Key Leadership | Changing is Required

We have heard the statement before in our life that says, "Not all Readers are Leaders, but all Leaders are Readers." This statement demonstrates clearly the value of reading good information on a regular basis. Many experts will agree that simply taking 15 minutes a day to read a book will place you in the top percentage of people in the world.

But is it the discipline of opening the book and reading the words that makes a person great? or is it more than that?

Lets take a look at one key trait that must be acquired as early as possible in our journey.

First, I want to point out that this information is merely a compilation of those who are well ahead of me. We know that the principles of success are not new, they are merely passed down. I have taken some of those principles and applied them and have a burning desire to pass them to others on their journey.

So lets go back to the key trait that must be acquired early in the journey. We must be willing to change. This not optional. One statement that I heard Orrin Woodward make early in my journey was "Either you hate changing enough to lose or you hate losing enough to change!" I got so tired of losing that I had to change!

Is there an area in your life that you are still holding on to? If you are hoping to make a difference in the lives of others, pursue your purpose, live your dreams, and have actual validated success you must be willing to change.

The most practical process that has helped me avoid insanity in this "Changing" process is what is called the PDCA process. We will identify each of the letters of this acronym shortly, but let me ask first, Have you ever found your head spinning trying to figure out which area of your life to fix first?

My pastor comically says it so well that "We've heard so much life changing information and made so many life changing decisions that we barely know who we are anymore!" Einstein says that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again expecting different results.

You cannot expect different results in your life by doing the same exact thing you did last time you tried to fix the problem.

So how do we avoid insanity in this process? Well, I have used the PDCA process hundreds if not thousands of times in my life. I was reading a book by Orrin Woodward called "Resolved" and in that book he clearly defines each of the four letters in the PDCA process.

P= Plan

D= Do

C= Check

A= Adjust

This must be done constantly with as many areas of your life as possible. I will PDCA as I write this article. We can PDCA as we drive down the road. We can PDCA as we prepare for a date, or talk with our children, or answer a text message, or write an email, or develop a process, or have a conversation. You can literally PDCA anything in your life! Isn't that awesome?!

Plan.

This one is simple. It is primarily saying to yourself, "I need to fix ___" I recently had a conversation with a new client the other day. I want to be the best at sales. I love to close deals and I am willing to change. I hung up the phone with the client and immediately went through the dialogue that transpired between my client and I. In a simple 10 minute phone call I was able to find at least one area that I can improve on. I identified that something the client said to me could have been answered with a question rather than me explaining the answer to them. This is the planning part of the PDCA process -- finding at least one area in as many things as possible that can be improved. Plan it.

Do.

Now that I have identified that I should have answered the clients question with a question instead of going on and on describing the answer I must now DO it. This is a bit more of a challenge because it will open you up to a potential mistake. But remember, this is a part of the changing process. If you hate changing you will lose, remember?

You may not like the results of this part of the process but hold on! We are barely half way through the process! The next call I made I had a choice when the client asked a question. I could either go on and on describing the answer like I did before which is the definition of insanity, or I could let go of my fear of being wrong and go ahead and re-frame their question and ask them to clarify. Doing what you said you are going to do is a challenge.

You'll have to have courage. Any level of fear can be overcome by any level of courage. If you have a huge fear of failure then only a tiny bit of courage can overcome that fear of failure. Go ahead an DO it.

Check.

Next in the process I must Check my results. This is vital to the process. If my client responded in a negative manner after I returned the question back to them then I need to put that on the scoreboard as a loss. If my client offers a favorable response then I must put that on the scoreboard as a win.

The Scoreboard is very important. I remember wrestling in high school. I wasn't a great wrestler, but I learned a lot of great principles from my coach. He would often tell us "don't look at the scoreboard during a match!" It didn't make sense when he told us that but looking back I can clearly see now why. He didn't want us to add emotion to the "Check" part of the process! Too many of us are guilty of adding emotion when we see the score. All the scoreboard is designed to do is tell the score, nothing more. Check your results. Thats it. Don't think too deep into it, just check.

Adjust.

This one is the most important, yet the most forgotten of the four steps to this process. We are usually okay with planning, we don't mind doing what we plan to do, and sometimes we will check the results. Many of us just leave it right there. We stop! Why? You are almost done, don't stop now!! Go ahead and make a small adjustment. It doesn't have to be a major noticeable adjustment but you have to make an adjustment or you won't change for better results!

Once you have made an adjustment, no matter how small, you have set in motion what is called the Power of Compounding -- and it is working in your favor!! Lets use the example of money. If we put $100 in a savings account two times we now have $200 in a savings account. However, if we allow the power of compounding to work in our favor, we can simply add another $100 to that savings account two more times and we have now doubled what we had two weeks ago! Then within 10 short weeks we will have $1000 if all we do is consistently place $100 in a savings account each week. But, if you stop putting $100 in a savings account after the first week, all you will have is $100 in your account. You must consistently add something small in order to put in motion the power of compounding to work in your favor.

Plan. Do. Check. Adjust. Follow the PDCA Process and you will see tremendous results in so many areas of your life. So is it required that you change? No. If you don't want better results then don't change. But if you do want results, change.

I'd highly recommend that you read the book Resolved by Orrin Woodward for an in depth study of his PDCA process.