Change starts at the top and works its way down. That’s why organizations need leaders who can effectively and efficiently guide their teams through changes. From showing empathy and building a great culture to handling resistance to change, your successes and challenges are likely defined by your leadership.

To talk more about the importance of supporting leaders in an organization, Maria Janošíková joins us on this episode of the Survive & Thrive podcast. Maria is a change management professional at Johnson & Johnson and has extensive experience in the industry, working across the globe, helping organizations manage their changes better.

Change management principles:

Introducing Maria Janosikova (1:10)

Maria introduces herself and how she got into her current role as a change management professional at Johnson & Johnson.

Getting into change management (2:39)

Maria got into change management at a time when few had even heard of it. She shares how she got into change management as a career, including some stops in China, Russia, and the United States.

Change management definition (6:59)

Maria shares her views and definition of change management.

Leading change:

Empathy (10:20)

As someone who has worked in multiple cultures across multiple countries, Maria chats about the universal need for empathy.

Enacting change (12:34)

Knowing the concepts behind change management is just one step but actually implementing them effectively is something else entirely. Maria describes the factors that need to be considered when enacting change.

Helping your leaders (15:30)

Leaders are people too and they need support as they learn and grow. Maria shares what leaders should do in times of change and how organizations can help their leaders effectively lead change.

Resistance:

Handling resistance (19:17)

Every organization dreads resistance when there’s a major change but it’s something that can’t be ignored. That means leaders have to be prepared and known how to overcome that resistance in a healthy and effective way. 

Going beyond the conflict (22:31)

It can be tempting to dismiss resistance. However, the issues may be more complicated than they seem. Maria believes it’s the leader’s job to find out the “why” behind the conflict.

Thriving:

Thriving in change (26:25)

Maria gives her thoughts on what leaders and organizations can do to not just survive, but thrive in change.

Managing a remote workforce (30:28)

Remote working is becoming more normal thanks in part to the pandemic, leading to new and unique challenges as workforces become more global. As someone who has worked on a global scale, Maria shares her advice for leaders managing an international team through international change