Why being overly optimistic could be sabotaging your company (and how to fix it)

In order to be successful, every company must continually reinvent itself, especially as we approach the new year. Just look at the Kodaks and Blockbusters of the world—when they didn’t put change front and center in their businesses, they became unsustainable and, ultimately, failed. Companies must transform to not only survive but to really thrive.

Over the past 20 years, I’ve helped Fortune 500 executives lead their companies through inevitable change. One of the biggest stumbling blocks for them is being overly optimistic, which may sound counterintuitive.

However, according to recent research on workplace change in The Change Report 2022, there’s a cavernous disconnect between how the C-Suite sees the company versus how workers see it. In fact, 59% of the C-Suite graded their organizations an “A” on how employees perceive the organization’s success when it came to implementing change. Yet, employees, on average, gave their company a “B minus” at best.

Here are six ways for bridging that gap and removing rose-colored glasses to successfully lead your company through change.

Be transparent

Leading change in an organization is hard work. It doesn’t occur overnight or in silos. According to our data, 75% of the workforce experienced three or more major changes in the last 12 months alone. The top three reasons for the change were a new leader or manager, new processes or procedures, and new technology systems.

It’s important to communicate with your teams as soon as possible. Even if you don’t know all the details, embrace vulnerability and simply indicate that you don’t know specifics but will share more as soon as you do. This approach fosters dialogue and trust.

If leaders are opaque, workers become disgruntled and distracted, which creates an environment that breeds toxic behaviors and directly impacts employer retention, customer service, and customer experience. Regardless of the industry, it always directly impacts financial outcomes. And, toxicity and paranoia breed so quickly that it’s harder to recover from than it is to prevent.

To lean into transparency, you must:

• Enlist workers in the journey: Give them a sense of what’s happening.
• Meet them where they are: Instead of convincing them to immediately join you at the destination, meet them where they are, then travel the journey together. 
• Help them understand the why: Focus on the big picture, then fill in the details as you travel down the path.
• Show them the impact: Help people understand the impact of the change happening on two levels—on the business and also on themselves. Articulate what the impact means, like having new tools at their fingertips.

Ask questions

Executives who don’t want to hear the challenges, risks, concerns, or complaints are most likely to fail and lose talent. Our research shows that 60% of respondents said their organization is “mediocre or worse” at retaining key talent and engaging employees during a change.

When people complain, it’s actually a positive thing—they’re helpful points that can become opportunities to implement meaningful improvements.

To be pragmatic and embrace difficult parts of change, you must talk to people:

• Ask questions: “What excites you? What are you afraid of? What do you need to be successful?” Then help them do something about it.
• Empower people: By asking these questions, you empower people to be intentional and accountable for their own experiences.

Listen to understand

People react differently to change and to how much they believe and understand what’s happening. 

The more they feel good about it—feelings, as well as intellectually understand and believe in it—the more they’re going to be your champions, helping you carry the weight. The more they’re afraid or scared, the more they’re going to pull or push back.

To fully listen and acknowledge workers, you must:

• Be intentional: Conduct pulse surveys, focus groups, one-on-one conversations, and listening tours.
• Roam the halls: Walk around your office (or Slack channels) and pay attention to what people are saying, and also their level of morale.
• Provide new opportunities: Give people special projects to experiment, fail, get back up, and learn. From a development perspective, help them adopt new and different roles.
• Invest in coaching and development: Provide training and resources so they can learn, grow, and succeed.

Communicate often

Prioritize frequent communication on a weekly, monthly, and quarterly basis. It helps solve problems and leads to better outcomes if you listen with empathy and build trust in your people. They feel like they’re part of something instead of feeling like they’re a victim of it.

Address what you hear and then over-communicate: “Here’s what we have, here’s what we don’t know, here are the questions that are coming up, here’s what we’re doing about it. Now, what questions do you have?” 

The frequency of communicating is more important than whether it’s formal or informal conversations, but you must always:

• Be accessible: Hold in-person or virtual office hours the same day/time each week to provide availability.
• Vary the format: Create formal updates and informal spaces to discuss and ask questions.

Look inward

The journey can be lonely. You’re taking a risk that can feel uncertain, plus your employees may be frustrated and confused—it’s a lot of pressure. 

Especially at the start of a new year, it’s an opportunity to reset. Reboot and give yourself permission to practice daily or weekly routines for self-care.

Implement self-reflection exercises, while leading your organization through change. You should:

• Look inward to ask: “What am I doing wrong or differently?” and “What blind spots do I have that I need to examine?”
• Ask for 360-degree feedback: Ask colleagues, peers, and direct reports for feedback.
• Take action: Work on the insights you receive. What do you need to change about yourself? This will likely unlock and resolve a lot for everyone else.

Stick with your vision

As you listen to workers and acknowledge them, adapt, and communicate, you won’t always be right. In fact, you don’t even need to be right, but you do need to stick with your vision and your true north.

The more you behave like a realist instead of a blind optimist, the easier the journey becomes over time.

By leading organizations through change—even once or twice —you become more resilient and agile for the next transformation. It really is a muscle that leaders must build if they’re going to keep embracing change, not only for maintaining a competitive edge but for setting themselves up for long-term success.

Christine Andrukonis is founder and senior partner of Notion Consulting, a leadership and transformation consultancy