Blog Articles about Change
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May 27, 2010
Get your spine tingling. Put on your “game face”.
I thought I would share a really happy little story. I was inspired by one of my clients yesterday. I was meeting him for the first time. I usually spend the first meeting asking a lot of questions and getting to know the client. As I was listening, my spine started to tingle. (It always does when I meet someone really talented). This guy was really inspirational and he didn’t even think about it. He just made things happen. Nothing fancy. Just effective. Let me give you a little snippet of our conversation and see if I can get your spine tingling. Here’s what he said.
April 29, 2010
Your pillows can be almost any colour of blue
I was in a meeting with a client and we were discussing his plans to make some changes in his organization. He knew exactly the steps that needed to be taken and he had been working through his plan. He was stalled. His boss had just said “no” to a key part of his plan. He was angry. He was discouraged. He looked at me and asked for my thoughts. I said “blue pillows”. He sat back in his chair and pushed away from the desk. “Blue pillows?!” He said.
I said, “Yes. I like to decorate. I know from years of decorating that if you need blue pillows, there are many, many different colors and patterns of blue that will work. If you can’t get your favorite, you will eventually find another one that works. It is like that with work. If one approach isn’t available to you, there are many, many other approaches that will also work. Your job is to pick another color of blue.”
My client had just finished a renovation and he completely got it. He went back to the drawing board and started looking for other options for his plan. It took some work but he eventually found that other option and he learned something. The war is far more important than each individual battle. You can lose a lot of battles over blue pillows before your run out of different colors of blue.
April 12, 2010
How to thrive in change
A number of my clients are experiencing big changes. The belt tightening of 2009 has given way to restructuring in 2010. People are tired. Here’s the quick advice I provide to my clients to help them maintain their personal energy levels:
- Change creates opportunity. Use the change as an opportunity to put in place some things you have always felt were important (new products, a change in strategy)
- Reach out. Solidify old relationships and build new ones. It always feels better to talk to people. Talk about the opportunities not the complaints.
- Be a leader. Help others who are stuck. Communicate more. Do more coaching.
Do all these things and you will feel better, be better and help others.
March 19, 2010
You cannot control anyone but yourself.
One of my clients is struggling with a meeting he plans with one of his senior staff people next week. This staff person has been difficult in the past. Meetings are always fine but have no impact. The staff person agrees with whatever feedback is offered and agrees to take action. That same staff person then proceeds to do whatever he wants which of course does not include what my client has asked him to do. My client is the “boss”. He runs the practice this staff person works in.
To further complicate matters, the staff person is mediocre. He is not awful. What should my client do?
March 09, 2010
There is no short cut to creating change
A very few leaders I know really know how to create lasting change in their organizations. I can think of only two or three who have really been successful at completely transforming their organizations. When I think about these leaders, there are two things that they all do.
One, they get the right people on the team.
Results speak and they put people on their team who have proven in the past that get where the organization needs to go in future and that they can inspire a large number of people to get there. The people they choose are not always the popular choices.
Why is this important? Change is complex and change is about leverage. These leaders know they need a team to help them think through the change and to “spread the word” through the organization.
Two, they persevere. In the middle of change, results dip, the team becomes unfocused and the whole organization can become disheartened. The leaders who are successful at change persevere through this malaise.
They work with the individuals on their team. They work with their whole team. They work with the whole organization. The pressure to “change back” is often immense. Through this, they persevere.
Once change happens, people look back and think it was easy. It wasn’t.
February 09, 2010
Look for IMPACT in the Globe and Mail today.
Yesterday a Globe and Mail reporter called me and ask if she could interview me about risk. She was interested in leaders motivating their teams to take risks given the New Orleans’ Saints recent Superbowl win.
This reporter wanted to know how a leader can help his team follow him (or her) when the leader makes a risky decision. I said a number of things. First, good leaders are transparent and help their people understand the options considered and why the perceived risky path was taken. People usually need to understand the leader’s thinking in order to be supportive. Second, good leaders work with their teams. They focus on the people who are comfortable with the risk and ready to move forward and they involve those people in the change by asking for their help. Good leaders also allow those who need more time some of that extra time —within reason. Finally risks happen in a “safe” environment. If people know the leader “has their back” by really owning the risky decision, they will be more likely to embrace the risk.
February 06, 2010
Beware the Second Wave
This week I spoke with four people who have lost faith in their organizations. All four are successful. All four have very valuable and difficult to replace skill sets and business contacts. All four are feeling disaffected and not supported. All four are in different organizations.
These four people weathered the recession quite successfully. They came out of the other side of that recession tunnel, looked around and were disappointed. People they cared about had left their organization. There are new leaders and they don’t like them all. There is a new strategy and they are not at all sure it is right.
These four people may be part of the second wave. The first wave of change happened last year as most organizations restructured in response to the recession. For most organizations these changes resulted in planned terminations.
The second wave is when you lose your best people. They stuck it out and they are not sure they like what they see. Beware.
January 21, 2010
Not sure if you have what it takes? Good!
One of my clients is just starting a big change initiative. She said to me, “I really wonder if I have what it takes to get this done. I’d only be this honest to you. But I really wonder if I can pull this off.”
I listened, paused and then I said, “Good. I think those feelings are normal.”
I’m sure she can do it. I’m glad she’s worried. She’ll be better with that level of self awareness. It is normal to worry about your ability to do something difficult just as you start to do it.
Creating real change is a ton of work for everyone involved. My client knows it and she needs to be ready for it. There will be times in the middle of the change journey when she will question everything – she’ll need to remember the beginning and why she committed herself to this path. When she does that, she’ll be proud she took on something really difficult.
January 14, 2010
Be OK with Messy. You’ll be rewarded for your courage.
I love this:
“Committing yourself to doing something you’re not quite sure you can pull off and then moving into scramble mode, can be a pretty effective learning strategy. I made any number of false starts during, what I hope was for you at any rate, an enjoyable festive season. Transformational conversations are slippery things and are hard to get a good grasp of. Unlike transactional conversations that operate in the domain of what’s known and are, therefore, relatively tidy affairs, transformational conversations, because they are about matters not yet known, tend to be messy.”
This quote is from Brian Hayman’s latest newsletter. It resonated with me because I just had a messy but rewarding transformational conversation. I am working with a team and helping them develop their strategy. I went in cold yesterday with a list of possible things to discuss. I trusted my instincts on the right approach to use during the meeting. I didn’t have a stepwise process. The team conversation was energetic and enthusiastic and they accomplished more than I thought they would. I always amazed how much better strategic discussions can be when you improvise.
Brian, you’d be proud of me.
January 06, 2010
January Sucks. So Does September.
It’s official. No one really wants to go back to work in January.
I spend my days talking to people. I am a coach. That is what I get paid to do. A funny thing happens when you spend your days talking to people, you notice trends.
Here’s a trend that I can’t help but notice, January sucks. Everyone I talk to is in a funk. They are re-thinking their career. They feel unmotivated. They are pondering early retirement. Do you know what will happen by the end of the week? Most people will feel better and that will be fine. There is no big hidden issue, you don’t need to change your job – January sucks.
Do you know what else I’ve noticed? The exact same thing happens in September. It gets better too once you get back into the swing of things.
So what? Just remember that in January and September you will feel unmotivated and then go on to remember that you will also feel better.
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