Coaching Leaders Thru Change 

These are the B-E-S-T of times; these are the W-O-R-S-T of times. What the Dickens is going on? (Bad joke – sorry – please keep reading)

It is the end of the world as we know it. The past can no longer be a guide to our future. No one knows precisely what the future will hold. We are making it up as we go along. The future belongs to those who create it!

You have to be an alchemist. You have to be willing to willing to turn F.E.A.R. into creativity. You will be tempted to Fuck Everything And Run; but the big challenge is to Find Exciting Alternative Responses. You have to be open to imagination, faith, vision, risk, love, genius, daring new ideas, and stuff like that! 

It is easy to suffer from C-H-A-N-G-E F-A-T-I-G-U-E Don’t be a victim. You don’t have to be a victim if you don’t want to. Victims of change are people who believe they have run out of choices. But if one thing is constant in this world it is that you never really run out of choices!

VISION 

WARNING! Innovation is not a substitute for VISION. Change for the sake of change is what a cancer cell does. There must be a VISION, a PURPOSE, a sense of WHOLENESS. Give people a WHY. Why are we changing? 


INDEPENDENCE 

Don’t be a D.I.P. – a dysfunctionally independent person. If change is feeling too much, it is because it is too much for you to handle on your own. GET HELP! Life is not a solo flight. That’s why there are 6,000,000,000 other people here! Remember, even Robinson Crusoe had Friday; even the Lone Ranger had Tonto, even Sherlock Holmes had Dr Watson. 

CYNICISM 

Cynicism keeps old wounds alive. Cynicism is a defence against old heartbreak, old disappointments, old failures. Cynicism stifles true creativity. Acknowledge the temptation to be cynical, and then make a better choice. CYNICISM may well help you DIE laughing, but it won’t help you to LIVE, PROSPER and SUCCEED. 

WAIT PROBLEM 

So what are you waiting for – before you rise to the challenge of change? Are you waiting for calm? Are you waiting for a new boss, a new CEO? Are you waiting for an apology? Or for sanity to be restored? Are you waiting for the new financial year? Or the next change programme? People who wait to change are queuing up for more trouble. 

BLAMERIZING 

Blame is a bit like masturbation: it’s easy - it feels good - it’s not a substitute for a "real live girl" or bloke (delete as applicable!). Blaming "whoever" for "whatever" is easy. It feels good. It is not the answer. Blamerizing stunts your growth. It dodges accountability. It makes you a victim. Blamerizing blunts your ability to come up with solutions. 

DEFENSIVENESS 

Defensiveness does not make you strong. In fact, defensiveness is a magnet for more flack. C-O-M-M-U-N-I-C-A-T-E! Talk, listen, be honest. Drop your defences and move on. Defensiveness keeps you where you are. You cannot be defensive and move forward. Your defensiveness is keeping you from taking the next step in your life.


CHRONIC COMPLAINING 

You cannot complain your way to success. Moan, bitch, fume and L-E-T I-T G-O! Your chronic complaining is a sure sign that you are not fully participating in your own future. What you are complaining about you are probably not doing either! Think about it! 


ANXIETY 

Give yourself a full 60 minutes to worry about your future, and then drop it! Easier said than done. But, anxiety has never once in the whole history of the universe solved a problem. Anxiety is the lowest form of creativity. Don’t let it sap your strength. Don’t let it rob you of your humour. Or your creativity. 


PLAYING SAFE 

Stop trying to look good. Growth is messy, clumsy, full of holes, and failure. You cannot change and GET IT RIGHT FIRST TIME. What’s your policy around failure? Are you allowed to fail? If you can’t fail, how will you learn, grow, evolve, change, succeed! Success is not an immaculate conception. When you play safe you tend to attract the very thing you are trying to avoid. 

SACRIFICE 

You are not required to die for change. Don’t give away your sanity, your wisdom, your vision, your gut instinct. Just because the world is crazy, doesn’t mean you have to be crazy too! Be wise. Talk about success. Talk about what you are getting right. Talk about the way forward. Above all, T-A-L-K and L-I-S-T-E-N. The solution isn’t CORPORATE; it’s HUMAN! 

First Published in Management Review, 2000, article by Robert Holden