Tag Archives: Change

Posted on

Navigating Limbo, In the Midst of Change

by

Have you ever played Capture the Flag?  It was one of my favorite summer camp games because it was filled with adventure and intrigue as we plotted how we would get to the other side of a field, to capture the other team’s flag and bring it back to our side of the world!

The downside of the game was that if you were captured in enemy territory, you were frozen in place, unable to move forward to help your team or to retreat back to safety!  Being frozen was really a state of limbo.  It was watching the game unfold, not as a spectator, and not as a full participant.

As we prepare for our expat journey I’ve been reminded that I’m not good at limbo.  I would rather:

  • Be creating the change.
  • Play a supportive role:  If I know why we are doing something, when it’s happening, what I need to do and when I need to do it.  
  • Be a real spectator:  If I’m watching something amazing unfold, getting to share that experience with others and if I have some idea when the event ends!

I prefer to be participating, adding value, moving towards a goal, and quite simply just being in motion!

Posted on

Being a Leader Means Understanding…

by

(Originally posted on The Be A Leader Blog…)

Has life ever handed you a hurricane of change that took you to your knees? And every time you started to stand another storm hit? A few years ago my husband and I were hit with several seasons of hurricanes. (Some literal, most figurative.) In the midst of lots of change that we had no control over, I was desperate to be in control of something! So I accepted a marketing position that I knew would challenge me and that I could learn from, even though there was a lot about the position I knew I would not enjoy.

One of my first challenges was to learn to drive a club-cab pickup truck and a 28-foot long trailer through traffic in the 4th largest city in the United States! (Let me be clear – I am as girly as they come and I don’t get a kick out of driving a car, much less a truck!)

On the flip side, my husband is completely comfortable with that world and he knows me well. He was fully aware that this thing that I’d agreed to do had many potential downsides including having an accident! He understood that I am a visual learner and that I needed to see the big picture before details would make sense.

Leaders understandSo he made a trip to the store and came home with a toy truck and trailer. He then grabbed some flip chart paper and drew a multiple lane road with a 4-way traffic stop and a parking lot. He put the paper on the floor, and had me drive the truck and trailer up and down the road, around the corners, and back it into parking spaces. Each time he helped me identify all the potential dangers like driving over curbs, hitting other cars, and considering how much time it takes to slow down, or stop that much weight!

Posted on

Faced with a sink or swim situation ~ what do you do?

by

Many of you are aware that my husband and I are preparing for our first overseas move.  In the past couple of weeks we’ve had to push hard to get all the information we need and reach out to people that are not official owners of the process for help.  (Have you ever noticed how much easier it is to offer help than to ask for it?  …Let alone push for it?)

Thankfully we are finding people who are willing to share their time and their stories and offer their advice.  The downside of that is receiving conflicting information and not being able to discern the truth.  And without the truth we are either webbed in place seeking more information or are forced to just jump in and see what happens!

At the same time, we are meeting others that did not have the information they needed when they landed and have had to overcome much larger obstacles than we have so far.  Imagine accepting a new job, being flown to a foreign country where you don’t speak the language, then driven from the airport and dropped off outside of a compound in the middle of the night?  Not at the gate, not inside the gate, not at a hotel but just outside a compound wall, and expected to figure out what to do next on your own!

Posted on

Life Overseas: Turning Unwanted Change into an ADVENTURE!

by

Life Overseas, Expat, Unwanted Change

New beginnings and fresh starts…

  • Can be exciting and fun!
  • Can also be pain-filled and very challenging because an ending has to occur before a fresh start happens.
  • Can be terrifying because they require you to leave what you’ve known and to change.

One of my life’s messages is encouraging others to make choices to leave their comfort zones, reminding them about all of the things they miss out on each time they choose not to take a risk and pointing out all of the growth that happens when they embrace change.

In the fall of 2012, just after sharing this message, my husband was asked to take a new position, across the world, in the only place we said we never wanted to live.

When I got past the shock, got a lot of basic questions answered, and spent quite a bit of time in prayer, I thought of a friend of mine…  

Posted on

Paid to think? …Or to check your brains at the door?

by

Last week I was facilitating a leadership development session for people from every department and every level of a large organization.  During our discussion I asked them if they realized that regardless of their title they are paid to think.  …Their immediate response?  Silence.

iStock_000018618687XSmall

Later in the week I re-opened the book The Secret and as I skimmed through the pages this quote jumped off the page, “Check your brains at the door.  They will be returned to you as you leave the building.  ~The Management”

How about you?  Are you paid to think?  …Or to check your brains at the door?  

…As we near the start of a new year I wonder:

  • How many people work in cultures that expect them to check their brains at the door?
  • How many organizations have actually invited their employees to think?
  • How many organizations have provided the tools and the training to help their organization unleash the knowledge that exists within their own walls?