[Editor’s note: this blog has resonated over the years enough that we thought it would be worth updating and sharing again.]
If you went to school, you probably learned about external change as something measurable and predictable, often cycling back on itself. Maybe you were taught to see change as an expected constant, something "bound to happen."
There's plenty of evidence for that view. The calendar rolls by, bringing different weather and events that cycle through the year seasonally. Bear markets follow bull markets follow bear markets. The tides go in and out with the cycles of the moon. Interest rates go up and down. Sea rise is happening in many places, and even as it accelerates we can measure temperatures and ice thickness and plot the data out to speculate what tomorrow brings.
Call this continuous change - change that can be understood, predicted, and influenced over time. Many leaders believe they can single-handedly manage continuous change, riding out the cycles until things get back to where they're supposed to be.
Until the tsunami hits. Or COVID-19 happens. Or AI changes how an entire industry works within a single year. Or most of a company's leadership decides they're ready to retire in the same twelve months.
Those changes aren't continuous. They're marginally predictable, difficult to avoid, and they leave behind altered landscapes that never go back to the way they were. There's no getting back to "the way it's supposed to be."
This is discontinuous change: non-incremental, sudden change that threatens the existing authority or power structure because it drastically alters how things are done or have been done for years.
If recent years are any indication, discontinuous change is becoming the new normal. Living in that reality can feel unsettling, unless a team is ready for it.
How effective leaders succeed despite discontinuous change
The changing future asks more from everyone in an organization, from the people already in leadership to the ones currently managing and producing results.
Through years of working with teams facing change, I've come to believe the best way through discontinuous change is building teams of people who: 1. stay highly aware, 2. who can draw on their own strengths and each other's, and 3. who trust each other enough to make and act on decisions quickly.
A team with those qualities can navigate a perfect storm and grow more leaders inside the organization at the same time.
1. See what's happening, together
Imagine everyone in a company understanding exactly what's happening inside the walls and outside them. I know personally that it’s possible.
At Trebuchet Group, we go over our key metrics and indicators every week. Everyone owns a measurement and forecasts what's likely to happen next week, next month, next quarter, based on activity, results, and current trends. Understanding those metrics together lets all of us stay aware of and responsible for what's happening in and around the business.
When ownership of the numbers spreads out instead of staying at the top, more people - including up-and-coming leaders - are watching for opportunities and challenges before they sneak up.
And when someone outside senior leadership flags an issue early, that's the moment to lean on each other's strengths.
2. Put people's differences to work
We encourage our team, and our clients, to use third-party assessments that surface personality strengths, conflict styles, talents, and behavioral patterns. Everyone reviews their own results first, noticing what's most true about themselves and how they tend to show up with others. Then we share that information with each other and build a team profile that puts everyone's strengths side by side.
When people can see their differences as strengths instead of friction, they are able to do more together than anyone could do alone. It also gives room to practice healthy conflict, challenging each other's ideas to find the best solution to a problem.
3. Decide and move together, even when it's uncomfortable
Wrestling with and committing to a hard decision takes team members willing to ask for help and offer it in return, in service of a shared goal.
I treasure a team where anyone can say "I don't know," "your idea is better than mine," or "I need help." When people trust each other, those words don't get read as weakness. People weigh in and disagree, and on good days they work through it quickly, without circling back, so we can commit to "good enough," try a new approach, and get real feedback on what actually works.
But what if a leader believes they have to solve it all?
I've found leaders let go more easily when they believe their team is ready to take the reins. Part of the challenge: the next generation is often just as hesitant to take a business-wide risk as the leader is to let an individual take one on and possibly fail.
The stronger solution has less to do with replacing the leader with one person and more to do with building a team that's aware, stronger for its differences, and able to decide and act quickly - so the business is ready to pass the baton to the next generation long before anyone's forced to.
That's what makes a team change-proof - not a five-year plan, but people who are aware, trust their differences, and can move together. If you're not sure where your team stands on that, let's talk.
