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Intentional Leadership — D5, W3, M8 — Change

Happy Friday! Wow! What a week, I just had. Spending time with the John Maxwell Team is all at once energizing, soul-filling, enlightening, thought-provoking, and the impetus to stretch myself, yet again, into changing the way I think and act and respond. It’s one of the few times I can say I am fully-engaged, totally “on” for 12-15 hours at a stretch, for several days in a row. When our time together comes to an end, I equate the disconnect as being similar to pulling the plug on a power cord…exhausted — but in a really satisfied way.

With that in mind, my plans for the weekend involve unpacking and lots of laundry! Reconnecting with my family, reconnecting with my normal daily schedule, prep for the next week. I will be beginning the Empowerment Mentoring series of lessons, again, (it’s a revolving series of lessons, so one does not need to start and stop on any particular lesson) on Tuesday with the Purpose, Vision, Goals lesson; will spend some time reviewing the material in preparation. Need to go through a week’s worth of mail; do some banking; and plan for next week.

Monday will be busy with a series of meetings, preparation for a full-day off-site team-building and vision workshop on Friday. Continuing some team-building and vision work with the maintenance team I’ve been working with. Have several coaching sessions scheduled, a couple of mentoring sessions, as well.

Plenty of reflection and writing to do to download everything I learned over the past week. And, of course, looking ahead to plan for September activities.

What’s on your agenda for the weekend?

What relationships need nurturing?

What time do you need to devote to yourself?

What activities would you like to fit in and how much rest do you need?

What do you need to do to prepare yourself for a great start to your week on Monday?

What do you need to be thinking about, and doing, to set yourself up for success in the coming weeks?

We will finish our month of focus on Change next week…can’t believe it’s going so quickly. So, I’ll “see” you on Monday.

In the meantime, make your time intentional!

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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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