How to get good at uncertainty

If we become comfortable with change, it’s not scary. We can then embrace it, find joy in it.So how do we get good at change? Some suggestions that are working for me:

• Try something new, but small and safe. New things can be scary because we’re afraid we’re going to fall on our faces. But if it’s something small — learning to juggle beanbags in our living room, learning to balance on a rope that’s close to the ground, listening to a language-learning podcast, for example — it’s not as scary. There’s no real risk of getting hurt. And the more we do this, in small, non-scary steps, the more confidence we’ll gain that new things are not painful.

 

• When you mess up, don’t see it as painful failure. When you’re doing new things, there will be times when you make mistakes, mess up, “fail”. But these words are associated with negative things, like pain … instead, start to look at mistakes and “messing up” as something positive — it’s the only way to learn. Messing up is a way to get better at something, to grow, to get stronger.

 

• Ask “what’s the worst-case scenario”? If you’re exposing yourself, getting out of your comfortable environment, leaving behind security … it can be scary, but when you think about what is the worst thing that is likely to happen, usually it’s not that bad. If you lost all your possessions today in a disaster, how bad would that be? How would you cope? What opportunities would there be? What new things could you invent from this blank slate?

 

• Develop a change toolset. Learn how to cope with changes, no matter what they are. Have a fall-back plan if things collapse. Have friends and family you can call on. Develop some skills where you can get a job or start a new business no matter what happens with your current job or the economy. Learn ways of making friends with strangers, finding your way around a strange city, surviving on little. With a toolset like this, you can feel confident that you can handle just about anything that comes.

 

• Become aware of your clinging. Watch yourself clinging to something when you feel fear and pain. What are you clinging to? Often it’s just an idea — the idea of you and a romantic partner, an image of who you are. Become aware of what’s going on.

 

• See the downsides of clinging. Once you see your clinging more clearly, see the pain that results from it. If you’re clinging to your stuff, see the space it takes up, and the extra rent that costs you … see the mental energy it takes to live with all the stuff, the money you’ve spent on it, the lack of space you have to live. Anything you cling to has a downside — we only see the good side of it, and so we want to cling to it.

Do all that, then change.

Change & Transition and New Year’s Resolutions

This year I am DEFINITELY doing it!

New Year’s resolutions fail not because they are too ambitious.  They fail because we do not adequately plan so we can be successful.  In most cases, resolutions are about eating right, drinking less, exercising more or similar lifestyle oriented objectives.  Yup, its 2013 … I am DEFINITELY losing 20 lb.s this year.  But we  don’t, do we?

If an objective is worth achieving, it deserves a plan and not only that, a plan that has a chance of success.  How do you do that?

Before you go one step further, before one more hour has passed, before you consider doing anything else like go to the gym or throw out all that peanut butter, do this:

1. Identify the Problem that you are trying to solve.  “I need to lose 15 pounds”

2. Create a Picture of what it will look like once you solve the Problem.  “I will look fabulous.  I will have a new wardrobe and a new girlfriend!”

3. Generate a Plan.   This is critical.   You need to identify all the steps you will take.  First identify the components … exercise, diet, etc.  What gym will you join?  When will you go?  What spinning classes will you attend?  What will my girlfriend look like?

Second, identify the obstacles.  What will keep me from being successful?  Does that mean I have to stay away from the pub on Thursdays?  Are my food choices wrong?  Do I eat at times that are keeping me from being the newer, smaller me?  For every obstacle, have a solution.

Third, put it all together and give it to your wife, girlfriend, mother, friend, whatever and get input.  They will tell you if it is a plan that will work or not.

Fourth, implement.

4. Part.  You are the key ‘player’ in this, but I suggest you include a few more people who can help.  A buddy to work out with.  A friend to help you shop better.  Including people makes it harder to not follow the plan because you won’t want to disappoint them.

5. Progress.  Make up one of those United Way type thermometer diagrams and put it on the wall beside the fridge.  Mark the final goal and the incremental milestones.  Measure only once a week and mark it.

Write all this down.  Now.  Good.

Now that you are perfectly set up for success with your diet, take the same approach to that problem at work.  It works exactly the same way.

Let me know how that works for you.

