pivot Archives - Page 9 of 10 - Dennis E. Gilbert

12
Jun 17
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change readiness appreciative strategies inquiry

Change Readiness, Are You Prepared For Change?

Tags : change fear pivot prepared success

Ask around, you can find many people who will tell you that they want change. Asking about the desire for change might not be the best question though. You might want to ask them about change readiness.

I often speak to groups about change. I’ve encouraged people to think differently about change in my book, Pivot and Accelerate. It’s common that when I ask people if they want to change or if they are committed to change, they tell me that they are.

It’s interesting though because when it comes to giving up something to replace it with something else they are often not so eager to let go. Perhaps it should be more like an episode of Tiny House Nation, where people are forced to let go of things they might not need.

People who believe that they are interested in changing their future need to discover what they will let go, after all, they want their future to be different, right?

Change Readiness

While there are many things to consider about change here are three important things to think about:

Path of least resistance. This path or something close to it might be what we are naturally drawn towards. There is a good chance that this path won’t produce the kind of change you truly seek.
Test of time. People often cite the test of time. “We’ve always done it this way.” is commonplace when discussions of change pop up. The test of time has relevance, but when you want different results, the test of time might be exactly what is holding you back.
More than one method. A specific course of action is good. It might mean your strategy has focus. Remember though that there is often more than one-way. Insisting on a specific method might limit the potential for a necessary breakthrough.

Fear of Failure

The next time someone brings up the fear of failure, remind them that they really might be more afraid of success.

If you’re serious about discovering more success and you’re willing to give up something to make that happen. Things are about to change.

Are you ready?

– DEG

Dennis E. Gilbert is a business consultant, speaker (CSP^TM), and corporate trainer that specializes in helping businesses and individuals accelerate their leadership, their team, and their success. He is a four-time author and some of his work includes, Forgotten Respect, Navigating A Multigenerational Workforce and Pivot and Accelerate, The Next Move Is Yours! Reach him through his website at Dennis-Gilbert.com or by calling +1 646.546.5553.

Dennis Gilbert on Google+

15
Mar 17
-

Productivity Habits – The Tools, Addictions, and Information Overload

Tags : change information overload pivot productivity

Many people believe that they must find ways to accomplish more in the same amount of time. Some blame too much information and too many distractions. Could it all be related to productivity habits?

Tools

When you stop to think about all of the tools available today in the office arsenal it seems counterintuitive to believe that we have any productivity concerns.

Of course the expectations might be different today. Stamping out word representations in a clay tablet certainly would be time consuming, so would chiseling a hieroglyph in a rock. Clearly we’ve improved.

The Microsoft Office Suite alone is probably responsible for a lot more productivity. It also might be responsible for more data, some of it fresh, some of it borrowed and duplicated. Do we really have a productivity issue? Do we suffer from information overload or is it more about being distracted?

There is a pretty good chance that our habits are involved. Some suggest it might be addictions.

Addictions

Can you put down your smart phone during a meal?

Do you check your messages and alerts as soon as you open your eyes in the morning? Do you feel a sense of panic when you are without your phone? If yes, you might have an addiction.

Information is powerful, and the quest for the latest news, the most recent information, the gossip, the drama, and the presidential tweet. It all might be an addiction, or just really bad habits.

Productivity Habits

As a professional business consultant and coach I would suggest that change is within you. If you are hungry for a change, you’ll be more likely to stick with a plan or appropriately pivot to something better. Your habits will have a lot to do with your success.

Habits, procrastination, and decisions all impact your productivity. It might not be so much about information overload blocking progress. It probably isn’t a lack of quality tools, or the speed of your download.

Being addicted to distractions might be a problem.

Most of all, you just might have to get out of your own way.

– DEG

Dennis E. Gilbert is a business consultant, speaker (CSP^TM), and corporate trainer that specializes in helping businesses and individuals accelerate their leadership, their team, and their success. He is a four-time author and some of his work includes, Forgotten Respect, Navigating A Multigenerational Workforce and Pivot and Accelerate, The Next Move Is Yours! Reach him through his website at Dennis-Gilbert.com or by calling +1 646.546.5553.

