If you are an experienced change practitioner, looking for that next upskilling opportunity, it might be time to take your game to the next level, enabling you to have organisational-level impact and company-wide influence.

Levelling up in gaming is about gaining new strengths and mastering new skills. There are benefits that come with uplevelling, rewards to be gained and new challenges to be unlocked. Uplevelling in change management works the same way. In this blog, we will share some tips on how to level up from change management to change leadership, becoming a more strategic and influential change agent.

Change management is the process and technology side of change. It’s characterized by linear processes of planning, implementing and evaluating changes in an organization. Change leadership, on the other hand, is characterised by non-linear thinking, intangibles and abstracts. It’s about the ability to inspire, influence and mobilise teams to break inertia, challenge norms and work towards a shared and exciting vision of the future. Change leaders are not just managers who execute change projects, they are strategic thinkers who can see the big picture, work with executive level stakeholders, operate in uncertainty and speed up decision-making.

Think big and align with the vision.

A key difference between change management and change leadership is the level of thinking. Change managers tend to implement the changes decided by others. They focus on the depth of the change project, such as the scope, budget, timeline, risks and benefits. Change leaders focus on breadth and impact (external and internal). They must be able to spot transformation opportunities, make a compelling case for change, gather the right thought-leaders to solve them and implement solutions that align with the overall vision and strategy of the organization. They worry about how change will affect customers, employees and stakeholders. They put a premium on new thinking, novel ideas and strategic risk taking to create a compelling story that resonates with the people affected by it. They communicate the change in a way that inspires others to join them in the journey. They know that cultural and behavioural change are not technical or operational issues, but human and emotional ones, so they work hard to engage the hearts and minds of the people.  

Work with executive level stakeholders.

Change leaders operate at a higher level of influence. While change managers tend to work with the project team and the stakeholders directly impacted by the change. Change leaders work with executive level stakeholders who have the authority, resources and influence to enable or impede the change. They build relationships and trust with senior leaders and sponsors to create a sense of urgency and ownership for the change. Doing this effectively can help them secure the budget, headcount and top-down support needed to drive the change and overcome any resistance that may arise. Change leaders are also adept at stakeholder management. While they might like to personally walk every stakeholder through the change, limited time and resources mean they must prioritize and place their efforts where they matter most. All stakeholders are not equal.

Operate in uncertainty and speed up decision-making.

While change managers tend to operate in structured, predictable environments, change leaders operate in uncertainty and constant change. They build solutions that can adapt and respond to changing needs and conditions. They are comfortable in ambiguity and cutting through complexity to make quick and effective decisions in the face of uncertainty. They also empower and enable their teams to do the same. They expect some level of failure by encouraging smart experimentation, reflection and learning. Change leaders know that change is no longer a linear or sequential process, but an iterative and adaptive one. By speeding up decision-making, they can accelerate the pace of change, in the hope of creating competitive advantage for the organization.

Solve through subtraction.

 Many of today’s processes are the result of past solutions and years of additions to “close this gap” or “comply with that new regulation”. Over time they’ve become unwieldy and inefficient. They work, but they don’t work well, causing frustration and productivity loss. Change leaders can spot when the process edge has been lost and will implement zero-based problem solving (starting from a clean slate) to build a solution to the problem as it exists today, removing the biases of the past. They’ll prioritise simplicity and push back against complexity and bureaucracy.

Until you have answers, have a point of view.

As a change leader, you will be expected to have all the answers. Operating in uncertainty means you won’t always have the answer or line of sight to it. Something change leaders can always have however, is an informed point of view. When dealing with executive level stakeholders, “I don’t know” isn’t a good answer. “I don’t know but I have a point of view” is a better one. It allows you to express an opinion, that is informed by what you know so far and reserves the right for you to get smarter and change your point of view as the fog lifts.

You can’t solve everyone’s problem.

Transformational change has impact at many levels. Change leaders invest time and effort in solving the “big rocks”, whilst giving others the autonomy and information to solve the others. No solution will work for all, and some groups may be forced to rethink how they do things, but the right inspiration, communication and enablement can go a long way towards a shared future.

Be prepared to call it done at 80%.

Operating in environments where change is constant and the next transformation is waiting to be started, change leaders don’t always get to take the change over the finish line. Like a rocket launch, change leaders must provide enough effort, energy and direction (propellants) to create a force for change (thrust) that is greater than the desire to stand still (force of gravity). Then they concentrate on opportunities for acceleration, collision avoidance (tackling change resistance) and maintaining life support systems (maintaining energy and enthusiasm for the change). Only when the tipping point has been achieved and enough of the change has been implemented to prevent falling back to old ways, can the change leader move toward empowering the business to take the change to the finish line. This is important for two reasons: (1) The change leader needs to move to the next change opportunity and (2) the business ultimately owns and implements the change, therefore they should be the ones placing the flag at the summit.

Think horizontally in a vertical world

Many of todays business challenges are caused or exacerbated by traditional vertical business structures where siloed work or limited collaboration causes inefficiencies, missed opportunities and lack of innovation. When driving radical or transformational change, the solutions must be collaborative, co-created and efficient end-to-end, so change leaders must be ready to start new collaborations, new conversations and bring teams who don’t naturally work together, into the same room and build the trust needed for deep collaboration.

These are just some of the ways change managers can level up to become change leaders. Finally, if today’s problems are yesterday’s solutions, change leaders should strive to deliver solutions for today that don’t solve one problem and cause another. Change leaders are often high-pressure roles, requiring grit and resilience but they are also rewarding and vital in today’s relentless need to reinvent to survive.