Change can be tricky, especially given the rapid pace of the modern age. It can’t be avoided, and if you don’t manage it well, the consequences—frustration, lost productivity, customer dissatisfaction, and more—can be severe. 

Given that, it should come as no surprise that change is also top of mind for many fleet professionals. In fact, effective change management was one of the most-talked about topics at the inaugural American Trucking Association Women in Motion Conference, a recent gathering of dozens of leaders from across the industry. At the event, I led roundtable discussions on how to master communication to understand your stakeholders and lead change. 

The session was eye-opening. Women from across the trucking industry—representing more than 500 years of combined experience—shared valuable insights and key strategies for effective change management. 

The root of change that lasts—trust. 

A major theme from these discussions bubbled to the top: trust, and why it’s the cornerstone of successful change leadership. For example, participants talked about challenges that arose when people believed a mandate for change was coming from “corporate” instead of frontline employees. In cases like these, employees don’t trust that leadership is making changes to actually improve their day-to-day jobs.

Building trust is essential to move quickly and keep up with the pace of change. But how can leaders cultivate trust effectively? It all starts with your customer, who can be either an internal employee or an external stakeholder. You must begin by understanding their challenges, priorities, and motivations. Here are four questions to ask yourself—and other leaders within your organization—to build trust and be more effective managing change.

1. What’s going well with how things currently are?

To begin the conversation, start by inviting customers to discuss their roles and processes with a positively framed question: “What’s going well?” This allows them to highlight their successes, recent wins, and aspects they appreciate about their work. Keeping the question open-ended helps reveal what matters most to them. For more specific insights, tailor the question to your project, such as “what’s going well with our driver safety program?”

2. What needs to be improved?

After you know what currently works, follow up with digging into what needs to change. This invites customers to identify areas for development or enhancement. By starting with what’s going well before asking for improvements, you set a constructive tone and reduce defensiveness. Avoid immediately jumping to solutions; instead, focus on understanding their perspective and building confidence in the relationship.

For example, many women in our discussions described how they host regular strategic executive sessions or quarterly business reviews to get regular customer feedback. Whatever the approach, everyone agreed that we need to ask more open-ended questions and spend more time listening than talking. 

3. What are some quick wins you can achieve in the very near future?

Quick wins—small, easily fixable issues—can be powerful. They can get the ball rolling on change initiatives and help people see that successful change is possible, while demonstrating that leadership is committed to improvement that helps build trust. 

To find potential quick wins, listen for areas where a minor change can significantly benefit the customer. Also keep in mind a valuable lesson mentioned by several of our participants: Facilitating connections to experts or peers who can help with quick wins can be as valuable as making changes yourself.

4. How can we make better communication a top priority?

As one roundtable participant noted, “communication is a powerful tool, but only when used.” When implementing changes, provide transparent updates and tailor your communication to your customers' readiness for change. That is, empathize with their perspective and consider how the change will impact them personally. Be sure to address these concerns directly in your communications.

By answering these questions honestly, you’ll have the beginnings of a strategy that will help you build trust with all of your customers, both inside your organization and outside of it. With a foundation of trust, you’ll be better able to initiate more change initiatives more easily. Change is inevitable, but by putting these pieces in place, you’ll be able to position yourself to stay ahead as change accelerates to meet the challenge of whatever comes next.