Dennis Gilbert on Google+

16
Jan 17
4

Confidence and Knowing What Matters

Tags : change confidence motivation pivot what matters

How do you know what really matters? Do you know for certain, or is it unclear? Do you have enough confidence?

For clarity, I’m not asking these questions so much about life’s needs, but more about personal or professional goals, creating success in your career, or perhaps about success in your business or the organization you work for.

People often suggest that things like family, friends, and our health matter most. It’s true, those things are very important and they certainly matter, but beyond those what is important?

Recently I wrote about knowing or understanding, “When Change Makes Sense.” One of the driving points in that writing was, knowing what matters.

A friend asked me, “How do we really know what matters?”

Perhaps what matters the most, at least in this context, is achieving your goal or getting to that desired end result.

I believe too many people lose sight of the goal and focus on a bunch of meaningless (meaningless in value to the big picture) activities, or ineffective and dead end pursuits because it is trendy or proclaimed and advertised as working for someone else.

In other cases people might change for just the sake of change. Sometimes that might be a bit motivational, a way to reduce monotony and lift spirits, but in other cases when someone signals change people become more afraid instead of motivated. They then often become uncertain of what matters and progress slows or stops altogether.

Certainly, much of this depends on the environment, the context, and the perceived need for change or accomplishment.

Misdirected Intentions

The first belief that people often develop when they aren’t achieving a goal is that they are doing something wrong. They often don’t consider that their path might be okay, and that it will just take a little more time. Instead they want to follow some propaganda about fast results and quick fixes.

They see the snake oil, and they buy it, they buy all of it.

Worse Yet

The bigger problem might be, once they start second guessing or they convince themselves that their approach isn’t working they begin to develop a lack of confidence necessary to pull them closer to the goal.

They still might be able to push, but they are no longer being pulled. People can push, and often push really hard, but it is the pull that really gets you through the most challenging times.

With a lack of confidence people often fail to make it through the ups and downs, the ups aren’t readily recognized and the downs become, “I told you so,” or “I knew it,” moments. None of this is reflective of a focus on what really matters. It is a focus on failure and the prescribed method for turning around a failure is often more change.

What Matters

Sometimes change isn’t what is needed at all. At least not large scale change, often it is more of a pivot, or slight redirection of effort to get around the roadblock, leap the hurdle, and get closer to what really matters.

Unfortunately, when your focus becomes about weaknesses and failures most people will look for someone else’s method to bail them out. A different and winning method, one with proven results and a quick fix, after all, you’re told this is what’s missing and what will always work.

Yes, this is sometimes valid, and yes it is sometimes representative of how we learn and grow, but too often it becomes an excuse to change everything and pick a completely new path. When the new path doesn’t work then there is still someone else to blame.

Instead of focusing on failed attempts, instead of blowing your confidence, instead of following someone else’s rule for change try sticking to your vision of the goal, and focus on what truly matters.

What matters? It’s not comparisons to someone else’s results. It is not the snake oil that was purchased or the quick fix. What sometimes matters the most is getting progressively closer to your end result.

– DEG

Dennis E. Gilbert is a business consultant, speaker (CSP^TM), and corporate trainer that specializes in helping businesses and individuals accelerate their leadership, their team, and their success. He is a four-time author and some of his work includes, Forgotten Respect, Navigating A Multigenerational Workforce and Pivot and Accelerate, The Next Move Is Yours! Reach him through his website at Dennis-Gilbert.com or by calling +1 646.546.5553.

Dennis Gilbert on Google+

13
Jan 17
5

Change, Does It Always Make Sense?

Tags : change organizational culture pivot succcess

Many insist that change is critical, urgent, and the recipe for success. Does change always make sense? Is now the time for a change?

When I go to my favorite restaurant I order the same thing, almost every time. In my local town I go to the same gas station, time after time. How do I like my coffee? I like it black, no cream, no sugar, every time.

I haven’t worn a white or light colored business suit since the 1980’s (thank you Don Johnson and Miami Vice), and I have at least twenty white dress shirts but only three or four of different colors.

