Stories are one of your best friends for achieving successful transformation. Listening to stories is invigorating, refreshing and energizing. Stories invite the listener to visualize a different world. The shared imagining of the teller and listener creates a common space where change becomes desirable. Continue reading »
A coupe of weeks ago I was working with a company that is going through a comprehensive software change. Almost everybody was very frustrated with the implementation of the process. The stress level was very high. As a result, people were having a harder time learning the new skills.
In our interaction with different groups over the week, we encouraged a different kind of conversation. At the start there was a lot of negativity, the mood was: “this is too hard; it will take us forever to master this program.” As we moved the focus to sharing the small gains that everybody was experiencing, the mood changed to cautious optimism: “We already know a lot more today than we did one month ago; maybe this will be a good thing after all.”
It's easy to become discouraged and abandon change efforts when you look at the steep learning curve ahead. It looks daunting and never ending. Continue reading »
In my post on 3 obstacles to change, I said that confusion is a killer. A confused mind does nothing. Most change process are unsatisfactory. The primary cause of failure is lack of clarity about the reasons for change and the overall objectives. Continue reading »
In my last post we established that inclusion makes change easier and helps accelerate it. Many times leaders don’t include enough people in the planning and design of the process of change because they think it’s too messy and time consuming.
In reality, you will lose a lot more time, and risk failure if you don’t include enough people in the process. Today I’m sharing 7 specific behaviors you can easily learn and apply to defeat exclusion and make change easier. Continue reading »
The second obstacle to change I mentioned in my April 24 post is Exclusion. Today we are going to see how the simple idea of inclusion changes everything.
I believe one of the reasons so many change efforts are failing is because we are trying to make 21th century changes with a 20th century mindset. We are in a different era of Globalization, where the Internet is a way of life. Continue reading »
This past Saturday we had very strong winds in Delaware. Riding in the car with my husband, who is a retired pilot, we got to talking about winds, airplanes, piloting, and change. Here are some of our reflections.
When there are strong winds, a pilot needs to constantly check course, speed, possible obstacles, and loose objects.
Leaders in a fast changing environment can't conduct “business as usual.” They need to be on the lookout for possible danger. Many leaders are not scanning the horizon specifically enough to predict how market conditions will evolve. Or they are not making decisions fast enough to implement solutions, thus putting their organizations at risk. In this uncertain times, you need to be alert and "on your toes." Continue reading »
Many look up to leaders as people that have all the right answers and know what they are doing with certainty. The reality is that if you think you know it all, you stop learning and growing and will eventually fail.
Uncertainty. . . Being willing to doubt, can be a good thing for leaders. A few years back there was a book by by Gail Blanke called "Between Trapezes." The metaphor of the trapeze aptly applies in leadership, and in life. To be uncertain requires that we leave behind our personal and professional certainties.
Living in the gap, between two trapezes, is the chance to find out who we truly are and who we can be. It is the need to let go in order to grab something else. This could be very frightening. Nobody likes the idea of falling, of “humiliation,” of others looking on and discovering we are not sure if we can breach the gap.
That moment of uncertainty can also be a moment of exhilaration. A freeing space where you don't have to hang onto any certainties. It's a space where you can be creative, wildly alive, with your eyes in the next adventure, ready to grab what comes close to you.
