The New Way to Lead Through Change

Daniel Goleman is author of the international best-seller Emotional Intelligence and Optimal: How to Sustain Personal and Organizational Excellence Every Day. He is a regular contributor to Korn Ferry. 

Change is the only constant – or so they say. A recent survey disclosed that last year, roughly seven out of ten U.S. employees experienced disruptive changes in their organization. While it would be great if this were unanimously positive, it’s rarely the case. We aren’t just talking about exciting changes due to new discoveries and innovations here – we are talking about changes that often come out of the blue and disrupt people’s entire sense of normalcy, security, and routine. 

The increased rate of change is reflected in many a trend – from the “Great (fill in the blank)” to new acronyms like BANI (Brittle, Anxious, Non-linear, and Incomprehensible), which has now replaced VUCA (Volatile, Uncertain, Complex, and Ambiguous) in describing the state of the world we are living, working and leading within. Coined by Jamais Cascio in 2016, BANI describes the effects of compounding crises - the fragility, helplessness, unpredictability, and failure to fully grasp reality that comes when change accelerates to such a point that the world feels tenuous at best.

The result is a workforce that is more anxious, disengaged, and burnt out than ever, with many workers actively searching for a new role and 65% feeling trapped in their current position.

What makes change particularly messy, especially in business, are people: the hard-working humans who come to the office with thoughts, emotions, ideas and an expectation for some sense of safety. No matter what definition of organizational leadership we like best, almost every single one gives a nod to the fact that leadership is inherently a social process: it involves influence, vision, inspiration, motivation, awareness, communication, and basically anything and everything that strong relationships depend upon.

With the growth of artificial intelligence and the massive change efforts underway in the new administration, disruptive change is only bound to increase. Because of this, it feels imperative that leaders learn to navigate the non-linear path ahead of them: the skills and competencies they need to be effective in creating direction, alignment and commitment amongst stakeholders – especially ones who seemingly disagree.

As Korn Ferry CEO Gary Burnison so aptly put it in his recent post, “I can remember a Korn Ferry survey conducted a decade ago, which found that about 60% of leaders at the time thought they were in the midst of a “revolution” with a high degree of change. If that’s what we thought then, how would we describe the now—let alone the next few years?”

If leaders are going to make it through the next decade of change – with employee wellbeing, productivity and engagement intact – they will need to recommit to sharpening their social awareness, emotional intelligence, sense of purpose, and ability to lead with pragmatism and hope hand in hand.

“These days, 90% of leadership is ambiguous,” says Burinson, “Everywhere we look, there’s ambiguity and all its synonyms: uncertainty, obscurity, vagueness, doubt, puzzle, and enigma.”

Leading through this moment in time – be it a few years or a few decades – requires a vast toolbox full of competencies and skills. As complex as the environment is, so are the things we will need to navigate it. 

Co-written by Elizabeth Solomon

Click here to learn more about Daniel Goleman's Building Blocks of Emotional Intelligence.