Accountability 101: Installment #4 - THE ACCOUNTABILITY CREDO

When it comes to accountability as we’ve defined it…

Personal Accountability is doing the right thing, consistently, day after day, in both tasks and relationships, to live the mission and values of the organization and advance its vision.

…my bottom line is that, to a large extent, personal accountability can be learned and is a choice that adults can intentionally make!

Because it is a choice, to be “fearlessly accountable” requires some work. It’s not always easy to simply “do the right thing.” But what if we had a guide to help us, especially when something happens that lies in that very “gray” area between right and wrong?

To that end, I have created an Accountability Credo. A credo is a statement of the beliefs or aims that guide someone’s actions. To have a workplace in which most/all people are accountable we must begin by recognizing and adopting the following beliefs:

• We are a group of capable adults.
• Most people want to do credible work. They want to be good, even great at work.
• We ultimately choose or decide how to ‘be’ at work.
• Accountability is an adult choice.
• Our shared responsibility is to co-create the environmental conditions that foster and reward that choice so that it’s embedded in the very fiber, the DNA, of the organization.

Think of the Accountability Credo as the magnetic needle of an ‘Accountability Compass.’ It helps point the way towards right action. Like the definition of accountability, it is simple and straightforward, but it is not always easy to do because, for some, it pushes our buttons by fundamentally challenging our current ways of thinking, acting and believing.

Here is your challenge: Allow the Accountability Credo to become your statement of belief that guides your everyday actions. See yourself and others as everyday heroes and think of accountability as your superpower! It may just be a power that can change your world.


If you like the idea of an Accountability Credo, then check out our Accountability Credo poster.

CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE AN OWN IT! ACCOUNTABILITY CREDO POSTER

Optimism is a choice!

Optimism comes from the Latin word for ‘the best.’  It simply means favoring the best possible outcome. For me, there are two brands of optimism:

·         Unrealistic optimism (aka naïve realism) – The thinking here is that great things will happen almost automatically.  Positive thinking alone can transform our wishes and hopes into reality.

·         Realistic optimism – Still a vigorously constructive mental model that views people as active agents who help make things happen. Realistic optimists know that in order to be successful, they’ll have to be courageous, answer the call to action, plan well, access resources, persist, bounce back, carry on and follow through!

I choose to be a realistic optimist!  For me, it’s not naïve, romantic or idealistic; rather, it’s an asset through which I (and my clients) can become my best self and make a difference through my relationships and my work.  Research associates it with greater measures of health & well-being; longer life expectancy; and more general happiness & prosperity.  At work, it’s an essential catalyst for change & improvement as well as creativity & innovation.

Right about now, some of you may be thinking - ”That’s great but…isn’t optimism part of a person’s hardwiring or isn’t it something that you get from your earliest experiences that gets embedded in your psyche?”  

My answer is yes, optimism is hardwired and yes, it may come more readily if we were exposed to it regularly as kids.  Each of us has a unique endowment and experiences in our formative years.  But that’s only part of the story.  Research tells us that education & personal effort can trump your starting point.  Even our genes need regular input to work properly as we grow & develop!  To a large extent, then, realistic optimism is a CHOICE!

Let me give you a simple little example from my own childhood.  One of my mother’s favorite phrases was ‘bad things happen in threes!”  She really seemed to believe this with certainty and went to great lengths to point out many threesomes. I grew up with this mantra in my head.  If something bad happened to me, I would try to game the system be forcing two (small, benign) ‘bad’ things to happen quickly so that I could get clear of that particular cycle.  Finally, there came a point in time, when I realized (through education) that it really wasn’t true and I laughed it off and went on.

I agree with Rick Warren who says, “We are products of our past, but we don’t have to be prisoners of it.”  Realizing that your past doesn’t necessarily predict your future frees a person and opens you up to sparks of possibility around you.

Cultivating the habit (yes, I said habit!) of realistic optimism is more critical today to overall success than ever before. Why? Because we are navigating powerful currents of change; because our work is more complex, our environment more unpredictable and our pace is blistering. We need every edge to be our best selves.

