Change Management Learning Center - Key activities for change management leaders, sponsors and executives

Change Management Learning Center - Key activities for change management leaders, sponsors and executives

Managing an IT project usually is about managing changes, the page shows a survey result about change management from the user's perspectives. We may be able to understand our user's concern better the next time.

HOW TO GO FROM THINKING TO LIFE CHANGE By Dr. John C. Maxwell

Step #1: When you change your thinking, you change your beliefs.

I am going to work you through a six-step process of how to change, and it begins with thinking. It begins with the mind. Beliefs are nothing more than a by-product of what you have thought long enough about that you have bought into--always remember that. What you believe is a collection of continual thoughts that have formed themselves into a conviction."Although not all change is the same, there is one common element to change, and that is thinking." That is a great truth. That is not mine; it's out of a book called, The Seven Levels of Change. When you break down the process of thinking into manageable number of steps, you reduce the perceived risk associated with change. Being creative is when you think about your thinking, being innovative is when you act on your ideas.

Step #2: When you change your beliefs, you change your expectations.

Belief is the knowledge that we can do something. It is the inner feeling that what we undertake, we can accomplish. For the most part, all of us have the ability to look at something and know whether we can do it. So, in belief there is power: our eyes are opened; our opportunities become plain; our visions become realities. Our beliefs control everything we do. If we believe we can or we believe we cannot, we are correct. Accomplishment is more than a matter of working harder; it is a matter of believing positively. It's called the "sure enough" factor. If you expect to succeed, "sure enough," you will; if you expect to fail, "sure enough," you will. We become outside what we believe inside.

Step #3: When you change your expectations, you change your attitude.

I love Ben Franklin's quote: "Blessed is the one who expects nothing, for he shall receive it." I heard a story the other day about a man who went to the fortuneteller who looked in the crystal ball and said, "Oh, my. This is not good. I look in this ball and see that you will be poor and unhappy until you're 45 years old." The guy said, "Oh, that's terrible. Well, then what's going to happen?" The fortuneteller said, "You'll get used to it."Your expectations are going to determine your attitude. Most people get used to average; they get used to second best. Nelson Boswell said, "The first and most important step toward success is the expectation that we can succeed."

Step #4: When you change your attitude, you change your behavior.

William James was right when he said, "That which holds our attention determines our action." When our attitude begins to change, when we become involved with something, our behavior begins to change. The reason that we have to make personal changes is that we cannot take our people on a trip that we have not made. Too many leaders try to be travel agents instead of tour guides--they try to send people where they have never been. We give them a brochure and a "Bon Voyage!" And off they go and we wave to them, and we ask them to tell us how it was when they come back. A tour guide says, "Let me take you where I've been. Let me tell you what I have gone through. Let me tell you what I know. Let me show you what I've experienced in my life."

Step #5: When you change your behavior, you change your performance.

Leroy Eims said, "How can you know what is in your heart? Look at your behavior. There is no better sign of the heart than the life." The truest test of where a person is going is their behavior.Unfortunately, most people would rather live with old problems than new solutions. We would rather be comfortable than correct; we would rather stay in a routine than make changes. Even when we know that the changes are going to be better for us, we often don't make them because we feel uncomfortable or awkward about making that kind of a change.Until we can get used to living with something that is not comfortable, we cannot get any better.

Step #6: When you change your performance, you change your life.

Change makes a person feel alone, even if others are going through it. You say, "Oh, man! Goodness! I know the others are changing, but I don't think they're having the difficulty I'm having." There is something about the awkwardness and the time that it takes to make proper changes that just seems to isolate you from everyone else, even when a group is going through it together. You just kind of feel, "But my situation's a little bit different, and I think I'm just not quite as fast as the other ones," and there's a tendency to feel isolated, lonely, and withdrawn when you're going through this change.It is easier to turn failure into success than an excuse into a possibility. A person can fail and turn around and understand their failure, make it a success; but I want to tell you--a person who makes excuses for everything will never truly succeed. I promise you, when you excuse what you are doing and excuse where you are, and you allow the exceptions, you fail to reach your potential. Don't you know some people who just have an excuse for everything? Why they could not, should not, did not, would not, have not, will not. If "ifs" and "buts" were candies and nuts, we would all have a Merry Christmas. It is impossible to turn excuses into possibilities.Hope is the foundational principle for all change. People change because they have hope. If people do not have hope, they will not change. You are responsible for the changes that you make in your life, but the good news is, you can make the changes you need to make in your life.

