come again.
I’ve made mistakes on both sides.
There have been times when I moved faster than people could reasonably follow. Looking back, a few more conversations or a little more patience would have made the change healthier.
And there have been times when I waited too long. I allowed the desire to keep everyone comfortable to slow down something I knew needed to happen.
Neither extreme is healthy.
If you don’t have both patience and drive, you’ll either burn yourself out trying to get everyone to move, or you’ll burn others out trying to make them move too quickly.
So how do you manage the tension?
I think a few things are important.
Keep the mission clear. People can endure more discomfort when they understand why the change matters. Never assume you’ve communicated the why enough.
Seek to understand the difference between resistance and legitimate concern. Sometimes people are resisting because they don’t like change. Other times they’re seeing something you’ve missed. Wise leaders know the difference, and they’re willing to listen.
Be flexible with the pace without compromising the destination. Not every part of the change has to happen today. Sometimes slowing down one part allows the overall change to move forward more successfully.
Celebrate progress and allow people to catch their breath. An organization can only absorb so much change at one time. Constant change without opportunities to celebrate, adjust, and regain energy will eventually wear people down.
Keep moving. Patience shouldn’t become an excuse for avoiding difficult decisions. If you’ve done the work, listened well, and believe the change is right, there comes a time to move forward.
Perhaps one of the greatest skills a change leader can develop is learning when to press the accelerator and when to ease off a little. And realizing you may have to do both in the same week.
Here’s something I’ve learned after years of leading change.
You have to care enough about the mission to keep moving forward and enough about the people to be careful how you get there.
That’s the delicate tension of change leadership.
And getting it right is never a one-time decision. It’s something you have to keep managing.
Ultimately, leadership isn’t simply about getting an organization somewhere new. It’s about bringing people with you.