My coaching question to each of you is….Through what lens will you choose to view your workplace, your community, even our world?

For the remainder of this month, take my leadership dare:

Commit to an optimism upgrade!!

Upgrade 1: This week, think about Rick Warren’s quote, noted above. Are the leftovers from your past that are holding you back or keeping you stuck? Identify them clearly and specifically. Then, for each, identify one thing that you are willing to do to free yourself from its influence.

Upgrade 2: Take a vacation (preferably a long one) from ‘the news’. I think it would be pretty discouraging to see the world exclusively through the lens of the media news.  For me it’s a distorted view. The news reports on things (mostly bad and sensational) that happen, not things that don’t happen. When was the last time that a TV crew reported happily on how many countries weren’t at war or cities that haven’t had a mass shooting? In many cases, when you look at the whole picture, the facts tell a surprisingly optimistic story.

Upgrade 3: Reclaim the word ‘do-gooder’! The heck with those who think this word is anything but a wonderful compliment.  This week, make it a point to make a positive difference in the lives of your colleagues, clients and significant others in your workplace. Consider it your super power for the week!

Upgrade 4: Avoid catastrophizing!  Stop thinking about or expecting the worst – from people, situations or experiences. We’re talking about realistic optimism here, so skip the rose colored glasses. We need to seriously attend to problems and challenges without minimizing or discounting them. But portraying everything as a ‘catastrophe’ is overboard and counter-productive. It contributes to a culture of fear and robs us of our most valuable resource when it comes to problem solving….our creative mind. 

Assist Others To Identify Their Greatness

Lots of people tell me it’s so much easier to focus on what’s wrong with them (their ‘weaknesses or what they’re not good at) versus what they’re really, really great at. I think that’s because it’s a long standing habit for many of us. We’ve focused there for so long, it’s come to define us. It’s what our self talk is all about. This often limits a person’s willingness and ability to stretch into more challenging assignments, take some risk at work and perform at higher levels. In other words, it can prevent people from leading from their seat!

It’s in everyone’s best interest to help people own the best that is in them!  If we’re tuning into others regularly and training our eyes and ears to unearth strengths, we can see someone else’s potential long before they do. So, as a coach leader, what can you practically do to help others look in the mirror and see what you see? Here are some ideas that you can implement lickety split:

1. Work on yourself first! Let’s get better at uncovering the brilliance in others. Pick one person each day for a week and list all of the assets or positive qualities that s/he has. Be sure to select a variety of people, not only those for whom you already have an affinity.
2. Share your thoughts with each person and listen/observe their feedback.
3. Complete a learning exercise with your team. Ask each person to identify their own signature strengths and their growing edges (this is my reframing of ‘weaknesses’). Review and discuss in detail in your one-on-one meeting OR, if the team is ready for a challenge, review and discuss together at a team meeting!
4. Check out the strengths finder website, www.strengths-finder.com , for other potential tools and techniques. 

Take The Lead Book Receives a CIPA Award!

We wanted to take a quick moment to share some great news that we recently received here at Vantage International:

Take The Lead Everyday Leadership Series #1:  Engagement won a CIPA award!  We are extremely grateful and would like to thank all of our avid supporters.  Stay tuned as Leta is currently working on the second book in the Leadership Series.  We can hardly wait to get it out to everyone!!

Old Habits Die Hard

A discussion that I had recently with a dear colleague of mine, Lindsey, inspired some new and valuable insights for me that I’d like to share.

She and I were debriefing after a leadership program that her organization was sponsoring. We were both pretty enthused about the new, fresh conversations and behaviors that were surfacing as a result of the learning. And we were, of course, talking about sustainability – How challenging it can be to make lasting changes to habits that, for some, have been in place for a long time.

