Blog Articles about Managing Change
Page 1 of 1 page(s)
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 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.
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.
May 07, 2009
The Best Coping Strategy. Bar None.
I am sitting on a conference call with a team of people. We are discussing dealing with stress. There are lots of ideas. Some people are exercising. Some have taken some time off. Some are diving into work. All of these ideas are good ones.
In my opinion, the single most effective coping strategy is to get out and connect personally with people. What do I mean by this? I mean calling people whom you like and yet haven't spoken to in a while. I mean getting out and meeting new people. I mean spending even more time with people you see often.
Why is this the best way to cope? Just being with people often makes you feel better. Talking to people about what is bothering you in a positive way can really help you work through change. Merely the act of talking releases stress. As you speak of what is bothering you, you feel that "thing" become smaller. In your head, it feels big. As you discuss it, it shrinks.
Talking to others also causes others to feel closer to you. When you open up about something that you care about it shows vulnerability and shows that you are "human". This causes people to feel more connected to you. It is human nature to want to be part of a community. As others feel more connected to you, you feel safer and more comfortable and so do they. That connection is exponential. So be honest and have enough courage to share what is really bothering you. Just do it in a professional way.
If you can't bring yourself to exercise, that's OK. At the very least, take someone for coffee or even better, take someone for a walk.
January 18, 2009
Making Values Stick
As I discussed in my last blog, great leaders show an unwavering commitment to a clear set of values. It is relatively easy to have a set of values. We all do. The trick is to be clear on those values and to use those values as a means to mobilize others.
I hope you tried the exercise that I suggested to better clarify your own values or "leadership voice". If you didn’t click through to my last blog and try it.
Here is the next step--another short exercise that will help you determine if you are making your values stick. If you do this exercise you will be making your values exceptionally clear to all around you. Before the exercise, you’ll need a little background.
January 05, 2009
A Return to Values
If you have been reading my blogs, you'll already know that I am an optimist. I have always believed that change is good. As I have said previously, even this current change in the economy is good. See my blogs for my thinking on this, "Change is Good. Even When it is Bad." and A Bad Economy is Good. In these blogs I talked about the reasons I think change is good:
- a greater focus on personal values and less focus on consumption
- a "clearing of the market" where marginal service providers will leave and great service providers will survive
- the economy as a "burning platform" to drive change
There is an additional reason this current economic change is good. It will change how leaders lead. You will see that that this happening already.
December 15, 2008
A Holiday Gift from IMPACT
What can we at IMPACT give you for the holidays? How about time and perspective? Wouldn't that be nice? IMPACT can't give you these things but we can help you get them.
October 28, 2008
A Bad Economy is Good
Why? A down economy drives a lot of really good decisions. We are all tightening our belts. Our priorities shift. Things we thought were so important a month ago suddenly seem unimportant. For many, the shift is towards things that have lasting value and away from things that provide fleeting satisfaction. We take more time to enjoy that great glass of wine. Suddenly it seems more important to savour every sip. We delay purchases to focus on what we already have. A good wash and tune up and that old car still gets us to where we want to go in style. We spend more time having family dinners and less time in fancy restaurants.
These shifts are good for us personally and professionally.
Page 1 of 1 page(s)