I may not be the same as everyone else, and that doesn’t mean that any of us should change, but it also probably doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t.

When does change or doing something different really make sense?

Despite my rhetoric about how much I like what I like and I stick to it, I’m a big proponent of change. Change might not always be the answer though, likely more often than people realize it is more about persistence, tenacity, and keeping our sleeves rolled up while appropriately staying the course.

People and organizations can get stuck, but being stuck doesn’t mean that the goal should change. Perhaps it is more about a pivot to a better path.

Technology, it’s changing the world around us and we’ll need to adapt or get left behind. Marketing and advertising, they are affected by technology and we’ll need to adjust to maximize our opportunities. How we communicate, that’s changing too, all of this while arguments continue on the best methods or paths.

Perhaps none of that means that the plan should be destroyed, the culture turned inside out, or the mission statement revised. It might sometimes, but not always. Just because change feels trendy doesn’t mean it is a good idea.

Change makes the most sense when we know what really matters, what draws us closer to the goal, and what prevents us from being stuck, stalled, or starving for more opportunities.

Most businesses and people aren’t overnight success stories. They often appear to be because we’ve noticed them on the move, in the climb, or nearing one of their many peaks.

Even by today’s standards and the speed of technology there are very few overnight success stories.

Sure a video will go viral, a tweet might start trending, and a song might hit the top ten. All of which happens very fast, but the people and the culture of the pursuit have likely been around for years.

Even Johnny Cash had to persist in his attempts, although at the time he was likely recognized as an overnight sensation.

When it comes to your personal or professional goals, building a brand, or discovering what’s most important about your culture, it all takes time.

Change makes sense when all other avenues have been exhausted, when it is stimulating or exciting but keeps things on track, or when technological advances will shorten or enhance the journey.

Everything else might be just a distraction, a way to discover our original path was still the best one of all, and to remind us that persistence and tenacity have little or nothing to do with ease, but everything to do with doing what really matters.

When you are doing what really matters, you might not have to change a thing.

Today I’ll wear a dark colored suit with a white shirt, I’ll eat several meals of my favorite foods, drink my coffee black, and fill up my car at the local gas station.

Changing any of that, or none of it, doesn’t change what matters.

Sometimes we just need to stay the course.

It might make the most sense, at least for now.

– DEG

Dennis E. Gilbert is a business consultant, speaker (CSP^TM), and corporate trainer that specializes in helping businesses and individuals accelerate their leadership, their team, and their success. He is a four-time author and some of his work includes, Forgotten Respect, Navigating A Multigenerational Workforce and Pivot and Accelerate, The Next Move Is Yours! Reach him through his website at Dennis-Gilbert.com or by calling +1 646.546.5553.

Dennis Gilbert on Google+

02
Jan 17
-

Can Your Organization Change?

Tags : buy-in change organization culture pivot

Organizations often express a strong desire for change, but what that really means is that they want others to change. Can your organization and its people transform?

A friend invites another friend to join the exercise program.

A doctor tells a patient to take the medicine.

A business owner expresses that the team should gain additional skills.

No desire, no change. No action, no change. No new habits, a new tradition, or development of a new cultural method, and nothing changes.

External forces can drive change. Economic conditions, government regulations, and technological advances are all great examples.

Internal forces typically only create lasting change when it is required by external forces or it is desirable internally. Then those actions or behaviors become a habit, a tradition, or a method of operation that employee teams might suggest as, “The way things are done.”

So for organizational transformation the development of skills only represents part of the challenge. The other part might exist somewhere in the creation of desire.

If you want to create the desire that will transform your organization and its people here are a few things to consider.

Connect ideas to outcomes. Talking about change doesn’t always illustrate it. Connecting the dots for everyone and having a clear picture of the outcomes and associated benefits will help create the desire to endure the requirements for change.
Create paths for growth. People are part of the system. The system will need the opportunity for individual growth. You might know what’s in it for the organization, but what’s in it for the individual people? Prove it.
Reward performance not compliance. Teams can become stale, stalled, and stuck. Often this develops because the reinforcement is for following the rules not for executing with high performance. When you make the focus on performance you’ll get more.

