Driving Transformational Change: Part One

Welcome back to the LIFT by Body Talk newsletter, where you can learn how to achieve your goals by LIFTing others.?

Here you will gain insights and top tips from another new project: the LIFT podcast ! Leadership is not about power or status, but about serving and transforming how people feel or perform. My guests will help show you how to achieve this as easily as possible.?

In our last newsletter, we discussed what to do when you’re feeling stuck. Sometimes we find ourselves in positions that not only require moving with intention, but making big, transformational changes. In Part One of Driving Transformational Change, we’re going to talk about how that can more generally apply to our lives, and in Part Two, we’re going to discuss what Driving Transformational Change looks like for leaders specifically.?

I was joined by Ian Ziskin on the LIFT podcast to talk about Leading Change - How to Adapt, Thrive and Transform , whether that applies to your personal life, your family, your career, or your community.?

Ian is President of EXec EXcel Group LLC and has 40 years of experience as a business leader, board advisor and member, coach, consultant, entrepreneur, teacher, speaker, and author of The Secret Sauce for Leading Transformational Change . He is Co-Founder and Partner of Business inSITE Group (BiG), Co-Founder of the Consortium for Change (C4C), and Co-Founder of the CHREATE Project. His global leadership experience includes Chief Human Resources Officer and/or other senior leadership roles with three Fortune 100 companies – Northrop Grumman, Qwest Communications, and TRW.

Ian’s book on change began in the context of Covid, when people were dealing with extreme transformational change—adjusting to lockdown, working or schooling remotely, getting laid off, or losing loved ones. Ian held onto this question:

“What does it actually take for people to survive, and perhaps even thrive, in periods of large-scale transformational change?”

The first challenge is confronting the reality that the circumstances that you’re in are inevitable and must be addressed.

“The natural human tendency is to deny reality.”

Ian described coping with the circumstances that lead to the need for transformational change almost like the stages of grief—denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and, eventually, acceptance.

We want to deny reality because we don’t want to accept the difficult and uncertain work of making changes. This is why it’s so easy for people to get trapped in unhealthy relationships or unhappy jobs. We may look back and wonder, “What was I thinking?” But the fear of change left us stuck in the moment. It can also be the reason organisations collapse, out of denial of the challenges they’re facing. Inaction only enables the problems to fester until it’s too late.?

So how do we avoid this??

“The next step is to address and change our circumstances by controlling the things we can control because there is so much happening around us that we cannot control.”

Shira Miller offered some great advice in my last newsletter, How to Get Unstuck . As individuals, we can take time to reflect and set up positive habits for ourselves. What happens if you wake up and journal every morning? Exercise? Both? Sometimes incremental changes are all that we need to get unstuck. Ian’s specialty is transformation.?

What is the difference between change and transformation?

Ian says, “All transformation is change, but not all change is transformational.”

Change doesn’t have to be far-reaching, systemic, or comprehensive. Change is doing something differently. Transformation is about improving the situation that you’re in.?

How do we make transformational change happen?

The most important thing you can do is define “from what to what.” How did you get to your current state, as an individual or an organisation? In order to understand the impact of the changes that you’re trying to make, you must reflect on what exactly got you to where you are. Take some time to reflect on both your successes and your failures.?

Understanding where you’re coming from and where you want to go, or your “from what to what,” can give you a clear understanding of where you’ve been, what needs to be preserved, and what needs to be changed before you embark on your journey toward transformational change.?

“You need to respect the past and fall in love with the future.”

We like for things to stay the same. Change can be uncomfortable. Delaying it or questioning if change is necessary can allow the situation to get worse and worse.

Key bits of advice from Ian:

Define, align, and refine the what and why.

• Define - It’s important to have clarity about the goal. What is it that you’re really trying to achieve??
• Align - How do we measure success? Do we know if we’re actually making progress? How do we hold people accountable for their contribution to those successes? What happens if someone is a great contributor? Are there consequences for not getting on board??
• Refine - There is a tremendous need to have the expectation that you’re going to have to adjust course along the way. Work some flexibility into your game plan for the obstacles that will inevitably pop up.?

If you can’t face the reality of your situation, you’re going to have a much harder time driving transformational change. But if experiencing Covid has taught us anything, it’s that we are resilient, clever, and transformative, even in situations that most of us never could’ve seen coming.?

Want to learn more?

Stay tuned next edition for Driving Transformational Change: Part Two.?

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