We live in a dynamic world. This is one opportunity for introverts to shine. You're analytic, a deep thinker, and can process large amounts of data. You notice it all. Because of this, you likely see changes coming before others. It's what you do once you notice the change that makes all the difference...

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Transcript

In the last episode we talked about how you can learn to think more strategically and why that’s important. Once you become highly familiar with the strategic intent of your organization and well versed with the current and projected future of the industry, you will start to notice that things never remain static. We live in a dynamic world that is always shifting, always ebbing and flowing.

This is one opportunity for introverts to shine. Because you are so analytic, such a deep thinker and have the ability to process large amounts of data (both written, produced content – but also nuances others probably miss, like the sound of a CEOs voice, the facial expressions at a board meeting, the meaning or intent behind an industry giant’s words in a major speech.) You notice it all. Because of this, it is very likely that you see changes coming before others. Not all change is announced with fanfare and marching bands. Often, the change starts to peek it’s head up in small ways, here and there, so that 20 years from now when someone writes a book, these small moments will seem obvious – and many people will think, “if only I realized that sooner”.

I want you to train yourself to believe when you see these indications. Train yourself to notice the shifting sands early. Teach yourself to become an early adopter of change. Change is not bad or good, in of itself. It is simply a reality.

You have values and things you deeply care about, things critical to your personal integrity and to your soul, especially if you are a deeply spiritual person. You have the direction you wish things would go and you have the desire to create a positive impact in the world. Your values, beliefs, and personal vision will all impact HOW your guide change in your own life and your sphere of influence, including your organization and generally within your industry. You probably know people, maybe even you have had these moments, where you try to stop things from changing and you do so by standing on a platform of values, beliefs, and integrity. These are important moments. You will have to decide what is right for you in these moments. The key is to know that things do change, sometimes slowly and sometimes suddenly – but it is inevitable that change will happen.

When you find yourself resisting change, ask yourself, “Why” are you resisting it. If you truly believe it is wrong, immoral, or dangerous – decide what you are going to do about it and what you are willing to risk to move things in the right direction. These are important moments where some of the greatest leaders of all time have emerged. I cannot tell you, personally, what to do at these times, but these moments come. They may be minor and easily navigated or they may be major. The decision you make in the critical moments could make all the difference to your organization’s success, the outcomes for your customer, and especially to your integrity and personal reputation.

Sometimes you’ll find that you’re resisting change and, if you’re truly honest with yourself, it has nothing to do with it being wrong, immoral, or dangerous. Sometimes you resist it simply because you have become comfortable with the way things are. You have your current leadership position on auto-pilot, it’s challenging enough but you have plenty of time to get everything done. You have a solid team of people, sure… they might also be on autopilot to some degree – no processes or deliverables have changed in 2-3 years, so they come in, punch the clock, create their widget, then go home. Let’s say you have 32 people working on the current team you lead. You will notice you are resisting change when strategic intent starts to shift and there is discussion that an emerging opportunity is arising in the organization. The Board or CEO have started to consider creating a new division, but some re-alignment may be required to make the change. If you notice you are resisting the change, take some time to ask yourself “WHY”. Is it really because it is wrong? Is there any chance that you simply don’t want to disrupt your comfortable routine? Also… is there any chance that you are worried that you will go from 32 people on your team to 29 people? Are you sure that’s actually the case?

There is an alternative. Especially if you want to control your own outcome as a leader in the organization – you could choose to embrace the change that is coming and then to jump in, wholeheartedly, and do your part to make sure it happens in the best way possible for the customer, the organization and you.

This past week, I read the book, “Crack the C-Suite Code: How successful leaders make it to the top“ by Dr. Cassandra Frangos. In this book, she described four paths by which people reach the C-Suite. One of the ways is as a “Leapfrog Leader”. Often organizations are looking for leaders who can respond to change and disruption. Boards and CEOs may be looking for people who will break with tradition and in those times, will set aside tenured leaders to promote people who are a few levels down in the organization. They do this because they feel this “less likely” candidate will be able to deliver the right mindset and set a new standard for the organization. If you want to be a “Leapfrog Leader,” you need to be ready to confront ongoing industry disruption and present yourself as a strong champion for change.

If you’ve been in an organization for a very long time, it’s possible that you have grown comfortable. Is it possible that you have been resisting some change? If you’re not interested in changing organizations in order to create a bigger impact – yet you desire to have a bigger impact in your current organization, I want you to start to notice where you are resisting and why you are resisting change. Again, change is inevitable. You can’t stop it. BUT – you can decide to actively participate in it and even to lead the change from your level, so that you emerge as one of the leaders, one of the champions of the change as the waves roll in. You can be the one up on the surfboard of the wave – enjoying the ride, or you can be one of the people who feel pulled under by the current. The more you choose to lead the change – you’ll be able to make a MUCH bigger impact and the faster your star will rise.

