The Talent Magnet Leadership Podcast

Episode #176: Lead Groundbreaking Change with Stefanie Krievins

Stefanie Krievins is the guest on today’s episode of the Talent Magnet Leadership Podcast. Stefanie is the founder and CEO of Stephanie Krievins & Co, and the host of the Hot Mess Hotline Podcast. She has spent her career helping businesses grow with their teams by combining change management and leadership developing principles. In this exciting conversation, Stefanie and Mike dive deep into change management and what leaders need to do to equip themselves and their employees for change in their organizations.

Leaders need to ask themselves how they can create change, and remain adaptable. Stefanie asks leaders, “Do we have the skills to help our people transition to the next best thing when there's ... no external forces forcing us to change? Can we have better self-management as a team to make that happen?” [2:09]
Companies need one-year or two-year plans at the most in these uncertain times. Break plans into quadrants with important and urgent items in one quadrant, and important but not urgent in another. This is a good strategy that allows for flexibility and adaptability when changes happen in stakeholders’ lives. [5:08]
Leaders need to communicate more to bring their employees along with them into new changes at their organizations. Stefanie discusses the two tools she uses to do so: the Change Curve, and her 7x7x7 Communication plan. [8:59]
Send seven messages, seven times, through seven channels to adequately communicate change. [12:07]
Growth, change, and challenge are three important pillars of employee development. Employees thrive on change and challenge when the work environment is focused on their personal growth, and knowing they are a part of the solution to change, especially when they have trust in their leaders. [14:45]
Vision, results, individuals, teams, and the processes needed to get there are the baseline for company communication. Formal and informal communication are also important. “Don't underestimate the power of popping into somebody's office,” Stefanie remarks. [17:41]
DiSC is helpful for self-awareness and as a way to help people acknowledge their weaknesses. It gives you a better understanding of yourself so you can connect with other people and adapt to their styles. [20:55]
Create an environment where change is welcomed. Leaders should never let their employees get too comfortable because change breeds excitement. This can only work when leaders first establish an environment of trust with employees. [24:30]
A troublemaker in an organization is an individual nobody wants to be around because they cause dissension or stir up trouble for no reason. Alternatively, a pro troublemaker is someone everyone wants to be around. A pro troublemaker has an energy of joy, curiosity and is charismatic. Pro troublemakers are high achievers and do everything that they do with excellence. [27:08]
Stefanie talks about the steps it takes to create pro troublemakers in an organization. [30:53]
A person who is “too” anything - too ambitious, too nice, too helpful - is a person who is here to serve the world. They’ve simply overused their strengths and need help reining back in so that they can be their authentic selves. [32:32]
Leaders are good at defining the vision but skip over getting their employees aligned with what actually needs to happen. [39:01]