Inevitably, our conversation turned to the strength and resolve that each of us must find deep within ourselves when we are ‘breaking with’ old habits and ‘breaking through’ to more effective replacements. We acknowledged this to be particularly true when we’re back in our daily routine and are confronted with some of those ‘same old same old’ behaviors that are, at best, a buzz kill and, at worst, an organizational toxin. You can probably name the same behaviors that we mentioned to one another – If you guessed gossiping, idle complaining, back biting and back stabbing, cynicism and general put downs, you’re right!

That’s when Lindsey asked one of those powerful questions – something so simple yet so true and so illuminating that it stops you in your tracks for a moment as you really think about it. Trust me; I didn’t see this one coming. With a sigh, Lindsey said, as she thought about those toxic behaviors, “It’s pretty discouraging to realize that high school never really ends, does it?”

We looked at each other for a minute without saying anything and then we both nodded. If we were in a cartoon, you would have been able to see a big, blinking light bulb appear above our heads. I think Lindsey’s insight is a wake-up call for us all. It really was for me. Lots of the everyday behaviors that we choose at work are childish and immature leftovers from junior high!  And that’s just so unworthy of us! Think about it……back stabbing, meanness, talking about someone behind his/her back, trying to ‘get away with’ stuff, making lame excuses for not doing the right thing, petty jealousies born of insecurities, cliques and the list goes on. Reliving high school reminds me of the movie Ground Hog Day, only creepier and of far more significance.

Seriously, is this the best that we can be together? Why do we choose to participate in or tolerate (and, therefore, perpetuate) these patterns as adults at work when they didn’t do any good or felt bad way back when? Why are we stuck in behaviors that we should have outgrown long ago?

More importantly, what’s it going to take to ditch them permanently? Have we made peace with this elephant in the middle of the room by looking the other way when we experience them because they seem familiar or fairly innocent or because we’re guilty of them too?

If you’re ready to unhook from these recycled high school behaviors, here are some small steps that can get you moving in the right direction. Remember…

“To change your experience, change yourself. To change yourself, change your mindset.”

Do-ables

• Do whatever it takes to remind yourself throughout the day that we are all ADULTS at work. Avoid words or actions that convey any other messages. For example, stop referring to your team members as your ‘kids’ and/or acting like a parent. So, enough already…put on your big guy and big gal pants and choose to act like a grown-up throughout your work day.
• Do your part to offer universal education on behavioral expectations in your organization. This might include such things as:

¬  Code of conduct review and update

¬  On-boarding and ongoing mini programs on ‘leading from your seat’

¬  Identify the ‘dirty dozen’ – the twelve junior high behaviors that you won’t tolerate in the organization – and create an awareness campaign

¬  Discuss the importance of adult-adult relationships at regular staff meetings, morning meetings. Use examples

¬  Create a marketing campaign – for example, No whining allowed…Gossip free zone. In fact, make a contest of it and give a prize to the winning team.
 

• Catch folks making the right choices and acknowledge & reward.
•  Have a low tolerance for those behaviors – call them out (respectfully and professionally) whenever possible.
•  Be certain that there are consequences for continuing these immature behaviors; that everyone knows what they are and that they are fairly and consistently applied.

If you want to take a walk down memory lane and fondly re-visit your high school years then do it – dust off your yearbook, attend a reunion or find classmates on social media. But be darn sure that you leave those immature behaviors out of the picture. We’re not fifteen anymore and high school really is over!

The Rear View Mirror

January is the traditional time when many people make ‘resolutions’ for the coming year.  I like the word resolution.  To me, it means a firm decision to do or not do something. One of its synonyms is ‘intention’ and I have a passion for living my life (personally and professionally) with awareness and intention.  But those of you who are familiar with my work (and blog) already know that!

Resolutions are personal and/or professional promises that we make, mainly to ourselves, for the year ahead that will help us to be both better and different in ways that are meaningful to each of us.  I think resolutions are a fine idea.  I am a ‘resoluter’, although I don’t limit my intentions to January alone.  But it’s hard to argue with the power that January brings to us – the New Year is fresh and alive with sparks of possibility and resolutions are an opportunity to project our power into the near future, gear up for greatness and pre-pave our experiences for the next twelve months.

