Talkin' Bout an Evolution

Forgive me John Lennon and the Beatles, but just a little play on the title wording. Brian Brim is the coauthor of Strengths Based Selling, and I found a few of his thoughts in the Gallup Management Journal this week that you may find helpful too. His ideas, and those of David Liebnau, Executive Coach with Gallup, offer some insight as we evaluate change opportunities and growth here in the North Jefferson area. I was encouraged and reminded that real change takes time and persistence. In their words, we should be more patient. More will be accomplished through slight shifts than massive immediate changes.
According to Brim and Liebnau, everyone has their special way of doing things that is comfortable, your own special groove. Stepping out of your way of doing things and into another can feel a bit like putting on someone else’s shoes. Not too comfortable and certainly not that efficient. The challenge it seems is to appreciate the difference between actions and practices. Now stay with me here.
According to the writers, actions are the behaviors that you do with little thought. The actions a leader usually takes are determined by the "groove" he or she has developed over time. But how can you grow as a leader if you're forever contained in this same groove? You can't, and that is where practices come in. Practices are interventions that enable you to establish new ways of thinking, feeling, and behaving. They are essential to expand and develop your identity. To grow as a leader, you must slowly and steadily expand the groove. Adopting new practices which are slight shifts from what you already do enables you to access a different level of possible actions and create new opportunities. It is evolution, not revolution.
You don’t get out of your rhythm of what works, you just expand it.
This type of change is called slight-shift practice. It may be fairly easy too. But that's the point: When leaders are asked to do something they have the confidence to do and they see immediate success, they gain confidence from the positive feedback. Confidence and success drive them to repeat it. That's how sustainable development and wider grooves are created, and that's how great results happen. It is like a slow lazy stream that with time and persistence can become the Grand Canyon.
What small changes can you make this week that will lead you to a sea change of possibility? How about pushing back from your desk and talking with your team more about their ideas for improvement? How about dealing with problems immediately, instead of putting them off? How about delegating more to allow someone else to grow in a skill? Can you accept the challenge to just get things done without regard to whom gets the credit?
Now think about this idea in the context of our communities and growth. Think about it in the context of economic and professional development for yourself and the company that you support. Each entity be a company or a community has its own opportunity for development, and each has its own groove for certain. But what would happen if the groove or rhythm started to widen, just a little?
Will our opportunities expand if we take a few actions to partner more, to trust more, and to be more transparent? Once these first easier steps are taken, then and only then will you be able to really talk about creative change, innovation, and thoughtful risk taking.

Congratulations, You Get to Keep Your Job.....

The definition of work is changing. Not just the effort of work, but how we feel about the work that we do. Who among us has not gone through, or held the hand of someone who is going through a job correction? Call it what you will be it downsizing, right sizing, realignment, transformation, it still reads the same, “You, Sir or Madam, need to go be successful……somewhere else.” Not pleasant to hear, and certainly even more unpleasant to watch. Just ask the person who is left standing at the water cooler as they watch their colleagues of many years pack up their boxes and move on. I assure you that standing by is no picnic. Only time will tell who the real winner is going to be: The Last Man Standing or the One Who Moved On.


With all of the change in our economy and the recession that just seems to drag on, it could be expressly dim as we move into the holiday season that is if you let it. In my 22 years of industry experience, I have come to learn that there are always pitfalls and challenges in the work that we do, especially when you work for someone else. I also hold empathy for the business owner who has to make the tough decision to let people go, and I am certain the smaller the organization, the tougher that decision will be.

Perhaps you own your own business and work for yourself, but many of you are like me, working for another person or company. While you do not own your own business, you still work for yourself. Think about it for a minute.

I chose several years ago to change my mindset about this arrangement. I reflected on the increasing vagueness of the employer/employee relationship, and chose to instead think of the work that I do as for myself. My current employer just happens to be my best customer. This change in thinking caused something radical to happen, and I call it unleashing your inner entrepreneur.

When you start to own your own work, you become very much the business owner of your work, and your investiture in the outcomes skyrockets. You take calculated risks. You partner strategically. You educate yourself. You begin to work not just in the business, but on the business. The end result is liberation from some of the stress and drama of day to day work life. After all, you are the boss, you own your own work, and therefore you are responsible. Work no longer becomes a place that you go, but a thing that you do. I have written about this idea here before discussing ideas on the creation of your own personal brand, and I truly believe it is important to help others see the value of putting their good name on their work.

The future of work will be radically different from what we call work today, or can really even imagine. In the emerging economy people will get their work done where and when they need to-or want to. Technology all but guarantees availability and access to information for customers at the click of a button. The world of work is being turned upside down by globalization, demographics and environmental concerns. Our challenge as business owners and owners of our own work is to stay responsive to this demand. It is a dynamic, mobile economy and most definitely incredibly challenging. Good thing the rewards are high.