4️⃣ Power Skills Proven to Improve Your Ability to Lead Change

Apogy has analyzed research and insights from experts around the globe and has identified four power skills that prove to augment a person’s ability to lead organizational change.

They are connection, communication, collaboration, and compassion.

• Connection describes the ability to build trusted, meaningful relationships. Connection is critical to employee engagement and organizational change success. When co-workers feel connected, they work together differently. They feel safe talking through problems and solutions, bouncing ideas off each other, and sharing information. This creates a feeling of community and caring that is beneficial to everyone, especially during periods of change and disruption.
• Communication describes the ability to successfully exchange ideas and information with others in the workplace. Communication is what builds bridges and connects people in a powerful way. When leaders get their point across in a kind and objective manner, stakeholders are more likely to hear what they are saying and consider their perspective, which helps them to experience their own shifts in perception.
• Collaboration describes the ability to work well with others and see issues from multiple angles. It is common for decision-makers to fear being overwhelmed by feedback early in the change process, and thus wait to solicit input from stakeholders until after all the big decisions have been made. But solicitation is not collaboration; collaboration is when people co-create both the solution and the plans to implement the changes.   
• Compassion is critical if you want to lead a successful transformation. Being compassionate means that you acknowledge the challenges people may be facing and you do something about it. What that “something” is does not have to be transformative in itself; what people really want, and need is to feel seen, heard, and valued during the change process.

The future of leadership is here, and the call to action is clear.  By valuing connection, communication, collaboration, and compassion in leaders, companies can create environments where people love to work, change is a cultural norm, and innovation is both rapid and embraced.