Engage with your people

Lead, don’t manage

Richard at Impact says managers can fall into the grip of a “widely held delusion” that change programmes fail because of employee resistance. “People resist change that hurts their interests and don’t take kindly to being pushed around or told what to think,” he says.

“As soon as you think of someone pushing, or directing, or telling – you have lost it. People are far better at change or innovation than managers tend to let them be.” Rather than instructing people to change, he says: “It’s a hundred years since management consultant Mary Parker Follett talked about the relationship of equality between managers and workers as one of ‘power with’, rather than ‘power over’, but it has to be rediscovered over and over again.

“By all means ask someone to master a new way of working, a new technology, or new software, but take heed of their insights, share the big picture and give it the resources and time it takes to adjust – which is always more than people think.”