Can Leadership End the Tyranny of Change?

“Everyone thinks of changing the world,

but no one thinks of changing himself.” – Leo Tolstoy

INTRODUCTION

According to many publications and my own empiric ‘evidence’, most of all change initiatives fail. The simple question is: Why do you think this is happening? Is it lacking definition, process, procedure, or could this somehow have to do with how a leader personally views, accepts, or rejects change?

It is interesting to see that there are still leaders, who doubt who decides, when it comes to change. I often suggest leaders to look back at a time when they actually tried to make someone change. When these leaders imagined to roll-out some new directive through a ‘Friday afternoon email’, or any other 'directive' which fell through in its effectiveness. Initiatives like this turn into a major cause of leadership frustration, excessive organisational stress, team dysfunction and even executive burn-out - just to name a few.

Over the years as a practicing international executive leader and currently in my role as an executive coach, working with executives and professionals on leadership development and performance management (including burn-out), I often get questioned on change. More particular on the reasoning behind people’s own ability or reluctance to change. Leaders are often entirely focused on their relationship with the outside world – not realising, while they are doing so, they are quite disturbing their own inner world.

CHANGE OBSERVATIONS

First, I personally belief there is so much stigma around the word change, for it to be better banned from professional language – about the answer to what to call it instead more later on in this article. I have experienced countless leaders and team members who advocated to me that they personally liked to change. I have written about this before in earlier articles. Let me once again be very clear about this: No one likes to change - no matter what people say.

Secondly, asking people if they do like to change, is like asking them if they want to live? Most people do not want to sound na?ve and answer “yes” to both these questions. In my view, people are not integrally thinking (using our left and right brain integrally) when answering this type of questions.

Thirdly, all people, me included, project the lack of safety and uncertainty in the future unknown. People are continuously focused on making the uncertain less insecure – in business we call this intellectually ‘risk management’. People are focused on the value judgment of the impending change and what it potentially could mean to them. Last time it did go well, but how about this time?

CHANGE, OR...?

The subconscious mind is masterfully releasing associated negative memory bits, forming a worst-case scenario movie-trailer on what is about to happen. Despite all its wonderful qualities, the subconscious mind can only derive (past) images/sounds from one’s vast audio-visual database (memory). So, the ‘protective question’ quickly becomes – Yes, but what if? 

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Johan

Johan F. Reinhoudt

Founder and CEO Top-Coach

Master Executive Coach and Master Burnout Coach

Johan Reinhoudt is a former life sciences executive, founder and director of Top-Coach. He is the developer of the True Result? Executive Coaching 5-Step Program (leadership development and performance management) and the 12-week Coach? (burn-out prevention and accelerated sustainable recovery). These methodologies help executives and professionals (e.g. accountants, lawyers, medical specialists, pharmacists, notaries, entrepreneurs) who are confronted with leadership, performance challenges and/or burn-out (symptoms) to achieve in-context sustainable personal growth with measurable results in record time.

This is advanced executive coaching by an experienced senior executive and well-trained professional executive coach. The coaching is particularly suitable for executives and professionals who want to move forward "now" and who want to invest in sustainably improving their personal effectiveness and achieving or exceeding personal goals faster. This allows for transformation from 'survival' to 'effortless living'.

As a professional executive coach Johan is accredited by the International Coaching Council (ICC) and is associated with the Dutch Association of Professional Coaches (NOBCO) and the Association for Comprehensive Energy Psychology (ACEP). For additional information visit the Top-Coach website.

Through Top-Coach, it is Johan's mission to support executives and professionals to increasing their personal performance, resilience and vitality and thereby sustainably contributing to a healthy living and working environment.