Article originally published by Merit

Alex Budak, faculty at the Haas School of Business, University of California Berkeley (US), shares research-based lessons on becoming an effective changemaker at your company. Alex explains how to adopt а mindset of “dispositional flexibility” and why the meaning of resilience is often misunderstood. Read on for his tips on letting go of past successes and processes in order to face up to the future.

CHROs and CLOs are facing so many challenges right now. They are managing daily operations during unprecedented disruption, while also thinking about long-term adaptation. What leadership principles can they employ in order to keep people engaged and successfully steer their organizations through the crisis

Changemakers learn to see opportunities in challenge, and there is no shortage of potential opportunities ahead as we navigate these unprecedented times. But before we can innovate and create new paths forward, we must also steer our organisations through uncharted waters. 

The key here is practising empathy in our communications — putting ourselves in the shoes of employees and crafting messages specifically for them and where they are. Difficult as it may be, we must step away from our own stresses and pressures and communicate with a focus on employees’ concerns.

Patti Sanchez, Chief Strategy Officer at Duarte, found in her research that 50% of executives fail to consider their team’s feelings when it comes to change. Don’t be that type of leader. Instead, be a changemaker who thinks first about your employees and their perspectives and then leads from this place of empathetic understanding.

To learn more about HR Changemakers, read the full article on Merit. 

Read Professor Alex Budak's full bio.