Scaring people into change might work, but it is never recommended. Fear can have a significant impact on performance, but motivation through fear typically creates an “us against them” culture. That’s not inspirational or desirable and some might even suggest that it is bullying.

Organizations and the people within its systems can invite, tell, or express a desire for change, but it’s only going to happen when the individuals who are part of those systems develop both the skills and the desire, and then continue to replicate them across time. The most success will occur when everyone is bought-in.

Many organizations talk about change.

Your organization can change, but will it?

– DEG

Dennis E. Gilbert is a business consultant, speaker (CSP^TM), and corporate trainer that specializes in helping businesses and individuals accelerate their leadership, their team, and their success. He is a four-time author and some of his work includes, Forgotten Respect, Navigating A Multigenerational Workforce and Pivot and Accelerate, The Next Move Is Yours! Reach him through his website at Dennis-Gilbert.com or by calling +1 646.546.5553.

Dennis Gilbert on Google+

15
Dec 16
-

5 Ways to Grow Your Career

Tags : career growth job promotion pivot

Growth in your career or job role isn’t always about waiting patiently, getting lucky, or being someone’s buddy. While any one of those might help out, they don’t represent what allows most people to move forward. Do you want to grow your career?

Through my consulting and coaching practice I come across a lot of people who tell me that they want job or career growth. They will often deliver a very compelling story to me about how they’ve waited in line, paid their dues, and still they find themselves stuck.

Sure, sometimes we might see someone who appears to have good luck give them a helping hand or someone in their family provided a connection, or their opportunities come from family money, but there are plenty of ways to grow your career without any of those.

Grow Your Career

Here are five of my favorites:

Extend your network. Today more than ever before we have options to create a broader reach. It’s important to get to conferences, association events, and seminars, but you also have to make the best use of your time while there. Purposely meet some new people, introduce yourself, and then be sure to secure the future of that effort by connecting in your social media network such as LinkedIn.
Read. Some people believe we are operating in an information overload environment but that is really the good news. You have millions of opportunities and choices to read something every day. It doesn’t matter what platform you choose (digital or more traditional hard copy) but you should try to squeeze some of this in every day or at least weekly. Subscribe to blogs that offer both validity and reliability, download a book, go to a library, or buy a book from a retail bookstore or Amazon.
Be more visible. I swear there are many great people out there who go completely unnoticed. It’s true, there are plenty. Extending your network will help and you can even find some additional tips online. Consider attending meetings, asking a question or two, and sometimes even tooting your own horn. In many circles anyone can be just another face in the crowd unless they engage with others.
Listen better. It might feel like you’ve heard this too many times, but you must always strive to listen more and listen better. Listening is not the same as hearing and as such you have to develop good listening skills. Listening takes a lot of energy and because of this we often don’t listen well. Fatigue is sometimes a factor, so no kidding, get your rest, but also be patient, don’t form quick judgments, be sure to appropriately paraphrase, and avoid bias.
Role model. One of the best things you can do is select one or more good role models. Find someone you admire and look up to, consider how they interact with others, how they are building their network and what they’ve done to progressively accomplish more. It doesn’t mean you agree with all of their actions or behaviors but there is definitely something positive you can learn.

Create Goals

If you’re reading this improving your job role or improving your career is probably important to you. Don’t stop with just reading this, don’t think about it off and on today or tomorrow and then go right back into your same old routine.

Create some goals for all five of these areas, or at least pick three of the five. Have specific measurements such as identifying (which ones, how many?) and attending meetings, meeting (5, 10, or 100) new people, or selecting one or two role models for observation. Each day, week, or month check in on your goals.

Hold yourself accountable. Grow your career.

– DEG

Dennis E. Gilbert is a business consultant, speaker (CSP^TM), and corporate trainer that specializes in helping businesses and individuals accelerate their leadership, their team, and their success. He is a four-time author and some of his work includes, Forgotten Respect, Navigating A Multigenerational Workforce and Pivot and Accelerate, The Next Move Is Yours! Reach him through his website at Dennis-Gilbert.com or by calling +1 646.546.5553.

