Eating Brussel Sprouts

Those who do not embrace change are soon to become victims of it.? – Kent Williams

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As children, we often ended up having to do things that we did not want to.? I recall the first time that I was asked to eat Brussel sprouts.? My initial reaction was that of utter horror.? I did not even want to consider the idea of touching them let alone actually eating them.? I used salt, butter, and even ketchup to try to mask the taste of the bitter little creatures.? Yes, I said ‘creatures!’? It seems rather silly now because as an adult, I have grown to enjoy them.? It is not our household prepares them frequently, and it is still an acquired taste.? However, my seasoning has changed to fresh ground pepper and sautéing them in butter and garlic to add the right kind of taste.? None of this would have been possible had I not suffered through the early years of dealing with them.? It is quite the change from my earlier views about them to now.

We all have heard the saying, “Change is inevitable.”? While this is true, few of us like the idea of it.? I say few because there is a select group of people who love nothing more than changing things up.? This does not mean they are right because sometimes change can be a bad thing.? Ask when Coca Cola decided to change the formula of their number one rated soft drink and nearly lost their top spot facing backlash from their customers.? That being said, failing to adapt to change can be even more disastrous as in the famous case study of Research In Motion, parent company to Blackberry phones.? Thus, it has been proven that it is indeed wise that we adapt to change even when it makes us uncomfortable.? In fact, being uncomfortable in change is more often a good thing than not because it is how growth happens, and we all want to grow in our leadership.? So, it is in our best interest to embrace change whether we want to or not.? Like most things, it is best that we provide ourselves with a roadmap to ensure we do not fall stagnant and get left behind.? Here are four ways for us to keep change at the forefront of our ways of leading:

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Break Down the Change

My love for jazz music has changed over the years.? There was a set group of artists that I always bought.? However, the last group of artists that I listened to is entirely different.? It was because over time I got really good at finding new artists that also suited my taste by trying a song or two from a playlist and then listening to more like them.? The same applies to our dealing with various types of change.? For example, many of us have been thrust into the Artificial Intelligence world.? Some of us avoid it like the plague, and yet, many have begun to utilize in ways that have actually made them more productive.? If you fall into the former category, consider starting small with little tasks such as summarizing an article or analyzing a group of numbers.? Observe the difference in the results.? It is those little bits of effort that begin to shrink the level of change into manageable pieces and before you know it, you might find bigger and better ways to incorporate it into your daily activities.? By setting up small little changes in your routine, you will begin to find newer ways to do things that you had not previously done.

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?Consider the Consequences of Stagnation

Part of this article pointed out the fall of Research In Motion and its Blackberry phone.? In reading about their historic collapse, their failure was that the higher ups loved their product so much that they did not see the rise of Apple and their touch screen phones.? They were convinced that their users loved using the clicky keyboard, and by the time they conceded that they needed to change, it was too late.? What about in your job role or your group’s ability to adapt.? Are there possibilities of losing top talent to companies that offer flexibility to work from home?? Are people developing faster on other teams?? In an ever-changing world, it is near malpractice to not consider changing things up in your workplace because failing to do so means you may very well be left behind.? Think of something that impacted your business and ask if there is a better way than accepting things just as the standard ‘well, we always did it that way.’? If we continue to think as we always thought, we will continue to get what we always got.? If you never consider doing things differently, you stand the chance of being left behind.

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Consult and Collaborate

It is incredibly difficult to make a change when you have no experience or good feel for something.? In fact, making a change when you have no experience can end up being disastrous.? However, utilizing others who may not be experts in change but do well in an area you struggle in might be the catalyst for you to better embrace the change you seek.? A few months ago, I spoke about giving up a responsibility to a person more talented than me in data analysis.? While they were able to exponentially improve on my original reporting, I learned various ways through them to better understand the information that allowed me to manage my team more effectively.? Thus, the change led to better results for the department and more effective management.? Consider reaching across different areas of the organization to find different perspectives on leadership.? See if you can work together and see how they adapt to change in their world.? We tend to forget that other groups and departments deal with change just as we do.? Collaborating with them may help accelerate the learning process for both sides.

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Dive In

When you are out in a lake, the water temperature is often cold.? Even if the water is actually warm, the initial feel is so much colder because we ourselves are almost 100 degrees inside.? In those situations, we learned it is best to just dive into the water to let your body adjust to the temperature, and then it does not feel as daunting as before.? Taking the approach of diving into change is often the best way to deal with it.? Consider it as a growth step.? In fact, try having a level of enthusiasm and positivity to it.? Yes, you will make mistakes initially, but a growth mindset does not see failure.? Do not let past failures be the reason for your resistance to change!? See it as a learning opportunity, and when you learn something, you are apt to do much better the next time.? You will gain a great deal particularly in the early stages of it.? As leaders, we set the tone for our teams, and if we are quick to embrace the change going ‘all in’ on it, our teams will be more receptive to it.

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Business is ever evolving.? It requires a degree of courage to change what we are comfortable with.? Dr. Brene Brown put it best saying, “We can choose courage, or we can choose comfort, but we cannot have both.”? This is not to say that there are moments where we should not rest in our accomplishments, and there is such a thing as change fatigue. ?By strategically embracing change, we can steer our endeavors toward positive outcomes. ?Sometimes, a small adjustment, like rearranging a sofa, can refresh our perspective without the need for an overhaul. Let us inspire and be inspired to new ways of doing things and hopefully, learn to enjoy eating Brussel sprouts.