If you are ready to become a positive change agent, here are six steps YOU can take:

1. Even the best change agents need senior leadership in the organization to support their cause. Once you are clear that there is something you want to change, something you want to improve – you are going to need more senior people to help you and to champion your cause. This is why understanding the organization’s strategy is so important. You will want to make sure that any change you are proposing is in line with the general vision for your organization or directly will make progress toward the annual goals. Anyone can decide to be a change agent (which is awesome), but no one operates outside of the social and political reality of an organization. Yes, change can (and often does) start from the ground up, but it will not stick without a senior champion. To gain momentum, you are going to have to build cross-department relationships and influence your colleagues. When you do this, consensus will emerge organically and that will help shift the executive leaders toward full support of your idea.

2. Build a coalition of people who are believers in your idea. I have another podcast coming up in a few weeks where I am going to go in-depth into this concept. You need to develop relationships all around you, not just above you in the chain of command. You will need strong support from direct reports and other peer-level colleagues in your organization and across other organziations who believe in you and believe in your idea. This does not happen overnight. It takes servant-leadership. It takes integrity and it requires that you remain motivated by a greater purpose, one that others believe in just as much. When you do this, your leadership and vision on any issue allighed with the larger purpose in one that many people will want to get onboard with. For example – I work for the US Navy. Often when I try to do something, everuone knows how much I care about the Sailors and Officers in the Fleet and I want to make sure they have everything they need to properly conduct their missions. This is an easy “north-star” that aligns many people across multiple organizations. When you want to change something, you will find it easier if you can easily explain why there is a “greater-good” type of motivation, which should help you build your coalition. When you include a diverse group of others to work with you, you might find that some of them are already working on their version of improving the situation. If you band together – it could get a lot easier to succeed!

Also, if you find that people are offering light resistance – remember that when people are not included, it dials up their resistance. Invite them to help you, which will often be all it takes to melt their concern.

3. Resistance is part of the journey – welcome it! In a perfect world, you will find an issue, design a solution and then quickly gain support from you colleagues and senior leadership. This is not always the case, and the bigger the problem is – the less likely it will be this simple. If you truly want to make a change, it’s important to conduct a thorough stakeholder analysis and make sure that anyone who is highly influential in the effort is brought in early. You may want to take a few different tactics to initially introduce them, depending on personality and their role. When you find one person whose support is critical but they are not convinced. Take time to talk to them separately and address their concerns. Listening is often the best way to find a break-through with these people. If that person’s support is critical, it may be worth compromising to get to a solution you can both support. Often this kind of feedback will save you from unintended consequences down the road.

4. When you get any kind of green-light for your idea, be ready to execute. In parallel to the effort you are working to deal with resistance, building your coalition, and going through the process to gain approval of the senior leadership – make sure you are planning how you will execute the plan once it is approved. Those who initially resisted you will be standing by, waiting to point out when you plan fails. If you want your change to stick: You need a plan to drive quick results. When your moment comes – be ready to deliver. Once you start delivering positive results, the ones you expected – you’ll gain momentum. You’ll get more support and more people will start to get excited to hop onboard.

5. If you want the change you stick – you will have to systematize it. Let’s say you get the results you were hoping for, YEA! That’s very exciting! You are not done. There is one more VERY important step. You have to get your change or improved process transformed into policy, develop SOPs, and then always make sure that the captured “process” is officially improved as necessary. Afterall, as I said – change is constant.

Caution: areas to watch out for when you are inspired to become a change agent for a specific issue. It is possible that you go after something that no one else will support at all and that senior leadership is not interested in at all. There is a difference between “resistance” and all out lack of support across the organization and especially at higher leadership levels. If you present your idea and get a direct, “NO” or if you start to sense that you are putting your reputation or credibility in danger by pushing too hard – you need to take a pause and assess what’s really going on. Even if you’re right, but you are the only one who has read the tea-leaves to see the future on this one, you could push too hard, too soon and lose all support you have within the organization or you could even get fired. I have seen this happen. If you feel very passionate that you are right and this is something you want to pursue, but this organization is not interested – AT ALL about the ideas you have, you could consider waiting for leadership change, or for people to catch up a little with what is happening with the shift in the industry, or you could decide to find an organization that is more in-line with your values and level of innovation. Just make sure that if you decide to leave that it is on your terms and not because you pushed so hard that you were forced out.

Conclusion:

It is often quite surprising to me how few extremely intelligent people use their gifts to drive positive change. The good news is, that if you have an idea and are willing to spend the energy, this fact is one of the reasons this skill set is key to rising within an organization. Unbelievably – that rise can happen fairly quickly, relative to how long it takes some people to reach these very senior roles.

Who are you going to be? If you are ready to be an agent for change – find an issue your customer needs solved, or some way to improve your organization or drive industry disruption and the decide to be THE ONE who leads the way to that future. This will be good for your customer, your organization and is how you will rise.