Dennis Gilbert on Google+

13
Dec 16
-

Does Agreement Create Buy-in?

Tags : agreement buy-in change pivot

If everyone agrees with the change effort are they also bought in?

Groups and organizations processing through a significant change are nearly as unique as a finger print. As organizations commit to pivoting to new or different technology, changing policy or procedures, or even a significant cultural shift they are definitely not a one size (or shape) fits all.

Groups of people and an organizational culture is something that is developed over time. It is based on collections of values and belief systems, and is closely connected with habits, traditions, and common outcomes.

If your team agrees on a significant change happening in your workplace, are they also bought in? Some might quickly say yes, but hold on for a minute, is agreement the same as buy-in?

Establishing Agreement

If your team or workplace is struggling with a problem it might be easy to build agreement that a change is necessary. In fact, many people will often feel that a change is overdue.

Whether they like change, or they do not, they might believe that it is the best or only course of action, and just because change is required it doesn’t mean that everyone will like it but they still may feel it is necessary.

Creating Buy-in

Creating buy-in is almost always more challenging than obtaining agreement. There are many things to consider when trying to create or improve buy-in for a particular change.

Buy-in is typically not something that you can snap your fingers and it is finished. You can’t just hold a team meeting, a staff meeting, or an all-company meeting and expect to achieve it.

Too often supervisors, managers, or even the CEO become convinced that people are bought-in for a change effort when in fact, they’ve only reached agreement that a change is required.

Get Both

Some believe it is a two-step process. First, you have to establish agreement that a change is necessary, and second you have to build or create the buy-in for a prescribed change.

Agreement on a change may lead to buy-in but never confuse the idea of agreement with meaning that people are also bought-in.

If you’re going to have a successful transition and truly achieve change, you should be sure to get both.

– DEG

Dennis E. Gilbert is a business consultant, speaker (CSP^TM), and corporate trainer that specializes in helping businesses and individuals accelerate their leadership, their team, and their success. He is a four-time author and some of his work includes, Forgotten Respect, Navigating A Multigenerational Workforce and Pivot and Accelerate, The Next Move Is Yours! Reach him through his website at Dennis-Gilbert.com or by calling +1 646.546.5553.

Dennis Gilbert on Google+

01
Dec 16
2

Finding Ways To Do More

Tags : change do more motivation pivot self-help

It’s actually very common, people are interested to learn or understand how some of the best accomplish more. Luck is often given the credit, and sometimes luck has something to do with it, but from my experiences it seems that those who do more also achieve more. So how do they do it?

Myth Busting

We can start by eliminating a myth. There is no fast track.

People often view top athletes, musicians, and film stars, as overnight success stories, but many of them have spent years becoming an overnight sensation. They have made sacrifices, been at the bottom, had dreams shattered, faced criticism and often experienced ridicule.

One thing nearly all success stories have in common is that there is no fast track, no short cuts, and no overnight sensations.

Pivoting

As I write this it is December 1st, in just 31 days or so we’ll have the craze of people who are starting a new diet, planning to get back into their workout routine, or considering how they will make the new year, a better year.

Self-improvement, improving your fitness, and professional development, are all potentially connected and are part of a multi-billion dollar industry. We’ll soon see more advertisements for home workout gadgets, healthy food concoctions that you mix in a blender, and tools to wear on your wrist or download to your smartphone to track progress. There will be books, MP3’s, and videos that will help to keep people motivated and on track.

I’m not knocking any of this stuff. I’m a consumer too, and my business has a focus on several of these areas. I’m all about it, but why do some people achieve more than others? The answer shouldn’t be a surprise.

Face It

Making positive change likely won’t come easily, and that shouldn’t discourage you, it should motivate you. Positive change is desirable. Remember it’s a multi-billion dollar industry.

Perhaps the single biggest factor conditioning anyone’s success is their mind-set. This is easy to state, but in practice often very hard to achieve.