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It is by no accident that John Maxwell has come to be known as a leader of leaders and mentor to thousands ? his path and his purpose have been a single, straight thread since childhood. From the pulpit to the boardroom, his focus has always been to equip and inspire leaders at all levels. Source: taken from the inspirational message from the masters August 13, 2004

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Summary:

• Step #1: When you change your thinking, you change your beliefs.
• Step #2: When you change your beliefs, you change your expectations.
• Step #3: When you change your expectations, you change your attitude.
• Step #4: When you change your attitude, you change your behavior.
• Step #5: When you change your behavior, you change your performance.
• Step #6: When you change your performance, you change your life.

So if you want to change your life, start thinking.

YOU ARE A POWERFUL MEDIUM by Nido Qubein

If you want to send a powerful, positive message to the people with whom you work, or to whom you sell, follow the principles in this article. A sure formula for success!
You can't find a more powerful medium of communication than yourself -- your character, your personality and your principles.
If you want to send a powerful, positive message to the people with whom you work, or to whom you sell, follow these principles:

(1) You manage the process, but you LEAD people.
An organization runs smoothly when its people function smoothly. Dealing with problems in engineering, production, marketing and sales without dealing with the human element is like dealing with a flat tire without dealing with air. The finest steel-belted radial is worthless without the air that holds it up. The finest engineering, manufacturing, marketing, sales and servicing systems are worthless without the people who keep them functioning.
In an interview with Harvard Business Review, Robert Haas, chairman of the board of Levi Strauss, called production-management "the hard stuff" and people management "the soft stuff."
Under the old philosophy at Levi Strauss, he said, "The soft stuff was the company's commitment to our work force. And the hard stuff was what really mattered: getting pants out the door. What we've learned is that the soft stuff and the hard stuff are becoming increasingly intertwined."
So pay careful attention to the human side of your business.

(2) Inspire people, don't just drive them.
We can inspire people by showing them how to be their very best. Ed Temple, the Tennessee State track coach who worked with some of America's top women's track stars, liked to say, "A mule you drive, but with a race horse, you use finesse." Treat your people like Thoroughbreds instead of like mules. They'll get the message and respond.

(3) Be easy to respect and look up to.
You don't gain respect by sitting in an ivory tower and looking down on the work floor. Be accessible to employees and let them see your human side.
Employees are turned off by executives who pretend to be infallible. Observe high standards of personal conduct, but let your employees know that you're human. Talk to them about your bad decisions as well as your good ones. When you blow it, grin and admit it. Your employees will respect you for it.

(4) Be easy to like and get along with
Employees like leaders who are human -- who make mistakes and acknowledge them. It's all right to let them see your vulnerability. If you made a bad decision, talk about it with the people you lead. Let it be a lesson for them as well as for you.
Don't feel that you have to know everything. Acknowledge that the people you lead may know much more than you do about certain things.

(5) Help people to like themselves.
Robert W. Reasoner, a California school superintendent, who headed a statewide task force on self-esteem, identified five basic attitudes that foster self-esteem. They are:
A sense of security.A sense of identity.A sense of belonging.A sense of purpose.A sense of personal competence.
Secure people are comfortable with who they are and with what others think about them. They know their roles in the organization and are confident that they can fill them.
People with a sense of identity know how they fit into the work place and how the work place fits into their lives. To them, work takes its place among family, friends and community as an important and fulfilling component of their lives.
When employees have a sense of belonging, they identify with the company's vision and goals, because these things have personal meaning for them. They personally share in the success and the prestige of the company.
Employees obtain a sense of purpose from knowing the company's goals and knowing how their efforts contribute toward those goals. Management needs to take employees into its confidence and give them a role in planning and goal setting. You can give employees a sense of personal competence by educating them for their jobs and giving them the freedom to succeed or fail on their own.

(6) Help people to believe that what they're doing is important.
My friend Stew Leonard, the grocery-store wizard from Connecticut, once told me that he refused to use job titles that he perceives as demeaning. Once he noticed a job listed as "popcorn maker." He immediately ordered a more dignified title.
"How would you feel if someone asked you what you did for a living and you had to answer, 'I'm a popcorn maker'?" he asked me.
Are there any demeaning titles in your organization?
Medtronic, Inc., has a heartwarming way of dramatizing the importance of what its employees do. Each year at Christmas time, the company holds a party for employees. Guests of honor are people whose lives have been prolonged by Medtronic cardio-pulmonary devices.
Can you think of ways of dramatizing to your employees the importance of what they do?

