When I’ve made a mistake, when I’m not good enough, when something goes wrong or doesn’t go as well as it should have, I don’t tend to think it’s my fault. I’m also offended if someone else suggests that what I’ve been doing isn’t enough, it wasn’t good enough, it needed to be better. Or my sales results aren’t what I predicted they would be this month. That one means I missed something, but it’ll be OK.
Stage 1: Denial - It’s not me. It’s definitely not me.
It turns out that I’m not alone. The typical first response to needing to change is: DENIAL!
I might justify that with a few more beliefs like “I don’t need to change, you do”, or the beautiful, “It isn’t my fault that we couldn’t accomplish that task when you set the targets to high and the state of our world went into the toilet because of something we couldn’t predict like a world wide pandemic or global economic crisis where our industry was significantly negatively impacted.” Blah blah blah
Sometimes I’ll even get stuck in denial, never realizing how a change in attitude or a rewriting of a belief of limitation is stopping me from growing as a professional, as an instructor, as a husband, as a father, as a sailor, or a dog owner….. yada yada yada.
OK, fine. I might not be perfect, but it’s not really that bad. I’ve been doing things this way for quite some time and the habits are already built; I’m an old dog who can’t learn new tricks if I tried. I am my father’s son, so that “aggressiveness” you appear to suggest I portray when I’m frustrated was how my father did it and likely how his father did it and therefore it’s just the way it is. I recall when my company or manager will start to measure me to a higher level of performance, which means I need to be more organized, more efficient because the world did change, COVID did happen, we do have a volatile economic situation where the country needs to produce more so that we can grow our GDP.
Sometimes, great leaders will reach out for help and may even invest in resources that have proven to work for others, but I’m going to push back because. I am who I am. I’d rather stay poor than get out of my comfort zone. Deal with it.
Stage 2: Resistance - I am who I am. Deal with it.
It turns out the second stage of change is: RESISTANCE!
Alright then, I need to do something better. How can I do something that I’ve never accomplished before? What do you mean, my approach to the conversation has built up a roadblock in the communication, and I need to find a better way to break down those communication barriers through improved communication techniques, asking better questions, so that I can learn more than I share? How can I avoid being a typical sales professional who appears to play games with prospects? I need to be genuine, I need to be me, but I also need to be structured so that I can figure out the right approach and learn from my own mistakes.
Stage 3: Exploration - OK. Fine. What are my options?
The third stage is: EXPLORATION!
Ah, I may not be fixed yet, but I have decided to explore the solutions and see what options are out there to help me grow. At this stage, I’m finally open to learning and trying. Recognizing that how I did it in the past was the primary reason I didn’t succeed and it’s the lessons that I need to learn that will help me get to that next level. What got me here won’t get me there. At least I know that now.
And finally, if I can make it through that emotional and tiring journey, if I recognized the why I needed to change and if I can put the right structure together for me to grow, I can one day become consistent in this new version of myself and hopefully become a master where I can share these lessons with others so that they can succeed faster than I was able to.
Stage 4: Commitment – Now we’re getting somewhere.
The fourth stage of change is: COMMITMENT!
In the past week, I had another birthday, and I can reflect on the changes, challenges and opportunities that three decades as an adult have provided. I spent a decent amount of time feeling that I was a “rising star” and my skills were spectacular and often underused. I would externalize the reasons for my lack of progress on the things that would occur in the world and never really take accountability for how I needed to grow, rather than how the people around me needed to grow. This happens naturally with age, but just because I was slow, you don’t need to be.
As leaders we need to lead our teams and our people to success by constantly preparing them for change and enabling them to see it as an opportunity to not only succeed in our professions but also succeed in our lives. When any organization, often in my world, one that is focused on improved revenue and growth results, begins to discuss the need for change it is often the lack of an organizational change strategy that results in failed attempts to achieve the new “targets” that were thought up.
The typical plan that we observe far too often is the leaders of the organization have a great idea, they share it with enthusiasm with their teams, experience a modest amount of initial success before the energy wears off, leadership no longer seems to care, and the growth that you anticipated by new opportunities is lost till the next time we run around this cycle.
It doesn't have to go that way.
The 10 Steps to Organizational Change
Consider how you have approached changes in the past and ask yourself: What did we do well? What did we miss? What do we need to do differently next time?
1. Clarify the reasons for change and the intended outcomes and resulting benefits.
2. Identify the people, processes, and systems affected by the change.
3. Communicate the information to the people affected by the change.
4. Collaboratively develop a plan to implement the change.
5. Establish objectives, responsibilities, accountabilities, benchmarks, and reporting processes.
6. Communicate the finalized plan to the people.
7. Implement the plan.
8. Monitor performance against the plan.
9. Provide feedback.
10. Adjust activities to maintain performance against the plan.
ASK Sandler works with driven organizations in Manitoba to help them grow their people, grow their business, and grow themselves.
If you want to build stronger beliefs and behaviours inside your sales team, come be our guest in a class or book a 15-minute chat.
