Intentional Leadership — D4, W3, M8 — Change

More journal time, today! Spend some time thinking, and writing, about the pitfalls of resisting change or the effects of being so confident in your strengths that you fail to adapt to change (remember Marshall Goldsmith’s What Got You Here Won’t Get You There!).

I believe it was Peter Drucker who suggested that the only way to manage change successfully was to create it. Essentially, we are more likely to have better outcomes when we are the ones instigating and driving the change.

Based on your experience, do you agree or disagree with this thought?

Why?

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Intentional Leadership — D3, W3, M8 — Change

Have you ever worked in a company that was failing in some way – production, safety, financially? If so, and if the company made it through that crisis, you were likely helped through the transformation by a change agent.

A change agent is someone who sees how things should be – especially in terms of human performance potential and organizational systems – and acts on behalf of the group/company to enact the changes that will make things better.

Sounds simple, right? Simple, yes. Easy, no!

Over the past 5 years, I’ve worked with two companies that were going through significant turn-around processes and both were helped along the way by change agents, although the styles and areas of focus of these individuals were amazingly different, both were effective – at least in the short-term – of turning the business around.

On a more personal level, I have been blessed to have connected with a number of change agents throughout the course of my life; mentors and teachers and coaches, who have offered me the benefit of their experience, wisdom, and insights, which have allowed me to develop a new perspective on my world, potential, and future.

Of course, those were the positive or enjoyable change agent experiences; I’ve had my share of the not-so-delightful ones, as well. But the point is, I’ve learned, stretched, changed, and grown because of them.

What has your experience with change agents been? Today, I encourage you to spend some time in reflection on a specific change agent from your past. What characteristics or qualities did they possess that made them a good change agent? What behaviors did they demonstrate?

Write down your observations in your journal and give some considerations to how you meet the criteria you’ve just outlined.

What are your strengths in this area?

What areas could you be working on to improve your effectiveness as a change agent?

After you’ve thought this through, and written down your thoughts, choose three characteristics and/or behaviors that you could model when you face change today. Write them down on something you can carry with you, and refer to them throughout the day.

At the end of the day, spend a few minutes in reflection with your journal, noting what happened, how you acted, reacted, or responded, and what the outcomes were.

How can you grow from this experience tomorrow?

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Intentional Leadership — D2, W3, M8 — Change

Have you heard the saying that sometimes our strengths can also be our greatest weaknesses? It’s true. You see, sometimes we rely so heavily on our strengths that we use them in a super-concentrated fashion, which isn’t necessarily effective. Or, we might rely on them so much that we forget we need to work on them to keep them sharp, and our performance falters.

Over the past several years, I’ve worked in several manufacturing environments in which I’ve been exposed to the Kaizen process. Kaizen is often included in lean manufacturing processes as a way to simply and fine-tune how people do their work. It has been very successful in Japanese companies. Essentially, Kaizen focuses on making continuous, incremental improvements or changes. It’s effective because of its focus on small changes. As you are no doubt aware, when faced with a big change, we are often daunted, overwhelmed, fearful. Small changes don’t seem to evoke the same levels of stress and fear.

So, consider how this approach might be applied to you. What if you took a Kaizen approach to growing and improving in your areas of strength, learning or strengthening new skills, and more clearly defining your strategy and action plans?

Do you think you could implement this kind of approach to your personal growth?

What benefits might you enjoy?

Would you be less likely to be caught unaware when the winds of change blow in your direction?

Let’s put it into action and find out. Today, pick a strength, skill, or strategy to which you could make small, incremental changes to each day over the next week. Track your activities and your progress each day.

Consider this, if you can make a 1% improvement each week, you would have improved your performance by 52% over the course of the year! That’s huge! Take it one step farther…what if you could improve by 1% each day…that would be a 365% improvement over the course of the year! Again, monumental change, but made in small, doable steps.

I can’t wait to hear what you’ve come up with and what your results are!

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