Search Results for: change

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Discouraged that the change you seek hasn’t happened yet?

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I was recently on a call with a friend that is dealing with at situation that is impacting her family and needs to change. She’s done everything she can think of to communicate their needs, to ask for consideration, and to influence that change but nothing seems to be happening.

As we visited I thought of a story I heard years ago about two children that were teased every day at school by a bully. In spite of their pain, their families encouraged them to be courageous, to speak truth and to be kind and loving in in their responses.

After an especially challenging day at school the two children were hurting, frustrated and discouraged.

So the little girl’s father took them on a trip to a construction site. They sat at a distance and watched as a man hammered on a large boulder. Repeatedly he hit the massive stone with no apparent results.

…And then in one sudden blow the boulder crumbled into hundreds of pieces!

The children were amazed, and wondered why that one blow broke the rock and the others didn’t.

The father explained that with each blow the rock was breaking inside – even though the exterior showed no evidence of what was happening inside.

 

Martin Luther King JrToday we honor the life of a man who consistently modeled that change can be obtained with persistence, thought, discipline and love.  

Martin Luther King Jr. spoke these words AFTER his home was bombed…

We are not advocating violence. We want to love our enemies. I want you to love our enemies. Be good to them. Love them and let them know that you love them.

As we honor his life I can’t help but to think about…

No matter who you are, or where you sit…  

[Tweet “Change won’t happen by wishing for it.”]

Or by waiting for someone else to do it.

[Tweet “The change you want to see is waiting for YOU to act.”]

Below are links to tools to help you be that change and prepare for the boulders you will face:

Image credits:  iStock, Historical Stock Photos

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DEEP Understanding Drives Change

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Several years ago I sat in a room full of volunteers that were being trained to go into schools and work with children that were at risk of dropping out. One of our exercises was a simulation that was designed to help us better understand the day-to-day realities for their families.

  • We were divided up into small groups.
  • Each one of us was given a role to play.
  • Then we were given a real life problem that needed to be solved.
  • And a name of a place we needed to go to for help.

In the simulation I was the small child of a single mother that had no car.

  • “My mother” needed food and a job and childcare.

The simulation was timed to help us understand everything that she needed to accomplish in one day – just to bring home food. (Let alone finding a job or daycare.)

Each time we got off the simulated bus, we walked into a facility and stood in a long line. To eventually be re-directed to another place for services that was across town with different operating hours and another long line.

My job was to simulate how a child begins to act as a few hours becomes a day without food, without a nap, without play.

Earlier this week I shared a new post on The Lead Change Group Blog titled Are you Separating, Assimilating or Leading Change?

It’s a post that continues to highlight a growing dream:

  • That began a few years ago after a lot of self examination
  • That was sparked by current events
  • That moved from pondering to sharing after I heard Dr. Wayne Hardy speak
  • Then intensified after I read a blog post by Jesse Lyn Stoner

And is now being fueled with more frequency and intensity by my expat journey and current events as I consider people, organizations, and countries that are divided in endless conflicts like these:   (more…)

Learn How To Instigate and Lead Change…

No Matter Where You Sit!

Discouraged that the change you seek hasn’t happened yet?

For 20+ years I’ve led organizational development projects in companies and nonprofits of various sizes.  (Often leading those changes from the middle of the organization.) Including company-wide change for those with a national footprint and for clients in private and public and nonprofit organizations.

The answers you are seeking are lying dormant waiting to be released.

It is important to note that even in empowered environments it can be very difficult to lead change.

At at one point in my career I had intentionally joined a company that was deeply invested in empowering people at every level of the organization to make a greater difference.   In spite of all of the time and resources they had invested in making that vision a reality, one of my functional leaders asked me why I had to challenge everything.

Fortunately, we were at a corporate event, where we were being encouraged to think and to challenge anything that was limiting our service, our employees, our results and our future.  So two hours later, that courageous leader followed up to tell me that I was doing exactly what I’d been hired to do and to keep doing it.

As a mid-level leader trying to lead up, I experienced the highs and the lows of trying to share big ideas with people that had positions and power that were much more significant then my own.

Then experienced the unbelievable joy of working with groups of people that courageously did things differently and made an impact that was bigger than anyone ever imagined.

And I’ve felt my stomach churn when opportunities passed by that could have limited or prevented downsizing.

I’m not alone.  Even in empowered environments, Change Agents often struggle to learn:  

  • When to share a risk and an opportunity
  • How to present it in a way that is short and effective – especially with people who think differently than they do
  • How to demonstrate respect for someone else’s experience and/or position while sharing urgency
  • When to wait for someone with more positional power to do something and when to follow up
  • Who else to involve and when to involve them

The gift of a change agent is that they see what is and WHAT COULD BE and they want to help you get there.

The challenge of a change agent is that they can’t turn off their ability to see WHAT COULD BE.   …And often their passion and drive to make things better for their customers, their employees, their organizations, their communities, their nations and our world – causes people in power to feel irritated or threatened. (Which is actually kind of funny – because those same powerful people will later express frustration when their employees and citizens won’t take more ownership!)

If you are a change agent with a fire in your belly that wants to lead up more effectively…

Or if the people that report to you have offered you the gift of their insight and courage in a way that it is hard for you to hear…

This Instigating Change Checklist is for you! 

It is FILLED with SIMPLE SECRETS for change agents, to more effectively communicate with executives so your organization accomplishes your mission and maybe even changes the world!

The change you want to see, is waiting for YOU to act

Receive your FREE copy here: 

Download Now

 

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Looking Back and Looking Forward after Major Change

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  • One year ago yesterday, I got on a plane and flew away from my comfort zone.
  • One year ago late tonight, I arrived in a land that I had repeatedly expressed a less than zero desire to live in.  (And yes, I came to live here.)
  • One year ago tomorrow, I viewed our new home and met new neighbors for the first time.

So today I’m taking my own advice and pausing:

  • To look back at this journey
  • To evaluate what I hoped would happen and compare it to what did happen
  • To evaluate what I’ve learned
  • And think about what’s next

When we announced our decision I shared the following goals:

1.  I was determined to Turn an Unwanted CHANGE into an Adventure.