So, while I think that committing ourselves to a select few resolutions each year can be a useful habit, there is another ritual that I practice at this time that provides even more value.  I have found that the end of one year and the beginning of another provides a perfect moment to look in the rear view mirror and thoughtfully, proudly, authentically and constructively review and then celebrate the past twelve months.  This ‘year in review’ habit that I have cultivated is one that I truly savor. Over time, it has:

·         yielded increasingly valuable insights;

·         allowed me to gain perspective on difficult moments;

·         forced me to acknowledge successes, even those that were originally disguised as challenges;

·         helped me to forgive myself and others;

·         piqued my curiosity & stoked my creativity;

·         launched me in new directions;

·         taught me beneficial lessons; and

·         gifted me with opportunities to mourn losses.

My look in the rear view mirror each year warms the soil for those fresh promises that I make to myself – and the virtuous cycle continues.

One of the most discouraging and dangerous laments that I hear too often from clients and colleagues goes something like this…”This all sounds good. I wish that I could do it. But I don’t have time to think!  I’m too busy getting things done to stop and think!” Before you blink your eyes and find yourself at the end of the first quarter of 2014, wondering what happened to those three months, schedule some ‘think time’ and take a long, appreciative look in your rear view mirror.  Connect your head, heart and gut and travel month by month back through 2013:

·         List all of the many, many things that went well (were right) during the year
·         Ask yourself what was the toughest challenge that you face. What worked? What didn’t?
·         Identify times/situations in which you demonstrated bravery or organizational courage
·         Think closely about your relationships. How many did you build? Mend? Harm?
·         Look for ways and times in which you surprised yourself
·         Focus specifically on lessons that you learned
·         Zero in on your proudest moment – What was it? Why are you so proud?
·         Get specific on all the ways in which you practiced everyday leadership – really led from your seat at work.  In the community.  At home.
·         Tell yourself the unvarnished truth about mistakes, snap-backs and other missed opportunities. What would you do differently if you had a do-over day?
·         Finally, ask yourself if you were true to the promises, the resolutions, which you made last January.

Looking back frees me to look ahead more confidently, more fearlessly. Your mom was right…look both ways…..

Announcing the 2013 Take The Lead Award

We wanted you to be among the first to hear our good news!   For years, Vantage International has been committed to developing powerful, effective ‘everyday leaders’ at all levels within organizations.  We’ve coached, taught, facilitated, spoken and written about the game changing dynamic of ‘leading from every seat.’ These experiences have fanned the flame of our passion for the message and created sparks of possibility in more and more workplace cultures. Now, we want to do even more to create a movement that changes the way we think of leadership for good! It is with pride and excitement that we announce the 2013 Take The Lead Award!

This award is intended to recognize and honor one ‘everyday leader’ who best demonstrates unwavering dedication to leading from her/his seat every day at work. We invite you to spread the word about this opportunity across your own organization; share the message with colleagues in other organizations; nominate a worthy individual; and encourage others to do so as well.  Help us to create a buzz! To get things rolling, we’ve included a flyer that you can print and display on your organization’s community boards or post on your intranet.

The Take The Lead (TTL) nomination process is easy and straightforward.  Here’s how it works in just a few simple steps:

• Visit http://www.vantage-inter.com/2013-ttl-award and carefully read all of the specific details on the Award
• Click on the link to the Nomination Form and complete all of the fields. Of particular importance is the narrative that creatively and thoroughly outlines why the nominee should be selected as this year’s recipient. Tell us a compelling story!
• Then, simply submit the online form. Nominators will receive an email confirmation that his/her submission has been received

Nominations will be accepted from September 15, 2013 through December 15, 2013. 

