Start by ensuring you as their manager are clear on what their new role entails and what evidence you need to know they are doing a good job once they start. You need to ensure you have as much certainty as possible up front. Then meet with them and take them through the "why" the change in role is necessary and help them find the benefits to them of the role according to their highest individual life priorities and the goals of the business. Uncertainty causes stress. Missing information causes uncertainty. Engage them in further defining the role and editing the job description. Ask them to reflect on it and predict problems that may occur to also propose realistic solutions to overcome the perceived possible problems...need more words!

The best support I can offer is to create space to listen actively to their fears, concerns and doubts about the change they are facing. Then, helping them focus on the opportunities and creating a clear path to success in order to reduce uncertainty and anxiety. Helping them see the reasons behind the decision, what they are bringing to the table, that it was a skill based move, is key to help them walk into the opportunity with a higher sense of ownership security. Finally, being present during the transition and helping navigate the first weeks / months is key.

First thing is to pause and get perspective. Understand why the frequent role changes. Understand the objective of the current roles and what s/he is trying to accomplish. Then walk through the current requirements/ objectives or hot potatoes. Helping her/him prioritize what to tackle first. Understand how s/he is leveraging their team. (Assess the status of the team - who's included/excluded?) It is also beneficial to understand the pain point the internal/external customer is experiencing. I would encourage her/him to be intentional about staying the in the current role for at least a couple years. this will allow her/him to begin to develop more depth int he subject matter and allow the merry-go-round to stop spinning.

How you lead matters. Resilience and adaptability as an employee are essential in this ever-changing world, but it’s on the leader to keep the team psychologically safe – and able to deliver in any environment. My go-to in times of change is strong stakeholder engagement and that means strong engagement with your team members. Transparency, effective listening, care, patience, and a sense of humor should get you through any situation. Clear expectations on roles and responsibilities, supportive and regular check-ins, and skill development are the tactics to get through change, but when leaders are vulnerable, curious, open to listening and are regularly in contact – that’s when the magic happens.