WHEN THERE IS A STRONG WIND, DO YOU BUILD A WALL OR A WINDMILL?
(How to adapt to different leadership style)
His name is Johan (obviously not his real name), a good friend of mine when we worked together in Nokia long time ago. He is now a Product Maanager in a multinational company. He came to our house on Sunday morning with his family. And when his wife chatted with mine, he started to tell his story.
Everything in his workplace was fine, until 9 months ago. He was hired 2 years ago by the Managing Director, he worked very well with him, he performed well, he got big bonus and even he was put in a High Potential program. What more can he expect?
Then suddenly his roller coaster started ....
9 months ago , the Managing Director has decided to go back to his home country. The replacement is a young superstar from another company. In the beginning Johan was impressed with his new boss. He thought he can learn from him and that the new boss would be open to exchane ideas and challenge each other. So Johan continue to use his style as a "challenger" , that he usually used with his previous boss. After all, the new boss come from another industry and need to learn the insight of both this company and this industry. This is why , with all good intentions, Johan keeps challenging his boss, often in front of others, expecting that his challenge will complete the boss's idea and together they will build a better plan before they implement.
And the nightmare started ...
Apparently the boss did not like this style at all. The relationship and chemistry went very badly. The boss keep the distance from Johan, started to reject all the ideas from Johan, talk negatively about Johan's performance in public, and now we started to hear the rumor that the boss will bring someone from his previous company to replace Johan.
Johan's life in the office is becoming very painful, and obviously it started to impact on his personal life.
Johan started to desesperately looking for another job, with no luck so far ....
"What should I do, mas Pam? What should I do ....."
We took a break, and walked arround the park near my house in Bogor area, where I spend the week ends with my family.
What happen to Johan is a classic situation when a top performer could struggle during a change of leadership. Johan needs to realize that things changed. Like everything else in life ... the world has changed, the macro economy has changed, the business has changed, the consumer behavior has changed and .... sometimes the leadership can change ....
There is a chinesse proverb saying that "When there is a strong wind, some people build a wall (resistance to a change), some people will build a windmill (creating opportunity from a change). Which one are you?
Clearly , Johan did not even realize that he needed to adapt to a new leadership style. And he keeps going with his old working style (since it worked before). But the fact that he perform well with his old style in the past, is not a guarantee that he will perform well also in the new environment. Remember, your past performance is a lousy predictor of your future performance. Whatever worked in the past may not work in the future anymore. Whatever you know in the past could be wrong.
You have to continuously listen, observe and learn about the change, before you behave! Learn first then decide how you can adapt to the new change, or the new style .
Johan is now looking for another job, which is not a good alternative to do today. Which company (or which boss) would hire a desesperate man? (Please do not think that HR and the new boss cannot read your mind through your body language, facial expression and your choice of words). And even if he manages to get a job (probably from a company or a boss who are as desesperate as him), it would not look good in his CV (you move every 2 years? what are you looking for? Dont you need to show a consistent track record first?)
Lets go back to the Chinesse proverb, when there is strong wind, some people build a wall, others build a windmill. Which one are you? If you build a wall, it might be ok for now. But the wind will get stronger and stronger, and one your wind will fall appart anyway!
If you build a windmilles, you get big result from that opportunity.
And actually the stronger the wind (change) will even bring bigger result. And that's what Johan needs to do ! Creating opportunity from this change rather than resisting, crying and keep doing the same things!
So, what Johan needs to do exactly. Lets follow these 5 steps ....
1. REALIZE THAT THING HAS CHANGED
First thing, first. Dont look back. Things have changed. You cannot go back to the past. Nothing will be the same anymore. You dont expect things to be like before.
Move on. Forget the past.
Johan need realize this and forget about whatever the previous boss did, said or think!
He has a new boss now! He need to observe, watch, listen to the new boss and adapt his working style.
Now, lets get it clear, I am not asking you to be a "kiss-ass" or a "teacher pet", no! I am asking you to learn and adjust your style to the new boss, which is completely different!
And remember, without adjusting his style, there is now way Johan could achieve his objectives. Hence Johan has no choice but to observe and adapt!
2. LEARN FROM THE CHANGE
Johan learned a lot from his previous boss, its normal, because they had great relationship and chemistry.
But Johan should not close his mind. The new boss has been hired by people who are much smarter and know more than him (usually a team or a pannel with the boss of his boss, a combination between business and HR top ranks). They cannot be wrong. Johan should consider to really observe the new boss and learn as much as possible from him.
- Why is he so good?
- Why the people like him so much so that they all agreed to hire him, eventhough he must be very very expensive?
- What are the technical competences that he has
- What are the business and communication skills that he har (and others dont)
Watch, watch, watch!
Observe, observe, observe!
And learn, learn, learn!
3. BREATH and BEHAVE in the NEW ENVIRONMENT
It is not enough to adapt and learn, you have to really breath and behave in the new environment.
You walk on the road. Before you go to the lake, you observe and you learn how to swim. But once you throw yourself to the lake, there is no choice but to swim, or otherwise you would die!
Actually it is even better if he enjoy to swim.
Same thing with Johan, he has to breath, behave and enjoy doing it in his new environment.
He needs to adopt a new habit.
What does it means? Really understand the new direction, really buy-in the new paradigm and really committed to contribute his maximum in the new environment, while enjoy and having fun doing all of the above!
4. USE YOUR STRENGTH and CREATE NEW OPPORTUNITY in the new ENVIRONMENT
By now Johan should have gained credibility as a good teamworker. Which is a mandatory prerecquisite before he move to the next step, as a good performer!
Now it is time to start to use his strength at his advantage and use them for the benefits of his team and the company.
But now it is different, because he understand the full picture of the new objectives that they have to achieve and the new paradigm in which he lives in.
And obviously, it is completely different, and it will be much more effective to build chemistry and relationship, but ultimately to deliver the common objective for the team. Voila!
What does it means? Find his strength, analyze the relevancy with the current situation, and apply what you think could bring the maximum contributions!
5. GO AHEAD, SCORE IT , PERFORM at MAX and IMPRESS EVERYBODY!
If you reach here, you already have all ingredients to succeed, wait no ... there is still one thing missing. The excution. Come on , its time to execute now!
You are on the right tracks. There will be still challenges, blood , sweats and tears, but you are on the right track, with the persistence and perserverance, you will get there!
Just remember, the 5 things that you need to do to learn, adapt and excel with the change ...
1. REALIZE THAT THING HAS CHANGED
2. LEARN FROM THE CHANGE
3. BREATH and BEHAVE in the NEW ENVIRONMENT
4. USE YOUR STRENGTH and CREATE NEW OPPORTUNITY in the new ENVIRONMENT
5. GO AHEAD, SCORE IT, PERFORM at MaX and IMPRESS EVERYBODY!
By the way, read again those 5 recommendations. Because you might apply them for any change in your life: change of boss, job, company, promotion, moving to another city or even moving to another country.
Good luck with your "change", you might struggle in the beginning, but you will learn a lot from it!
Warm regards,
Pambudi Sunarsihanto
Fanky Christian
HP.08121057533
HP.08121057533