Creating Change for You: It's Personal!

People have asked me a lot of questions about an upcoming change taking place in my life (I’m moving to a new Province for a new job!).  Their line of questions got me thinking about whether huge life changes and personal transitions could be facilitated using a change management process.  

Subsequent to accepting this new position, and because of the types of questions I received as a result of my decision, I did a bit of investigating and found tons of well-researched articles offered up to guide business professionals contemplating job/life changes.  In these articles, I noticed that rather than focusing on one or two aspects of transition, most of the articles offered a very wide range of topics for the would-be job seeker.  This is likely done intentionally so the articles will appeal to a broad audience with a wide range of reasons for considering a transition.  So, with this in mind and getting back to my change management perspective on this level of personal and professional change, my first question is:  would you take a scatter gun approach to any other change initiative in the workplace? Answer:  No!  So why take that route for your own career and life? 

In a change management process, one would start by taking focus and looking at the facts – plain and simple.  As a professional, this translates into looking at your current work and life situation as objectively as possible and doing some visioning for yourself as to how you would like to see yourself in the future – maybe five years down the road (hint:  work and life considerations do go hand in hand – think about it!).  Never mind if your friends and family don’t immediately buy into your vision.  What’s important is that you do and since you’re leading the change, you’ll have to realize early on that friends, family and colleagues may resist the notion of change, especially at first.  And as the lead in this very important journey, you’ll have to manage the difficulty others have in the same way you would in other change progression.

So if you’re contemplating a change for yourself, I’d encourage you to go ahead and read all those job transition articles – there are plenty of them out there!  But remember that in a typical change management practice you wouldn’t approach any initiative without first examining where you are and visioning where you want to be.  As with all circumstances when you’re considering change, there are pros and cons to staying with the status quo, so do the exercise – really!  When in doubt, remember the most important voice: that of the customer. And in this case, you’re the customer.

Take care, and have fun thinking about where you’d like to be in the next few years, and do small or large things everyday to bring you closer to your goals.  Wasn’t it Gandhi who said “…be the change”? 

New goals, new dreams!

The best part about Christmas Holidays is New Years Day!  The end of the calendar year excites me. 

Every year as the weeks wind down to days, I look forward to this phase because, for me, it is an opportunity to reflect on the past year and to develop goals as the New Year is ushered in. 

This morning, I joined a few hundred other hearty, enthusiastic Vancouverites for the local Resolution Run in Stanley Park.  It was picture perfect:  clear, clear blue skies, above zero temperatures, and a great post-race spread.  On that side of my life, my goals for 2013 include aspirations to continue to stretch me into areas I’ve never explored before – new events, new distances, and new training plans.

On the leadership side of my life (and similarly to you leaders out there), some of the questions I ask myself as I develop new goals and aspirations are as follows:

·         What are the things/events I’m most proud of in the past year?

·         What impact have my actions had?

·         Have my actions and influences resulted in an overall betterment for my personal/work  mission?

·         What impact do I want to have in the upcoming year?

·         What are the best strategies and tools at my disposal to do the best that I can?

And so on…must sound familiar and similar to what many of you and others think about at this time of year.  Of course, some goals are personal and some are professional, while some are intertwined. 

This upcoming year, as in all years since I started my career, I’m going to be given the opportunity to stretch my abilities and skills in Leadership.  Leadership, as a field, has much to do about the self, but it also has a lot to do with leading and coaching others.  Naturally, both aspects are inseparable (like one hand washing the other), and what’s really exciting is that the more one learns to lead others most effectively through positive coaching, the better leader one becomes.  So in addition to all the exciting opportunities you might have ahead of you to develop your skills and actions to bring out the best in your teams (which you know will also make you a better  and more effective leader), let me offer another resource I’ve bookmarked for myself for 2013.  It is a website devoted (in their own words) “…to energizing and transforming organizations through research on the theory and practice of positive organizing and leadership. “  Please see the Center for Positive Organizational Scholarship for additional resources.

A final word for you to remember cited from my friend and colleague’s website. (Dr. Jim Hill can be found at Positive-Leader.com):

 Positive Leadership focuses on relationships, not roles.

Every person has the potential to be a positive force in the workplace or community. Positive Leaders consistently match their values and beliefs to building something that improves their world. A high tide raises all boats.

Thanks Jim, and thanks to you for reading.  Happy New Year!!