We believe that even the simple acts of talking about this award within your organization, publicizing it, thinking about who to nominate and then crafting a narrative that shares the story of an everyday leader will accrue benefit to you and your team by:

•  Actively thinking about and scouting for  leaders in every seat
•   Raising awareness of each person’s own leadership talents and those of others
•  Recognizing and appreciating one another as everyday leaders
•  Promoting new levels of accountability, engagement and community

If you have any questions about the 2013 TTL Award, please do not hesitate to contact us at info@vantage-inter.com. The Vantage International Team is looking forward to reading your “Everyday Leadership” stories!

Let’s create a movement together!

Warmly and Appreciatively,

Leta Beam

President

Vantage International

www.vantage-inter.com

Fresh Eyes

One of those small but significant (I always say ‘big door swing on small hinges) habits that everyday leaders practice is to view their work with ‘fresh eyes’ each day. If you’re committed to being both better and different then you’ve got to have the courage, energy and discipline to briefly pause before you jump in and ‘do’ the work  Take a look at it as though you’re seeing it for the first time. If you could press the re-wind button, how would you organize the work differently; what would you do to have a better outcome, make your job or someone else’s easier?

Think of it another way – when you slow down and really re-examine your work and explore your processes and approaches, you actually have the chance to speed up in the long run, by becoming more effective and efficient. Slow down to speed up!

When you look at your work with fresh eyes, it’s as though you have a new leadership lens that endows you with ‘super powers’ to:

·         Connect the dots differently

·         See opportunities that were hidden in plain sight

·         Have an in-sight on the solution to a wicked problem

·         Experience an ‘aha’ moment or a BFO (blinding flash of the obvious)

Now, this isn’t an invitation to go rogue and change your work flow without running it by others. It is all about making suggestions that help you be the best version of yourself and get great work done AND help your colleagues and the organization.

So today, be fearless! Change the lens through which you see your world. Write down any ideas (no censorship please) that surface for streamlining, eliminating, combining, re-creating….You might be surprised at how long that list is. Then pick one, maybe two to pursue. Now, lead from your seat and talk with your colleagues and your boss about your new ideas. Take a risk…take the lead!

Breaking Free

In my last post, I promised to share with you the #1 secret to breaking free of ‘dysfunctional comfort.’ For those of you who are jumping in to the conversation for the first time, the way that I have defined dysfunctional comfort is that odd feeling of reassurance or relief around a longstanding relationship, process, procedure or approach, even though it is unhealthy, outmoded, broken or just plain wrong!

I also gave you a hint (actually a BIG hint) as to what that secret might be. So, here it is…if we genuinely want to challenge the cycle of dysfunctional comfort, we must begin to cultivate un-comfortableness as a cultural value in ourselves, others around us and throughout our organization. We have to consider it a healthy part of the growth and development process of individuals, teams and entire work places. Now, before you say…”well, duh!”….let’s really think about the implications of this.

It means that we’ve got to take the risk of looking at what’s going on around us at work through a different lens. We’ve got to start questioning everything. If you choose to do that each day, you’ll begin to pick up on new options, fresh possibilities, unexplored opportunities or alternate solutions.

Let me put this another way: We’ve got to intentionally ask ourselves if our ‘same old same old’ way of thinking or acting is the best option in the moment. And, if it’s not….then we’ve got to have the courage to admit that to ourselves and shed stuff that we’ve outgrown or no longer does the trick. Remember, a snake needs to shed its skin from time to time or it dies. Once the shedding is complete, the snake isn’t weaker or more vulnerable; it’s actually renewed and stronger. I think the same is true for everyday leaders!

So, how do we become more intentional? How do we begin to take small steps aimed at becoming more aware and then more choice-ful of our thoughts, feelings and behaviors? Here are some new habits that can give you some traction and momentum:

·         Reformat your old ‘programs’ – The most important conversation that you have each day, is the one that’s going on in your own head. Start there by consciously choosing your self-talk message. Remind yourself over and over again each day that you are in charge of you at all times; that you are a powerful decider. I use a very simple four-word mantra to get the job done in my own head. In this context, mantra means ‘words repeated to aid concentration and focus.’  

