Change Matters

With the New Year come the New Year resolutions. The main issue with these resolutions in my experience is in the main they are not SMART. That is

Specific

Measurable

Agreed

Realistic

Timebound

Resolutions fail because there is little realism about the timescale envisaged and the difficulties of engaging in a change of living to achieve the long term desired result.

I am pleased to say that the normal resolution for others in terms of weight loss this New Year does not apply to me. For I have actually just successfully completed a diet to lose weight over the last 5 months dropping from a whopping 14 stone + to just under 12 stone.

This has been achieved with a lot of effort and willpower. My catalyst for action was my Doctor; my medical mentor if you like, who suggested initially lightly and then with pushing, more demonstrably that I needed to lose some weight. This has resulted in lower blood pressure and a very low cholesterol count and demonstrated a good case that you can take control of your life and your body if you want to.

Now I am pretty strong willed, determined and driven. So I was able to set my own goals and plans to achieve them. Oh dear this sounds a bit smug but the reality is that not everyone can do that. A friend of mine set on a similar mission to lose a lot more weight than I had to, used the support of a personal counsellor to achieve her goal. Whatever way you set out about achieving the change, it is down to you, the one who really wants the change, to make it happen. I deal a lot with Change Management and there is a process called DREC illustrated by the following chart

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The initials stand for stages in the change process. The first instinct when change is suggested or considered is

Denial (why change? I don’t need to change) followed quickly by Resistance (Giving detailed reasons why the change proposed will not work). Overcoming the initial stages is normally difficult and if you do so the next one is Engagement, trying it out. This is a very delicate area for any slight problem or setback will lead to a regression to Resistance and back into Denial. Change comes from the final stage Commitment when the process is complete (or at least we hope so).

Changing yourself is one thing but imposing change on an organisation is another. It is not only very difficult, it requires time and patience. The more deep rooted the change required the more likely support will be required to make things happen. There is a lot of literature on the change process and I would strongly recommend the Business Balls website www.businessballs.com. On there you will find an excellent chart on the transition process which you can see here

http://www.businessballs.com/ProcessofchangeJF2003.pdf

Each and every person in the team where change is happening will be going through this process; all at differing speeds. Leading the change requires you to be sensitive to where the respective team members are in this transition process. And that is where I come in; providing support and assistance to the team in making the changes necessary. So if you need to make a change because the business has to change or because you want it to change for positive reasons then give me a call.