CHANGE TAKES COURAGE, BUT WHY SHOULD THEY CARE?

C-H-A-N-G-E – six little letters that can perpetrate so much anxiety. Reactions to a changing environment are always unpredictable. Being prepared to address the resistance to change is a key success factor necessary to achieve your goals as a change leader.

According to the Institute for Corporate Productivity, managing and coping with change is the number one critical issue faced by organizations today. In fact, in a survey of 631 executives, three of the top ten issues anticipated in 2013 relate to change! Surprise anyone? Not me.

Organizations and cultures must transform to win. It’s just that simple!! More of the same just isn’t going to allow a company to survive in the future. To thrive, we must embrace change.

See, here’s the thing. People don’t change because of policies or mandates or threats. People change because of people! Your role as a leader is to be the motivation that enables your team members to push beyond their uncertainties and make change possible. Mehmet Oz says that people don’t change their behaviors based purely on what they know. They change based on what they feel. I believe he is right.

To help your team adapt to the new future expectations, ensure they know why they should care. Four ways to accomplish this include:

Communicate/Connect – Early, often, consistently and in language they will understand. Eliminate the use of buzzwords or jargon. Emphasize WHY. Provide a goal to work towards rather than a problem to run away from.

Assess Their Needs – Listen to them with empathy and determine the source of their resistance. Remember, listening is not just waiting your turn to speak. Ensure everyone sticks to the facts. Ask what it will take for them to be successful.

Recruit Them To Help – Invite folks, rather than telling them, to be on your team. Ask, “tell me more” as often as possible. Achieve quick wins (by design) and celebrate ridiculously!

Exhibit the Desired Behaviors – Be a role model for expected mindsets and behaviors. Create a meaningful sense of urgency. And actively manage less than desired behaviors in team members.

Influence people to know why they should C-A-R-E and when they believe what you believe, they will go the extra mile.

In change, as long as the:

-       pressure to change,

-       truth about the current reality,

-       well-defined plans to achieve the desired change, and

-       the vision for and the benefits of the future state

collectively outweigh the level of resistance, transformation will occur. But, let any of those four elements fall absent from your culture, and your change process is destined for failure.

So, in the end, it’s just this simple. Your role as a leader is to make change possible. Make…change…possible. Not from a position of power, but because you inspired your team to have the courage to care as much as you do. And when you make change possible, you and those around you will be simply amazing!

Jump Off A Perfectly Good Boat?

One Saturday when I was a teenager, my parents and I were out for a day of fishing in our small boat on Lake Arthur in PA. It was a great sunny day and there were many boats on the lake.

As we were moving through a small cove, we came upon a Hobie Cat sailboat that was flipped on its side with the sail under water. The two people with the boat were unable to right the boat by themselves. They were in a pickle indeed.

I wanted to help. I just had to help them. As my Dad pulled the boat along side their disabled boat, I jumped into the water and swam over to help them. After many minutes of struggling we finally got their boat upright and on the water again. They thanked me and I began to make my way back to our boat, the Polish Petunia.

But there was a problem. I was exhausted from exerting so much energy with the Hobie Cat. And I failed to put on a life jacket before jumping into the water. I thought I was a good swimmer. But something made me panic in the open water because the Petunia looked a mile away. Candidly, I thought I was going to drown. I did make it back – but completely exhausted and panicked.

And, for the first time in my life, I was afraid to go back into the water.

Ever since that day I have had a fear of swimming in open water or a pool where I can’t touch the bottom. I immediately and intensely feel I am going to drown. Rational? Not really. But it is real to me. When I can’t touch the bottom I flail around like Wiley Coyote falling from a cliff.

Fast-forward 30+ years. Last week I was on vacation with family in Antigua – a beautiful place with incredible beaches and emerald green water. On Monday we chartered the Cool Cat, a 48-foot catamaran, for a lunch cruise and snorkeling expedition.

Excuse me? Snorkeling expedition? I don’t think so! Are you nuts? Why would I want to jump off of a perfectly good boat into open water where I cannot touch the bottom? No thanks – not for me. I will stay on the boat and take pictures.

And that was my plan – help everyone else get into the water, take some pictures, enjoy some rum punch and stay safe. Pura vida baby!

Until …

Everyone was encouraging me to come on in. The water temperature was 94 degrees and the underwater wildlife and scenery was spectacular. I love seeing animals in their natural surroundings and I so wanted to join them.

But I was afraid. No way was I going in there! I might drown. Or worse!

And for some reason, there was a moment where I heard a friend’s voice in my head telling me that my fears are just stories I tell myself. My fears are me telling myself I can’t or won’t be amazing. And being fearful must not stand in the way of me doing amazing things.

Now I had to get in the water and be amazing. I had to do it! This was a moment of truth.

So I strapped on the fins, grabbed a snorkel and mask (and a noodle to make me float!) and I jumped in. It scared the dookie out of me, I’ll tell ya that much.

The water felt warm, I was floating just fine and I was hanging with my peeps. But I was still incredibly scared.

Long story short … I had the time of my life. It took me 15 minutes or so to figure out how to use a snorkel and not breathe in mouthful after mouthful of water. And I had to get comfortable having my face under water without hyperventilating. But once I did it was beautiful. The fish and coral and the shipwreck – OMG was it incredible.

I WAS DOING IT!! And, I was damn good at it!

See, here's the thing. In order to move forward, sometimes you have to jump off a perfectly good boat. You have to find that strength to leave the comfy confines of certainty and dive (figuratively and literally) into the abyss of uncertainty. And you have to be willing – beyond belief – to be uncomfortable in how far you stretch your actions to achieve amazing.

Jumping off of a perfectly good boat may not seem rational, but I now see how it was the only answer in pursuit of progress. The only solution to move beyond being hesitant and show the world I could be amazing.

And I got to see some really cool fish, too!

What boat do you need to jump off of today? What security “blankets” do you need to shed in order to achieve your goals? Think about it – I bet you have some for sure. We all do.

Success is built upon the ladder rungs of risk. Meaningful and lasting change cannot happen without taking risks. What does that look like for you?

Make a decision to “get wet”. Take action. Show yourself just how amazing you can be. Jump, my friend, JUMP!

Your life is happening right here, right now. Make it amazing!