How can you help a team member build confidence during change?

Change creates a myriad of emotions which need to be catered to through listening conversations. Sharing the change, it’s why, what will change and what not is important. Finally, supporting through it becomes critical

1. **Celebrate Small Wins:** - Break tasks into goals. Celebrate achievements, publicly acknowledging contributions to boost confidence and morale. 2. **Foster Supportive Culture:** - Cultivate a collaborative, open, and supportive environment. Encourage expressing thoughts and concerns, building a community that values each member's unique contributions. 3. **Provide Learning Opportunities:** - Offer training aligned with changes, investing in continuous professional development. Emphasize ongoing learning, turning mistakes into growth opportunities for increased confidence.

Change is inevitable, but transition is a choice. While change happens in the outside world, transition is more psychological. A good way to support any team member is to acknowledge what they are feeling and ascertain the intensity of the emotions the team member is experiencing. -Having acknowledged the feeling Create adequate safety to allow the team members to express their emotions without any judgment Empathy and compassion toward the team member go a long way in creating trust in the entire team not just this individual. - Communicate an open message to the team to be free to express what they are feeling about the change happening. Some tools that a facilitator can use are:. Visual representation, Literary Representation/Drama

Best way is to acknowledge one's own journey, disclose the vulnerabilities, apprehensions and how it made sense to connect the dots looking backwards. A comforting note that one is not alone in any change journey is really assuring to face the tide with confidence.

Change is a big thing for all of us. Truth is we all want change, to improve and yet we don't want change to be done to us but most importantly we need to feel that we are part of the change. We are unique individuals and respond differently to change but there needs to be a process to manage change. As a part time education leader, I was recently 'assimilated' into a new role. The first thing I did after the announcement (another big change for people) was to pick up the phone and call those affected and introduced myself and invited them for a coffee 121 to get learn about the work from them and see it from their view. They were able to share honestly and this is an important start to any change conversations. This is paving the path

It is effective in change programmes to run this as an activity, asking what they know, what they feel is missing information, what do they need and what would help. This then enables you to address the questions and relieve anxiety. Also, be honest about what you do and do not know, explaining that you will find out when you can answers that you don't have available.

As someone new and being brought in to help, people might think you have all the answers so very early on it's important to set the task. Change is a process that involves all and the more they contribute the more collectively something great can be built. Getting strengths highlighted and also discussions around areas of development and ideas people have is crucial and as a facilitator and certainly my role is helping people and team generate ideas, identify the top ideas that will have the maximum effect and huge impact. Having different ways of involving people teams in the process, having a working group that will hold leaders accountable is helpful and people feel their opinions are being counted.

In my experience, co-creating strategies to manage the change has a huge impact on how the team will navigate the transition internally. 1- Expression of what the group is feeling about change makes each member feel supported 2- Taking feedback and input from team members helps them stay and navigate together. 3- Collaborate during challenging moments and build bonds beyond change 4- Setting up support mechanisms and agreeing on creating a safe and non-judgmental space for every member helps relieve anxieties related to change. 5- Brainstorming together to generate constructive ways of managing change build ownership and accountability to go through the situation together and with committment.

With change comes a range of emotions including fear. What are people going to have to give up? What will they need to learn? What new systems will come into place? How confident do staff feel? How confident are they about expressing their fears around their competencies? Important to identify staff training needs and give staff the confidence and opportunities to acquire other competencies that will help with their professional growth.

Assess the needs of your people, getting their view, and with your own, have a healthy discussion about what would help them best. If the conversation is about supporting development, it can be a more psychologically safe space to be honest. Don't forget to include in the conversation, what the measure of success will be, this then ensures you don't set and forget and builds motivation for the learner.

Listen to understand what the reason is. The reason for more inner strength to do a thing or two. @Adam Grant would say that confidence doesn’t come before but during and after doing the thing When you Know the reason for 1. Consider what could be the first tiny step 2. Where do you feel the safest to have a go? That could be at home, friends, work and with one tiny step after another… 3. Build on what’s happening 4. Find a mentor to support them that may be you in the team or elsewhere. 5. Notice the small wins along the way

Encourage your team member by acknowledging their strengths, providing constructive feedback, and highlighting their achievements. Offer support and create opportunities for them to showcase their skills, gradually boosting their confidence over time.

Build in continuous improvement to the process, what could we have done better, what would have made this change easier for you, and gather this from people to show you are not perfect but willing to improve and develop. This always goes over well.