Change is Tough

Update at the end!

This morning I was thinking that I need to do something different. I haven’t written anything about leadership in awhile. Not because I didn’t want too. I was in a rut. I have been watching too much about our Presidential candidates and feeling like there is a lack of true leadership within most candidates (at least the two major party ones). I just didn’t want to get into a negative space. So, to change things up, I decided to change the way I shave in the morning. For far too many years, I have been shaving the same way every morning. I gets old. Some would say you get into a rut. Change is difficult. Even for something as simple as shaving.

To bust out of the rut. Get the creative juices flowing. I grabbed all my supplies and stopped to think, “how can I change my shaving today! Like making changes as a leader – you better sit down and assess you situation, look at your assets and develop a plan.

With my plan in my head, I decided to jump off the cliff and shave a different way. I added steps to the front to hopefully provide a better shave. As a leader, you pretty much jump off the cliff when you communicate to your team (and your management) that you want to change things up. Next up comes the actual start of the change. Are you making it immediately or have a start date in mind?

As I was shaving, I found that somethings were going alone smoothly. That was of course stopped when you come to those difficult or sensitive spots. As the leader, we all should be aware of the difficult or sensitive spots… It could be people, process or just the overall fear of change. You need to plan for those areas. Watch for the signs that you are there and act accordingly to move out of those areas quickly and safely.

A few times, I almost caught myself going back to the old way that I was shaving. That is going to happen to every leader and their team. When something becomes second nature or it has always been done that way – it is hard to not fall back into that routine. We do it without thinking most of the time. As the leader, you have to be watching closely for signs that your team or yourself are falling back to the old ways. Hold each other accountable for making sure that we stay the course to insure that we have given the change a chance.

After I was done shaving, I started to wonder if this change was going to provide me with a better shave? When making changes at work, you have to have some way to measure that the change is effective or not. Did some of the change work well? Are there any potential areas that need to be tweaked a bit to make the change more effective? Ways the old way really the best way? I truly believe that if you think that everything you do is not broken, you just have not looked hard enough for improvement. If you want true change, you must measure it and reward positive improvements. I am going to keep on shaving with my changes for a bit to see if this change is effective. Only time and my ability to stick to it – will tell.

Happy change making!

Updated! Sept 19th – After about 2.5 weeks, I have a few things to update.

The change is still happening but not without some issues.

1. After a few days, I caught myself going right back to my old way of shaving. Just before I actually started – I paused… Not sure why. My pause helped me to notice that I was not following my change. Fix for that – I posted a note on my shaving cream bottle – “Don’t forget we do it differently now!” For whatever reason – people will go back to what they really know well. Sometime it is force of habit, the change to them is not working, or we forget. You just to keep the change fresh in everyone’s mind. For the force of habit folks or us forgetful types – you just have to have a visual reminder. Sticky note, blinking sign or just a verbal reminder… For those that don’t think the change is working – report out the numbers or data that demonstrates the change is working… If the change is not working – then you need to work on changing the change… Get your team involved.

Image via – Copyright: borusikk / 123RF Stock Photo