Reframe – Reclaim – Rejoice – Re-choice

You’ll find these words in other resources as I didn’t create them. Here’s what they mean to me:

            Reframe – I choose the frame of reference that I will use in a given situation

            Reclaim – I once again claim my personal power

Rejoice -   I choose to notice and celebrate all of the many things going right in my experience

Re-choice – I choose not to be on autopilot. I choose not to continue in dysfunctional comfort. I choose to be better and different.

·         Use affirmations regularly – Create a series of micro-affirmations (small ways that you validate yourself) also help to reset your subconscious to a new channel of self-talk. Make them uniquely you! This allows you to constructively challenge those same old same old habits.

·         Pre-pave your day – This is my version of one of Stephen Covey’s Seven Habits of Highly Effective People – begin with the end in mind. Make it your new habit to review your day before things get rolling (in only takes five minutes). Visualize the various segments of your day as you would ideally like to experience them. One of my coaching clients has used this mini skill to completely reframe his participation in meetings throughout his business day. Before he enters the meeting room, he simply pauses and reflects on who he wants to be during that meeting, how he will behave, and what outcome he wants. Then he keeps those thoughts foremost in his mind as he moves through the meeting. Nothing else changed…and yet everything changed for this leader. Pre-pave your day with an eye toward how you can be both better and different; how you can shake up your own dysfunctional comfort!

·         Another set of eyes – Invite a colleague to take a look at one of your processes or procedures to uncover new ways of getting our work done well. Be curious about and receptive to her feedback, rather than defensive.

·         Evidence journal – At the end of the day, make it a practice to write down all of the ways that things went well that day. Things you learned. Examples of different and better. A breakthrough. Small wins. This small practice has helped me to end many work days with a sense of pride, victory and accomplishment.

Here are two examples, from my book, Take The Lead, of how people just like you have successfully challenged dysfunctional comfort to create different experiences at work:

·         A cafeteria cashier shifted from hating her job, feeling invisible and unappreciated and disliking the people whom she served, to really connecting and helping people get their day off to a great start. She decided to make one small change—she would smile more at people. That’s it. Big doors swing on small hinges. Little change…big payoff. In less than a month, she was receiving many complements and one of her regular customers told her that she should change her name to Joy, because that’s what gift she gave everyone. It is also important to note that the restaurant’s business in the morning began to grow. Coincidence? I don’t believe in them!

·         Union workers and management staff at a manufacturing company set aside long standing distrust and began to communicate differently. There were only small wins at first. It was so hard for both sides to stop repeating unproductive behavior—dysfunctional comfort—and start thinking about what might be possible. Instead of blaming, there’s more ownership. They have much more work to do together, but let’s declare it a victory so far.

Remember, shed or dead! I dare you to recognize your own areas of dysfunctional comfort and then choose to be both better and different.

Opting Out

I realize that I’m stating the obvious, but here goes – Professionally, we’re all riding some pretty powerful currents of change. For some of us, they’re the most significant that we’ve had to navigate in our careers.  And what makes it especially tricky is that different people react differently to change (okay, go ahead and say it…duh!). Change adoption models tell us that half of the people in your workplace, the Innovators, Early Adopters and Early Majority will adapt reasonably well and quickly to changes; the other half, the Late Majority and Laggards, will resist change until really late in the game. The bigger and hairier the change, the more resistance you encounter and the longer it lasts.

One of my favorite quotes from Woody Allen really captures the change adoption process in many organizations: “Everyone wants to go to heaven, but nobody wants to die.” When I ask professionals in organizations: “Who wants things to improve around here?” almost every hand goes up. And when I ask the follow-up question: “Who’s willing to change in order for that to happen?” almost every hand goes down.

Today’s change cycle is so rapid fire that there’s little time for organizations to ‘warm the soil’ to allow people to get used to something new before implementation. It’s more like ripping off a really, big bandage every day at work – it stings for a while and then it subsides…until the next rrrrrip!

