Myth on Change Management

Bill, lost his job recently. It come acrossms his company was downsized, his well developed skills were no longer required. Its tempting to claim his company was at fault. But the fault was his and his alone. Let me explain why.Things are ever-changing incredibly fast. Yesterdays idea, is an emerging technology today, mainstream news tomorrow and history by next week. And ein truthone contri simplyes to the race of change.Theres a myth about management, since were responsible for so much change, we must be dear at coping with it. Ive observed the exact opposite. Managers countenance enceinte difficulty accepting change. They tend to get complacent in their secure status quo. They believe the skills theyve acquired, will serve them well into the future, in spite of in all require a close look at business magazines. Each issue offers something new, something different. Each advertisement promises to increase productivity, to increase efficiency, to inflict change upon our unsuspe cting organization. utilise properly, magazines are a guidepost to the future. Ignore them and theyll get you downsized.Bill acquired his management skills in the trenches. He worked his way up through the ranks. He acquired a passel of skills, and over the years, deepened them. He began to believe his tool kit of management techniques was complete. Theyd served him well in the past, and would suffice in the future.Bills error was not in his judgment of whether or not a particular skill was long lasting. Bills error had little if anything to do with management skills. His error lay in his being view. He believed his world would stay the same. Somehow hes protected from change. Somehow he alone is immune.Shielded in immunity, he gives no thought to a different tomorrow. He leans on his fancy of status quo, even while destroying the status quo of others. Hes not alone in this. Hes joined by politicians, unions, successful companies, rung, by anyone and everyone whos comfortable w ith past achievements.How do you work up for the future? Step one is trivial Acknowledge uncertainty. That alone, will keep you from being complacent. That alone, will adjudge you thinking about alternatives. That alone, will remind you that youre not alone. Everybody is faced with the same uncertainty. Welcome to the futureNext youre not your business card. No matter what your title, no matter what your function, youre more than a box on an org chart. Youre a collection of skills with the ability to date new ones.These steps do little to change the future. Accepting uncertainty and solid self assessment is a good strategy, but without a plan of action, theyll add up to nothing.Assume youre fired tomorrow, what would you do? Sounds drastic, but it happens every day to thousands of people from every walk of life. So why not to you? What better time to contemplate it, than today, when you still have a job, and time to plan?Bill lost his job because he couldnt see beyond his status quo. Dont make that same mistake, contemplate this issue of Words of Mouth devoted to Change. Ask the question Whats my place in the uncertainty Im dowry create? Then leap into your future.What is the only thing constant in our lives? CHANGE impacts everything we do and is never-ending. Whether technological, psychological, physical or emotional in nature, we must learn how to deal with change effectively ifIn programs I have conducted for clients, their most frequent requests are in two areas1.What do I do with damaging people?2.How can I get people motivated?It could be argued these two areas have always been important. I have noticed the need for assist with these areas is in direct proportion to the changes the organization is experiencing.We all go along our merry-little-way until one day and boom change appears. The change is sometimes our own doing but more often beyond our immediate control. When this occurs, the response is sometimes demonstrated in negativity or in a n unwillingness to move. This constant newness is outside numerous peoples comfort zones and they are confused as to how they should respond. My clients know change is inevitable and yet have staff who are reluctant to embrace the constantly changing environment. It may be management themselves who are reluctant toadopt the changes necessary for organizational success.Management and staff must deal with technological, psychological and personal changes, all of which impact on performance. People handle change in different ways. It is estimated as high as 78% of people are followers they do not want to be first at anything. They would rather wait until something happens and then copy what they see. Approximately 5% are leaders. The remaining 17% have no idea where everybody else went I work with the 5 percenters who want to learn approaches which will produce the best results through encouraging the 78% to follow and dishevel along the 17% who arent quite sure what is happening.I will never suggest all change will be enjoyable. I believe we have to learn to adapt to it. The good news about change is it happens so quickly that if you dont like the change, just wait and it will change again soon. The unfavourablenews is if you do like the change you had better enjoy it now because it will not be here very long. What can we do?I have found one of the biggest roadblocks to personal adaptation to change is the belief we can just relax in what I call the coast mode. Do you know anyone in the coast modejust coasting, coasting? The problem is there is only one way you can coast and that is downhill. The last person to fix you are coasting is usually yourself. Each of us knows at least one person in our personal lives who is going downhill and has not realized it yet. Your staff sees you every day and will very quickly recognize which way you are going. In a terrific book I recently enjoin entitled Flight Of The Buffalo by James A. Belasco and Ralph C. Stayer, the realization of managers that I Am The Problem is the first step in overcoming the What do I do with negative people or How do I motivate people? problems.Demonstrating calculated risk-taking and encouraging staff to do likewise creates a different mindset towards change. People who are not encouraged to take risks will not. All of us have failed at least once in our lives. What do we think up longestgood experiences or bad? The bad ones discourage us about additional attempts. Overcoming our negative programming about failure is a expose step towards meeting the challenge of change. Working with, or worse still, living with someone who does not want to change can be a very frustrating experience.