“5 P’s” – An Essential Change Concept

We are working with a local entertainment organization (facility management, conventions, booking acts) that is being privatized and as a result we are working with managers and front-line staff to help them manage the change.  We designed and rolled out a number of different change and transition workshops, tools and events to help them identify the change, their transition issues and get them to plan their reaction to it.  Their response was overwhelmingly positive and there were a couple of specific concepts and tools that they particularly loved.  I want to share one with you right now:

The 5 P’s – Anytime you are going to make a change, you must use the 5P’s to both plan and communicate the change:

Problem – What is the Problem that must be resolved by the change?  Remember, if you want people to change you have to convince them that the problem is big enough and bad enough for the change to be necessary.  Once you do that, you are gold.

Picture – What will the organization / situation look like once the Problem is resolved?  You have to literally paint a Picture of how things will be once the problem is resolved.  It could be that the organization will be larger, or smaller or have more departments.  Perhaps the picture is that communication snarls have been reduced, meaning that information flows faster and more accurately.  In any case, the picture must be so compelling that people want to follow you.

Plan – What are the steps we need to follow to deal with the Problem and get to the Picture?  If you don’t have a plan that makes sense, that is more or less complete, that has the resources behind it for success, that has a part for everyone … then people won’t believe you, the problem or the picture.  Get a plan that will deliver and people will trust that you know what you are doing.

Part – What is my Part in this change?  What is your Part?  What is our collective role?  Everyone needs to play a part in the situational change.  We all need to be acting to resolve the problem and we all NEED TO SEE THAT OTHERS ARE DOING THE SAME.  There has to be a collective sense of action and a collective sense of the pain involved in putting the change into action.

Progress – How will we measure our success?  How will we track the Progress of the change?  All organizations at one time or another have engaged in a change that seems to go on forever and that never seems to be effective.  Make sure you tell people when it starts and when it will stop.  That will create a sense of urgency for you and others, so that the plan gets implemented as quickly as possible.

Use the 5P’s when you are just contemplating a change.  If you can’t fill in significant amounts of detail about each of the 5 P’s, you are not ready to make changes.

Values-Driven Leadership

I have a friend – Bevan – who is also a client.  He’s currently leading a public sector organization that is about to become privately managed.  As a result of this shakeup, there will be a number of people leaving  the organization involuntarily, many after long years of service.  Bevan is among them.    

While many of his management team are despondent and angry about the impending change, Bevan has been even-tempered, upbeat and as positive as the situation demands.  He spends time pumping up his managers, tell them to support their staff and try to find the positive side of the situation; he talks directly to staff members and reminds them that the new management groups have been very successful and are great supports; he liaisons with the representatives of the incoming management groups to ensure they understand how the organization works and how valuable the people are to the operations.

After watching him lead a particularly difficult management meeting a few weeks ago in which he had to address a series of direct questions, which he did with calmness and candour, I commented to him that for someone who was about to lose his job, he was remarkably positive.  I said, ‘Bevan, anyone who didn’t know otherwise would think you were the incoming CAO, not the outgoing!  How do you manage that?’

He said, ‘Michael it would be easy to be angry about this and take it personally, but how does that help me or the people I manage?  All situations have there negative and their positive parts and I choose to look at how I can ensure as positive an outcome for as many people as I can.  Sure I’m not happy personally, but this is a time to keep those thoughts to myself.  The organization needs someone they can look to and lean on as this change unfolds and that is my role right now.’

I’m not sure I could be as principled, and values-driven as Bevan is, but I certainly admire him and would be more than ready to work for him now and any time in the future.  With a guy like this, you know where you stand and that in good times and bad, he is there to provide support and push the organization forward.

So what? Well, I took this away from watching Bevan in action:

1. Remember that in difficult times you have two roles or personas … you are yourself an employee in a company and you hold a management position.  Put your management hat on while you are at work and keep it there.  Anger has no value here and should be avoided.

2. Keep your personal thoughts in check and take the higher ground.  Find the positive aspects of the organization and marshal your thoughts and actions to doing the right thing so that others are supported and encouraged.  

3. Set your goals on providing the greatest possible benefit to the greatest possible number of people when you find yourself in a situation like the one I described above.

4. Finally, be transparent.  Tell people what you know and don’t know and tell them when you will know.  Be candid; it’s a rare quality but will go a long way to building trust among the people you lead.