So what? The point is that we can’t outrun change today. We can’t affix a ‘happy face’ sticker over our problems, challenges and changes, ignore them and hope that things will work out on their own. And for the most part, resistance is futile (a tip of the hat to Star Trek).  In fact, most of the changes that we are experiencing at work today are helpful and moving us forward constructively.

As adults, we must welcome ongoing learning, speak up and offer our input on upcoming changes in a very short window of time and then consciously commit (even if we continue to disagree) to the new way of doing things. Yes, even if we disagree, we need to commit. Or do we?

For some, there seems to be another alternative – I call it opting out. They simply don’t embrace ‘it’, whatever it is. Even when the reason for the change is clear;  when it’s about improving our organization or enhancing our competitiveness, and even when we have agreed to the change.   That’s right even when we’ve sat in meetings and nodded our heads in the affirmative. “Yes, we’re all on board!” (fingers crossed).  We return to our desks and quietly decide not to change our behavior, not to adopt the new way of doing things. It seems that some people dig in their heels and continue familiar practices under the radar, almost as though the changes only apply to TOG (the other guy). Some of these professionals may think that they are taking a righteous stand for tradition or against a new rule. And, if it were an occasional, conscious act, I might agree. But too often, and for too many people, opting out is a knee jerk reaction to anything new or fresh or unfamiliar. It’s a wicked problem in some organizations. And it really gets in the way of our collective success.

How?

·         It has the potential to keep us stuck in dysfunctional comfort. In order to get better, we’ve got to change. It’s healthy. Being responsive to the changing needs and desires of customers, funders, shareholders, etc. is essential to your long term success.

·         It drains relationships, teams and sometimes organizations because we must turn our attention and energy to convincing, cajoling, reminding, tracking, courting and ultimately warning these skeptics about their behavior.

·         It can cause a permanent rift between team members because others may need to pick up the work that you’re not doing or fix the work that you’re doing so that it meets the new process. It can lead to resentment and disillusionment. And, if there are no consequences for ‘opting’ out, others may simply throw up their hands in frustration and join in.

·         It perpetuates the parent-child dynamic. It’s childish and it’s cowardly – if you truly have strong reservations about a change, then speak up and passionately present your opinion. Having said that, unless this change is unethical, dangerous or in some other very real way, wrong, we have an obligation to commit to it as a professional.

·         It stifles creativity and innovation. We all need more not less of these. Opting out of most changes is the organizational equivalent of throwing the baby with the bathwater.

·         This behavior is not you at your best. It’s not the behavior of an everyday leader. We can’t afford anything short of full throttle engagement.

 Now what? 

What can we do to break the habit of ‘opting out?’ If you are the one who’s engaging in the behavior, you can make a different choice. Instead of opting out, you can –

·         Get to the bottom of this behavior. Confront this behavior in yourself.   Do a deep dive and find out what’s behind this choice. Are you afraid? Of what? Feel as though you can’t keep up? Don’t have the skills needed to do the job?

·         Find an accountability partner. Someone with whom you can collaborate to deal more directly and constructively with change. Someone who will help you to more effectively hold a framework of accountability around change.

·         Be certain that your voice is heard. Join the committee that is charged with making key recommendations in areas of keen interest to you. Be a part of the research, debate and recommendation process.

·         Talk with different people. Take in diverse perspectives. Sometimes, we hang out with like-minded people who generally feel the same way that we do. We reinforce our thinking instead of having it challenged in a healthy way.

·         Pilot the change. Fully embrace it for a period of time (e.g. 30 days) and then provide objective feedback, highlighting both the positive as well as the negative. The period of time must be long enough to give the new process a fair shake. And you must fully engage!

·         Sincerely ask yourself….Is this the best version of me at work? If you can’t honestly answer yes to that question, then find a different way forward.

We’re adults…professionals. We can consciously choose a different response to change. You may have tendencies when it comes to change adoption, but you’re not hardwired a certain way. Go all in for a change!