(7) Be responsive to people. Listen to people. Read people. Respond; don't react.
Leaders should be accessible to the people they lead. Let your staff and associates know they can come to you with problems, concerns, ideas, suggestions or complaints. If they bring you usable ideas, adopt the ideas and give the employees credit.
Welcome bad news as well as the good. What you don't know can hurt you. Don't ignore complaints. Listen to them. Find out what you can do to rectify matters, let the employees know what you plan to do -- and do it.
If you put these principles into practice, you will be constantly sending out a powerful and positive message: Yourself.
Humans have a variety of ways to send messages. We "speak" with our eyes, our facial expressions, our posture, our clothes, our grooming, our lifestyles, and many other aspects of our persons. But the most familiar and most explicit form of communication is with words.

Source: taken from the inspirational message from the masters July 16, 2004

From MOTIVATION to MOTIVE-ACTION by Denis Waitley

With the passing of every new year, each of us needs to understand the magnitude of social and economic change in the world. In the past, change in business and social life was incremental and a set of personal strategies for achieving excellence was not required.

Today, in the knowledge-based world, where change is the rule, a set of personal strategies is essential for success, even survival. Never again will you be able to go to your place of business on autopilot, comfortable and secure that the organization, state or government will provide for and look after you. You must look in the mirror when you ask who is responsible for your success or failure. You must become a lifelong learner and leader, for to be a follower is to fall hopelessly behind the pace of progress. The power brokers in the new global arena will be the knowledge facilitators. Ignorance will be even more the tyrant and enslaver than in the past.

As you look in the mirror to see the 21st Century you, there will also be another image standing beside you. It is your competition. Your competition, from now on, will be a hungry immigrant with a wireless, hand-held, digital assistant. Hungry for food, hungry for a home, for a new car, for security, for a college education. Hungry for knowledge. Smart, quick thinking, skilled and willing to do anything necessary to be competitive in the world marketplace. Working long hours and Saturdays, staying open later, serving customers better and more cheerfully. To be a player in the 21st Century you have to be willing to give more in service than you receive in payment.

These are the new rules in the game of life. These are the actions you must take to be a leader and a winner in your personal and professional life. By mastering these profoundly simple action steps, you will be positioned to be a change master in the new century.

Action Step Number One - Consider Yourself Self-Employed, But Be a Team Player.

What this means is that you are your own Chief Executive Officer of your future. Start thinking of yourself as a service company with a single employee.
You're a small company that puts your services to work for a larger company. Tomorrow you may sell those services to a different organization, but that doesn't mean you're any less loyal to your current employer. Taking responsibility for yourself in this way does mean that you never equate your personal long-term interests with your employer's.
The first idea is resolving not to suffer the fate of those who lost their jobs and found their skills were obsolete. The second is to begin immediately the process of protecting yourself against that possibility ? by becoming proactive instead of reactive.
Ask yourself these questions:
How vulnerable am I? What trends must I watch? What information must I gain? What knowledge do I lack?
Again, think of yourself as a company. Set up a training department in your mind and make certain your top employee is updating his or her skills. Make sure you have your own private pension plan, knowing that you are responsible for your own financial security.
Entrusting the government or an employer, other than yourself, with your retirement income is like hiring a compulsive gambler as your accountant.
You're the CEO of your daily life who must have the vision to set your goals and allocate your resources. The mindset of being responsible for your own future used to be crucial only to the self-employed, but it has become essential for us all. Today's typical employees are no longer one-career people. Most will have five separate careers in their lifetimes. Remember, your competition is a hungry immigrant with a laptop.

Action Step Number Two - Be Flexible in the Face of Daily Surprises.

We live in a time-starved, overstressed, violent society. Much of our over-reaction to what happens to us every day is a result of our self-indulgent value system, where we blame others for our problems, look to organizations or the government for our solutions, thirst for immediate sensual gratification and believe we should have privileges without responsibilities. This condition is manifested in the high crime rate and in the increase in violence in the work place where employees blame their managers for threatening their security.
I have learned how to be flexible in the face of daily surprises, which is one of the most important action traits for a leader. I really haven't been angry for about 17 years. During that time, no one has tried to physically harm me or someone close to me. I've learned to adapt to stress in life and reserve my fear or anger for imminently physically dangerous situations. I rarely, if ever, get upset with what people say, do or don't do, even if it inconveniences me. I do react emotionally when I see someone physically or emotionally abusing or victimizing another. But I've learned not to sweat the small stuff.
The Serenity Prayer, "Grant me the Serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the Courage to change the things I can, and the Wisdom to know the difference.", is a valuable measuring tool we can apply to our lives. Simple yet profound words to live by.

Source: taken from the inspirational message from the masters August 2, 2004