Change

Nothing Changes Until Something Moves.

As we all know, life is about changes and choices. As a leader, deciding to

make changes is the easy part, but making choices is a little difficult and
getting our people on board is much more difficult. Why is that? Quite
simply, change is an emotional process and choices are rational decisions.
We are all creatures of habits who usually resist it, and welcome routine.
Unchartered waters are scary!

And this is our challenge, to convince our team that the new world we are
trying to create is better than the one we are in. Is it easy? Of course not. It
takes planning, commitment, patience and courage.

The truth, of course, is that change can be a wonderful gift and choices we
make do bring difference in life. In fact, our attitude is the key that unlocks
the doors to growth and excitement in any organization. And, most
importantly, without it our competition will pass us by. A big part of
success, as a leader will be our ability to inspire our team to get out of their
comfort zones; to assure them that even though they are on a new path, it
is the right path, for the right reasons and choices.

How do we inspire our team to see that change is good? And that, even
though we are on a new path, it is the right path for the right reason.

What needs change is not what is easy. People are resistant to change, but
if we do a bottom up approach and make this change come from those who
are actually going to implement it, then they would be more likely to accept
it. Or as Bob Nelson said “you get the best efforts from others not by
lighting a fire beneath them, but by building a fire within”.

Forget for Success

We need to let go of our orthodoxies. People tend to create barriers by
holding on to what has been established, and as managers we need to let
go of this and instigate an innovation culture in our team.

“You can‟t teach culture. You have to live it. You have to experience it. You
have to share it. And most importantly, you have to show it.” Brent Harris

Lead by example and let our actions speak, we need to be proactive and
show our team that we stand with them, not above them. As Tiago Forjaz
said “good ideas come from a team” or according to Linus Pauling “the best
way to get a good idea is to get lots of ideas”. To set the stage for
innovation we need to understand that information is not exclusive to some.
In the old days employees would follow orders, today is all about
collaboration.

To come up with new ideas we need to focus on strengths and remove

barriers. Peter Drucker once said “it is easier for companies to come up with
new ideas than to let go of old ones”, it all starts with belief!
A good leader inspires people to have confidence in him. A great leader
inspires people to have confidence in themselves. To achieve this we need
to simplify our message. According to Charles Mingus “making the simple
complicated in commonplace, making the complicated simple, awesomely
simple – that is creativity.”
The measure of a truly great man is the courtesy with which he treats lesser
men.

Celebrate Success
Everyone in our organization needs to feel important and part of the team,
they should be recognized and rewarded.
“The greatest management principle in the world is „the things that get
rewarded and appreciated get done.” Michael LeBoeuf
The greatest boost for a company‟s productivity and ultimately profit is
employees‟ happiness.

Exibit 1. Service profit chain adapted from The Service Profit Chain
(Source: Heskett et al., 1997 , p. 19)

Measure Results
“What gets measured gets improved” (Peter Drucker), to measure gives us
the necessary tools to manage and assess our organization‟s performance.

Reinforce, Reinforce, Reinforce!

To achieve the desired change we need to keep reminding ourselves, and
others, all of the stages that were mentioned.

Change is part of life, change is opportunity, “it is not the strongest of the
species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one
that is the most adaptable to change” (Charles Darwin).

When patterns are broken, new worlds emerge.