Many people succumb to the idea that they are who they are, they are destined for being average, and that no matter how hard they try they’ll never achieve more because they never have any luck. They believe fate is more powerful and they are destined for less.

If you believe in that, if you find your mind drifting into those thoughts, you’ve already been defeated. That is the bad news, but the good news is that being defeated is temporary.

The Solution

Change your mind-set, pivot and condition yourself to believe that no matter what you can take one more step. Each step no matter how small creates another opportunity and that opportunity appears only after the most recent step was taken. You’ll make this work, one step at a time. Professionally, I often refer to this as self-actualization or actualizing the vision. Businesses do this and you can too.

When you believe that you can take another step, when you have a purpose, and you are appropriately patient but also persistent, you’ll not only become wiser (growth) but you’ll be closer to achieving something great.

The solution is not this formula; the solution is repeating this formula.

Why does it work?

It works because you’ve done more.

– DEG

Related article: Turning Tragedy Into Strategy

Dennis E. Gilbert is a business consultant, speaker (CSP^TM), and corporate trainer that specializes in helping businesses and individuals accelerate their leadership, their team, and their success. He is a four-time author and some of his work includes, Forgotten Respect, Navigating A Multigenerational Workforce and Pivot and Accelerate, The Next Move Is Yours! Reach him through his website at Dennis-Gilbert.com or by calling +1 646.546.5553.

Dennis Gilbert on Google+

27
Oct 16
4

Are You Hungry For Change?

Tags : buy-in change pivot transition

Recently I was driving to a local sandwich shop contemplating what I would order. While driving I was asking myself, “A half or a whole sub, how hungry am I?”

I’m one of those breakfast, lunch, and dinner people who eat at very close to the same time every day. I insist on it, I need it. On this day I was about an hour past my desired lunch break and I felt very hungry. I ordered a whole sub, and loved every bite.

Through my business I’m often asked to address specific change related issues through a speaking or training event, or sometimes I’m hired to coach people who are struggling with performance or having difficulty with change. In perhaps all of these cases, I ask myself, “Are they really hungry?” Change isn’t easy, and no one said it has to be, but it is much easier when the organization or individual team members are hungry (metaphorically) for change.

Creating Hunger

Sometimes client expectations require me to rally the employees, get them fired up, and get them all moving in the same direction, or in other scenarios they may want me to help the internal team members who are responsible for change learn how to create buy-in. Typically there are a few key points I use to create greater engagement and buy-in, making them a little bit hungrier for change.

Openly discuss the problem. While the team cannot continuously agonize over the problem or dwell on the forces that are now applying pressure, it is often more effective to start by selling the problem first, then the solution. Teams that agree on the general characteristics of the problem are much more excited about moving forward with a solution.
Agree on internal and external factors. Change often has more than one factor applying pressure to employee teams or organizations. There are often external factors such as technology, the economy, or changing government regulations and at the same time there can be internal factors such as leadership and vision, workforce preparedness, and even past performance failures. Openly recognizing and communicating on how these factors will be addressed adds comfort and builds trust.
Value and respect time. Change often requires trust, and change like trust takes time. Unfortunately not every employee will buy-in as quickly or easily when compared with others, and once buy-in has occurred not every employee will transition at the same pace. Sometimes a little patience in the early stages helps shorten the length of time required to successfully complete the transition.

Other approaches might work and in some cases additional effort will be required. A downsizing effort is much different from an expansion, economic recession may call for different tactics when compared with growth, and a new process or procedure will typically take individuals out of their comfort zones and will require time to move from discomfort back to comfort. Even workforce generations can be a special consideration for keeping people hungry throughout the transition.

Remember that change isn’t always easy, but that doesn’t mean it’s not necessary, desirable, and worth it.

Individuals or Teams

Most of this logic applies to personal change in much the same way that it applies to teams or entire organizations. Workplace change is a collaboration of effort typically requiring individuals to get on board and as acceptance grows the group unites in their effort. The amount of buy-in or engagement of the effort begins with each individual connecting their role and responsibility with the bigger picture, what I often describe as having a sense of purpose. When the problem and their purpose are clear, and the need for change is recognized (sell the problem not the solution), people will usually be hungry for change.

