What are you Learning this year?

The trouble with making change is that it's hard. Sometimes it's really hard. One of the things that makes change so stressful is that it almost always requires people to learn something new. Even when the goal is of the, 'stop doing that' variety, people still have to learn how to stop! Let's face it - if you wanted to do something, and you knew how to do it - you would have done it already. Learning Spanish has been on my bucket list for years. I took Spanish in High School and it's held a fascination for me ever since. I marvel at colleagues who can flip between languages with ease. I confess that I've always attributed superior intellect to those with the ability to shift gears in their head, speak in another tongue and never miss a beat. So, this is my year to learn! But, as I sit in front of my newly acquired Rosetta Stoneä Language Learning System, I face the same concerns that all changers do. I chose this, and I still have angst. Being in the change biz is helping me recognize the territory I'm in right now - I've made a good first step, had some initial fun and now begins the real work, and the second - guessing. Is this really going to be worth all the hours? Will I be able to master this?    What happens if I can't do it? I know there will be other stages along the way too - when I get about halfway through, I may want to quit altogether. It's the mile in the middle that's the hardest for would-be changers.   Forewarned is forearmed - right? You bet, and my Rosetta Stoneä System has anticipated my reaction to the murky halfway mark by hooking me up with learning buddies, on-line games and little rewards. Good for them. After walking thousands of learners down this same path, the Stoners have learned that, like my fellow changers, I'll need a leg up, some hope and a bit of fun to get me to my end goal. Where are you and your team in the change process? Just starting? Dangerously close to the middle-mile? What are you doing to shore up the resolve and decrease the stress that your team will demonstrate - through missed deadlines, absenteeism, dips in moral and a general sense of dread - when it comes to pushing hard enough to cross the finish line with this change? And, what do you know that, if they understood, would help them come to the same conclusion you have and stay on the bus?  So, let's take a page from their book, shall we?  If change were easy, everyone would do it. Remember, you can change it.... we can help! February 2012

Is Today the Day?

Time is interesting; we watch it, occasionally we waste it, grab it while it flies past us, and sometimes we even kill it. The ancient Greeks had two words for time. The first, chronos, refers to chronological or sequential time. It's the term we're the most familiar with. This is how we measure time -by minutes, days, years and seasons - increments of our lives that pass in a linear fashion. We think of chronos times in terms of a ticking clock or days stroked off our calendars and most of us agree that there never seems to be enough of this variety of time. Most change initiatives have time frames. When organizing a project we speak of start dates, time lines, schedules and the ever dreaded due date. We're well aware that time is finite, precious and that, if we don't stay on time, the project is doomed. But there is another kind of time - kairos time. Kairos (καιρός) is an ancient Greek word meaning the right or opportune moment (the supreme moment). It is a moment of indeterminate time in which something special happens. While chronos is quantitative, kairos is more qualitative in nature. Chronos is, as long as this earth continues to spin, predictable; and whether we welcome it's passing or not, it will pass. Kairos is described as, 'a passing instant when an opening appears which must be driven through with force if success is to be achieved'. It is a special increment of time, when extraordinary things are possible. Chronos happens every day, Kairos is rare, a time that perfect storms are made of. A Kairos moment is that space in chronos time when we are more aware, open, seeking, willing a change to happen. A Kairos moment is when loose ends get knotted together, when there is a unique opportunity to grow and shift in your thinking and consequently your behaviour. These moments are life changing, littered with Ah-has, and are not to be missed. The best time to change is when things are changing. If you're in the middle of a personal or professional transition - look around, listen for a pause in the ticking of your life and grab hold of that moment - breathe in a new idea. It's tempting to rush the days of our lives, stroking off events and encounters in an effort to get on with it. But if we take that approach in life or at work, we will miss the richness of those moments when possibility hangs in the air, when we are poised to grow, a mere breath away from a new beginning. What have been the Kairos moments in your past? How about your future? Will you recognize them? Do you look for them? Strong leaders watch for them, for themselves and their teams; they know that once the moment is past, it won't come again. Remember, you can change it, we can help!

I Am A Rock

I love sixty's music! Yup, turn up the Rock & roll for me! I was listening to Classic Rock on TV today and heard Simon and Garfunkel singing, 'I am a rock, I am an island'

That song takes me back to darker times in my youth, when I'd been hurt by someone or a situation, and I'd sit in my room and moan along with the music and think...

I am shielded in my armor,
Hiding in my room, safe within my womb.
I touch no one and no one touches me.
I am a rock, I am an island!

Oh yeah - I was given to drama in those days. I'm wiser now. I understand what John Donne meant in 1624 when he said that, "No man is an island, entire of itself." Now I know that we are all connected, and that the more we intentionally band together the better the outcome.

The most important things I've accomplished, in business and life, have been in collaboration with others. In the early parts of my business career I joined a master-mind group, and for four plus years we met monthly, a full day each time, to vet each other's ideas, give input on emerging programs and proposals and challenge egotistical thinking and faulty notions. Early on we committed to uncensored honesty and I routinely left those meetings a bit shocked at the feedback, but stretched and sharpened by my colleague's observations.

Early in my coaching career, I joined a small group of coaches whose purpose was to share in large coaching contracts while supporting each other's professional growth. We strategized client relationships, brought in professionals to train us, shared leads and helped build each other's credibility and reach. This experience taught me how to bow to the wisdom of a colleague who was more experienced, and sometimes, simply more passionate than I, on a particular subject or issue.

Throughout the creative process of building programs and products, I've joined forces with designers, editors, artists and media types and I've thought of each of them as a partner, not a supplier. A fine distinction maybe, but an important one. Each partnership has brought me: (1) fresh ideas, (2) specific talent I lacked and, (3) the energy, and sometimes resources, I needed to keep me going when it was tough.

Joint ventures have their challenges; collaboration is not for the faint of heart. If you decide to throw your lot in with others you can expect a good deal of surprising information, opposing opinions, differing objectives, and those ever popular power struggles and personality conflicts. Collaborate anyway. It's the only real path away from naval-gazing and onto excellence. So, what would it take for you to join forces with two or more people in the pursuit of your goals? What stops you from reaching across the table at a networking event or meeting to say, 'Hey, let's work together.'

Remember - you can change it, we can help!