Your team just told you they're burned out. What you say in the next 30 seconds will either build trust or destroy it forever. Most leaders think trust is built through big gestures and annual reviews. But after coaching hundreds of executives, I've learned the truth: trust lives in those split-second moments when someone brings you a problem. Here's what happens when your team raises concerns: What breaks trust: ❌ Dismissing their reality → "Everyone's busy right now" → Translation: Your wellbeing doesn't matter ❌ Making it about you → "I worked 80 hours last week too" → Translation: Your struggle isn't valid ❌ Using guilt as motivation → "We need team players here" → Translation: Speaking up makes you disloyal Instead of defaulting to defensiveness, here’s how we guide leaders to respond—using the CHANGES framework from Conversational Intelligence®: 🤝 C - Co-Creating (Shift from Excluding to Including) → "Thank you for trusting me with this - let's solve it together" → Makes them part of the solution, not the problem 🤝 H - Humanizing (Shift from Judging to Appreciating) → "Your honesty takes courage and helps our whole team" → Demonstrate respect for their contribution 🤝 A - Aspiring (Shift from Limiting to Expanding Aspirations) → "This feedback helps us create the culture we want" → Connect their concern to bigger organizational goals 🤝 N - Navigating (Shift from Withholding to Sharing) → "Let me share what I'm seeing and hear your perspective" → Create transparency around challenges and solutions 🤝 G - Generativity (Shift from Knowing to Discovering) → "What ideas do you have that we haven't tried yet?" → Reward their insights and encourage innovation 🤝 E - Expressing (Shift from Dictating to Developing) → "How can we empower you to make decisions about your workload?" → Inspire them to own solutions 🤝 S - Synchronizing (Shift from Criticizing to Celebrating) → "Here's what we're changing because you spoke up" → Celebrate their courage and close the feedback loop The hidden cost of getting this wrong: – Your best people stop bringing you problems – Issues explode instead of getting solved early – Innovation dies because psychological safety doesn't exist The payoff of getting this right: – Teams that come to you first when things go wrong, not last. – Projects move faster because the sticky points come up early. – Conflict fades as respect and tolerance goes up. Your next conversation is your next opportunity to choose trust over control. Start with one letter that comes most easily and work your way through CHANGES… one each day. P.S. Which CHANGES element do you need most right now? 🔔 Follow me, Jill Avey, for more leadership insights that move careers forward ♻️ Share to help leaders build stronger teams
Addressing Concerns About Change Openly
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Summary
Addressing concerns about change openly involves creating a safe space for individuals to voice their fears and uncertainties during times of transition, ensuring trust and collaboration within teams. This approach emphasizes communication, listening, and involving everyone in the process to build stronger, more resilient teams.
- Encourage open dialogue: Start conversations with open-ended questions like “What feels unclear right now?” to create a space for team members to express their thoughts and concerns.
- Show appreciation: Acknowledge the courage it takes for team members to share their concerns and emphasize how their input contributes to the organization’s growth.
- Follow through: Act on the feedback you receive by addressing concerns, sharing updates, and demonstrating how their input has influenced changes, to build trust and foster collaboration.
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Change spreads faster when people feel heard. I ran a poll recently, and the #1 thing people wished leaders would do during change was simply: listen to concerns. And it makes sense. Listening isn’t passive. It’s an action that takes intention, courage, and time. Here’s how to make listening a leadership skill (not just a nice idea): 1. Start with an open prompt. Instead of “Any questions?” try: “What feels unclear right now?” or “What’s most on your mind about this?” 2. Hold the silence. I know it can be uncomfortable sitting in a quiet room. Count to 7 in your head if you need to. People will step into the space if you let them. 3. Capture, don’t fix. You don’t need to have an answer for every question or concern right away. Write it down in front of them. Show you value the input before rushing to defend or explain by saying you’ll get back to them. 4. Close the loop. Come back later with: “Here’s what I heard, here are the answers to your questions, and here’s what we’re doing with your suggestions.” That simple cycle of ask, pause, capture, close builds more trust than any glossy change campaign on it's own. What’s one listening move you’ve seen that really worked during change? #ChangeManagement #Transformation #Leadership #ChangeInfluence #LeadershipInAction #ChangeLeadership #ActiveListening
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Most change initiatives don't fail because of the change that's happening, they fail because of how the change is communicated. I've watched brilliant restructurings collapse and transformative acquisitions unravel… Not because the plan was flawed, but because leaders were more focused on explaining the "what" and "why" than on how they were addressing the fears and concerns of the people on their team. People don't resist change because they don't understand it. They resist because they haven't been given a compelling story about their role in it. This is where the Venture Scape framework becomes invaluable. The framework maps your team's journey through five distinct stages of change: The Dream - When you envision something better and need to spark belief The Leap - When you commit to action and need to build confidence The Fight - When you face resistance and need to inspire bravery The Climb - When progress feels slow and you need to fuel endurance The Arrival - When you achieve success and need to honor the journey The key is knowing exactly where your team is in this journey and tailoring your communication accordingly. If you're announcing a merger during the Leap stage, don't deliver a message about endurance. Your team needs a moment of commitment–stories and symbols that anchor them in the decision and clarify the values that remain unchanged. You can’t know where your team is on this spectrum without talking to them. Don’t just guess. Have real conversations. Listen to their specific concerns. Then craft messages that speak directly to those fears while calling on their courage. Your job isn't just to announce change, but to walk beside your team and help your team understand what role they play in the story at each stage. #LeadershipCommunication #Illuminate