How hungry are you?

– DEG

Dennis E. Gilbert is a business consultant, speaker (CSP^TM), and coach that specializes in helping businesses and individuals accelerate their leadership, their team, and their success. He is the author of the newly released book, Forgotten Respect, Navigating A Multigenerational Workforce. Reach him through his website at Dennis-Gilbert.com or by calling +1 646.546.5553.

Dennis Gilbert on Google+

10
Oct 16
-

Did You Create Buy-in?

Tags : buy-in change fear leadership pivot

If you have ever been involved in a workplace change effort, you probably already realize the significance of creating buy-in. CEO’s to front line staff often feel responsibility to encourage and support change efforts and buy-in is a significant part of the change process.

Recently I wrote about tips for creating buy-in for change efforts but this leads to additional questions about understanding if, when, or even how to know if buy-in has been achieved. Perhaps worthy of exploration is to consider what are some of the factors that would indicate a lack of buy-in? Here are a few:

Chronic expressions of why the change won’t work
Silence or only one-way communication (no feedback) regarding the change
Limited or no discussion about any problems or roadblocks, only criticism for the solution
Extremely low morale and lack of enthusiasm, poor attitudes
Tardiness, absenteeism or worse, employee turnover

If you are a change leader, you’ll quickly recognize that some of these problems are a natural part of the process but that isn’t where it ends. Often one of the biggest challenges for change leaders is not so much about facing the problems, it is the thought or belief that there should never be any. Problems will occur and so will some resistance. Welcoming and carefully analyzing all feedback, not just the feedback that you really want to hear helps change leaders measure not only levels of buy-in but also provides a gauge for progress. Keep in mind that sometimes buy-in is obtained by selling the problem, not by selling the solution.

Have you achieved buy-in?

Unfortunately I’ve witnessed many change leaders connecting observations of workplace behaviors to success, when in fact these behaviors might be more representative of a deepening problem. Here are a couple of good examples:

“People are just working, there isn’t any conflict.”

“Lately, I haven’t heard of any problems or issues.”

Certainly both of these can be very positive observations, but make no mistake about it that sometimes a lack of conflict really means a lack of commitment and often signals a presence of fear. Fear of retaliation or fears of job loss are two of the most common examples. When you ask people privately, they’ll tell you they are, “just doing my job” or “I not saying a thing, I’m not getting fired.” Any of these circumstances are representation of a lack of buy-in and a lack of commitment to achieve the future vision. Sometimes people are going through the motions, but there is no forward progress.

Buy-in definitely has strong linkages to motivation and inspiration. Individuals and teams that are bought-in are energized. There should be chatter, smiles, and an intense focus on achievement. Change doesn’t always mean that we will like it, but when we understand it we can more easily commit to it.

Levels of buy-in.

Can there be different degrees or levels of buy-in? Sure, there probably can be, and most buy-in is not on or off like a light switch. Many people will give change a try, the key is sustaining efforts that are in support of the vision. Feedback is going to be critical and those involved in the change need to help each other actualize the vision. This is most often achieved by building on each success, no matter how small. There will be obstacles, hurdles, and likely some mistakes, but when the correct path is being followed the intensity of buy-in will grow.

A closing thought, it is often easier to measure the hard costs (tools, equipment, and front end capital) of a change initiative than it is to measure the time required for an organizational (people, culture, values and beliefs) transition.

– DEG

Dennis E. Gilbert is a business consultant, speaker (CSP^TM), and coach that specializes in helping businesses and individuals accelerate their leadership, their team, and their success. He is the author of the newly released book, Forgotten Respect, Navigating A Multigenerational Workforce. Reach him through his website at Dennis-Gilbert.com or by calling +1 646.546.5553.

Dennis Gilbert on Google+

Tag Archives: pivot

Jun 17

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Change Readiness

Fear of Failure

Mar 17

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Tools

Addictions

Productivity Habits

Jan 17

Misdirected Intentions

Worse Yet

What Matters

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