Time For A Change

Albert Einstein’s famous quote, “Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”

I remember a manager that had this posted in his office. I asked him one day, “why do you have this quote posted in your office?” He simply looked at me and said, “two reasons. First, it reminds me not to keep on doing the same thing. Lastly, it helps me teach my team, not too as well.” I never posted it in my office, but I used the quote to make sure to inspire my teams and myself to make sure that we are not getting stuck in the insanity trap.

The other day, I had an opportunity to discuss some of my leadership thoughts and tactics with a couple of folks. It was pretty clear that the folks I was talking with really want things to be done differently, but.. I hate but sandwiches… brought up Albert’s quote on insanity. They completely understood and definitely felt like they were in the insanity trap.

They asked, how do you get out?

Here were my thoughts:

• Since you recognize that you are in the insanity trap. You need to make everyone aware as well.
• Don’t let any excuses come into play. I have heard them all. In fact, I bet I have probably used a couple myself. You have to be willing to let excuses be aired. Just be ready to point them out as excuses. Control is ours. Take control.
  
• Work together to come up with different ways to attack what needs to be attacked. Having the team involved could help making a change happen faster (and better).
• Monitor your changes. If you really want change, make sure to put in a metric to monitor your progress. If things are not working – you can quickly course correct. If all is going well, than you have your proof to share.
• Celebrate success! You wan to continue to make change be successful, then celebrate when it works. That celebration will help the team want to keep on celebrating.

I can’t wait to hear if this worked for those folks.