HOW TO OUTLAST AND OUTPERFORM THE COMPETITION – EMBRACING CHANGE

INTRODUCTION

The Leadership Challenge series addresses three major topics every leader must consider. The first is “Creating a Compelling Vision”; the second is “Getting and Maintaining Peak Performance”; and the third is “How to Outperform & Outlast the Competition – Embracing Change.” My first two papers in the Leadership Challenge series covered topic one and two. This paper covers the third topic.

In my first paper, I discussed a Vision that Inspires; Gaining Commitment and Alignment around a Compelling Vision; Mobilizing the organization and achieving forward momentum; getting the entire organization focused on the right results; avoid derailing your organization; and then transforming your organization.

 In my second paper part 1 and part 2 I discuss what it takes to get and maintain peak performance; creating and achieving goals; achieving peak performance that results in transforming your organization; the formula for success; the ways of learning; goal achievement vs. goal setting; and the formula for performance.

In this paper, the last in the “Leadership Challenge” series, I will describe: ‘the reality of change’; getting everyone on-board; overcoming resistance to change; and embracing organizational change and thriving on change.

OVERCOMING THE FEARS AND CHALLENGES

As a leader, you have your vision and you have shared it with the entire organization – you thought you had commitment and alignment; you are expecting every employee to get on-board – but not every employee is getting on-board. The organization is stuck in the land of the status quo. Why? There are so many possible reasons why and a good Organizational Change Management (OCM) diagnosis could provide many of the answers you need. But this is about you, as a leader; there are many things you can do to help your employees get on-board, overcome their fears and challenges, and embrace change. 

There are many employees in the organization that are in their comfort zone – they are in the “Land Of Status Quo” – LOSQ. Employees feel comfortable and safe; they like things the way they are; they know what to expect every day when they come to work; other employees in the organization or in their department pull them back to the LOSQ, any time they try to change. The resistance increases first with individual employees and then it grows to include large groups of employees. 

As you will recall from my first paper; as a leader you need to gain commitment and alignment around your vision, from the entire organization. Some in the organization will immediately jump on-board; others will wait and see or run the other way. Your team will want to know the destination – where is the train going? What route will this train take? What’s the destination? The figure on page 1 shows what it might look like in your organization: some employees rushing to get on board; some employees just taking their time to get on board; other employees just hanging around waiting; and other employees running away. As the leader: you want commitment; you want alignment; and you want everyone on-board.

There are many conditions that can derail your organization. One of the first reasons employees resist change might be FEAR; fear of the unknown or it might be FEAR; False Evidence Appearing Real. A second reason employees resist change could be EGO.  It is sad but the need to be right is very powerful. It can be a common problem with leaders, managers, supervisors, and business owners.

A third reason employees resist change could be to avoid CONFLICT. It is no fun dealing with conflict and many people will do just about anything to avoid it. A fourth reason employees resist change could be they have a lack of PURPOSE. Without a sense of purpose employees can become stagnant and complacent.

As a leader of others, you must become a leader of yourself first, before you become a leader of others. You must first overcome these conditions in yourself, before you help others overcome them. You must first get your attitude right and then help others get their attitude right. You work at creating the right environment and good communication that cascades down through the organization. You share your vision and you gain commitment and alignment around your vision.

Attitudes are Contagious! Is yours worth catching?

The world is changing which means we need to change and evolve to survive – we must all embrace change. Organizations must also change and evolve to survive. Our world is changing, our markets are changing, our customers are changing and if we are to survive we must CHANGE OR DIE. If you think about it, we face more changes in a year than our grandparents faced in their lifetime. These changes can be scary or they can be frustrating or they can be exhilarating – it depends on our attitude. Accept and embrace change and survive or resist change and die – it is your choice. You as the leader must lead by example.

“I am sorry I can’t hear what you are saying – your actions are too loud!” Unknown

You must take the first step and show your organization that you are serious about change and it will start with you. “Whenever you point a finger at someone else, there are three fingers pointing right back at you” Zig Ziglar. You lead by example – it starts with you. Let’s face it, if you’re not willing to change, how can you expect your people to be willing to change. NECS-MA uses a six step process for changing, which is simple and straight forward. I won't go through the six steps; I am going to briefly discuss the fhe first two steps.

In order to change an individual must be aware and admit that change is required. The second step desire - an individual must want to change. If they do not want to change they will not move forward with the change process.

The following is from the RAC Leadership Program:

There is a story told about a young man who was looking for a place to settle down. As he approached the outskirts of a small town, he encountered an elderly man and asked him, “What kind of people live in that town?” 

“What kind of people lived in the last place you lived?” the old man responded.

“They were selfish and unfriendly,” replied the youth.

“You’ll find the same here,” answered the old man.

A few days later, another young traveler approached the same town and asked the same old man, “What types of people live in this town?”

“What kind of people lived in the town you came from?” replied the old man.

“They were honest, sincere, and friendly. I was sad to leave.”

 “You’ll find the same here,” said the old man.

To a significant degree, your attitudes create the world you see. If you have a pessimistic attitude, you will tend to see the glass half empty, instead of half full.

An amazing thing is that we cannot change other people, but when we begin to change the way we think about them … they will indeed change. 

Muhatma-Gandhi said, “Let us become the change we seek in the world.”

It is amazing how we are always trying to change other people – the challenge is we can’t change other people – we can create an environment for them to change. We can only change ourselves and how we see other people. In my paper “The Total Person” I talked about getting the person right and you will get the organization right. Once you’ve looked at yourself, it’s time to focus on the organization. Your vision, your organization, and everyone in it needs to embrace change. 

“Failure to change is a failure to succeed.” RAC Leadership program

In my Leadership Challenge series; my Leadership Development program; and my Developmental Coaching program; I describe the strategies and steps (the how to) you can take to successfully compete today and tomorrow. To summarize:

• Have a compelling vision that inspires
• Gain commitment and alignment around your vision
• Mobilize the organization to gain forward momentum
• Get all employees on-board
• Create and achieve goals
• Achieve peak performance
• Apply the formula for success
• Change is inevitable
• Overcome the resistance to change
• Thriving on change

Current strategies get old fast. Effective new strategies or the refinement of existing strategies will help you successfully compete today and tomorrow. The purpose of a new or refined strategy is to develop a different and/or better products or services.

As a leader, change starts with you first and then following a disciplined approach you will work toward Organizational Adoption.

Adapted from Remy S. Leeuwin, Organizational Change with input from Guy Couillard, OTA

NECS-MA has webinars and workshops to assist individuals and organizations Achieve their Highest Potential:

The Leadership Challenge Seminars were developed as stand-alone topics (90 minutes in length) or they can be used in succession.

In the Leadership Challenge series, we are presenting three leadership seminars. They are:

1. The First Step To Great Leadership – Creating A Compelling Vision
2. The Real Leadership Challenge – Getting & Maintaining Peak Performance
3. Part 1
4. Part 2
5. How To Outperform And Outlast The Competition – Embracing Change

The Leadership Development Workshop is a structured, open-ended pragmatic approach to leadership growth and overcoming the Leadership Challenges. It is a workshop designed to help individuals develop the attitudes, skills, and qualities necessary for personal and organizational leadership.

Development Coaching is a structured, open-ended pragmatic approach to personal and professional growth. It is designed to help individuals develop the attitudes, skills, and qualities necessary for personal and organizational leadership.

For more information about individual and organizational programs contact Gary Comeau at [email protected] or 781.929.1148.