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Maintaining Yesterday vs Creating Tomorrow

Written by: Trina Roach-Raschke

Article Overview: John F. Kennedy once said that the best time to repair the roof is when the sun is still shining. That is a luxury we do not have right now. Instead we must proactively confront our fear of change. Embrace it. Learn to be comfortable with it.

Maintaining Yesterday vs Creating Tomorrow

The first quarter of the year is now over. Some of you are already feeling the crunch of the current economic situation in your professional lives. Others have been able to maintain your status quo for the time being - or possibly even discovered a way to expand your business or career base.

What all of us have in common: A heightened sense of cautious watchfulness.

To successfully harness all of our resources and make progress despite the current challenges, it is essential we learn how to 'abandon yesterday'. We must learn to let go of the assumption that we can plan for the future as though it were just another episode of yesterday. What worked for us yesterday is not working for us today - and will be even less effective tomorrow.

HEEDING THE WINDS OF CHANGE

The mettle of a leadership personality is always put to the test when we reach the junction of change. It is not only how we react to change that is important; it is also how well we were prepared to deal with it in the first place.

In a crisis situation, external factors can force people and organizations comfortably enveloped in the status quo to REact. Whether it be a general economic downturn or a more specific and immediate challenge within the marketplace, this abrupt call to change can blindside us when we are not looking, and find us not - or only poorly - prepared.

Sometimes changes within our specific markets make it necessary to adopt a whole new way of working or doing business. That is why music companies no longer selling 8-track tapes must once again adjust and effectively compete in the world of iTunes and Napster.

By combining a healthy grasp of the overall market as well as your specific competitive environment with a balanced attitude towards risk, leaders who anticipate change in their markets and prepare themselves/their organizations accordingly, are best able to transition successfully.

Coaching Questions

** Which of the three scenarios briefly outlined above best describes your organization's/department's/ team's overall attitude towards change?

** How do you identify and facilitate those groups within your organization that already do things both differently and better? How could they be supported in implementing change strategies even more effectively?

** How can YOU do things both differently and better to ensure your own strategies for change do not get stuck mid-process?


LEADING THE WAY: WHERE DO YOU STAND?

Every organization looks to its key players to implement strategies in order to realize change. To ensure that new visions and strategies are actually realized, it is important to understand everyone's role - including your own - in the process.

What change type are you?

Are you a so-called "double agent"? In other words, after everything about the strategy for change within your organization has been said and done, have you SAD more than you have actually DONE?

Or could you be considered a "saboteur"? Do you expend all your energy to fight the winds of change in order to maintain the comfort of the status quo no matter what new demands the marketplace makes?

Do you belong to with the "groupies" - one of those people who seek safety in numbers by standing firmly somewhere in the middle?

Or do you count as one of the "mavericks" because you are someone who pushes ahead without aligning yourself with senior management, because it's easier for you to apologize in the aftermath than it is for you to ask permission?

More Coaching Questions

** Taking an honest look at your own attitudes towards change, into which of the four categories above do you fit? How does your attitude affect the success of strategies for change currently being implemented within your organization?

** If you have personnel responsibility, which of the types described above do you recognize within your department or team? What leadership strategies can you apply to integrate them into the change process more successfully?

Frustration and resignation are two things you need to avoid when you are in the throes of a change process. But it's often not the change strategy that's the problem. The problem most often lies in a lack of courage to actually implement the strategy once it's been decided!

What resources must YOU activate to take theory to practice, to go from planning to action, and to carry your concept to implementation?

John F. Kennedy once said that the best time to repair the roof is when the sun is still shining. That is a luxury we do not have right now. Instead we must proactively confront our fear of change. Embrace it. Learn to be comfortable with it.

By liberating ourselves from yesterday's solutions, we are effectively freeing ourselves today to create tomorrow's success!

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  Time Honored Truths
  LEADERS: NOT THE PAST CONSCIOUS BUT FOCUS ON FUTURE
  Leaders: Not the Past Conscious But Focus On the Future
  Lessons on Excellence
  Today is the Day

Article Tags: assumption, career base, competitive environment, crisis situation, crunch, current economic situation, doing business, economic downturn, external factors, first quarter, grasp, itunes, mettle, music companies, napster, personality, professional lives, scenarios, status quo, winds of change



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Re: Quote of the Day - "People are not lazy. They simply have im - Yesterday is History, Tomorrow is a mystery and Today is a gift –that is why we call it the present –Cherie Carter-Scott
What are your success criteria? - Out of curiousity, what has to be present for you to know that your business is a success? The top three things for me are: 1. Maintaining a 6 figure income year in and year out. 2. Creating and promoting my own products. 3. Income not solely dependent upon my personal effort. How about yours?
Re: What are your success criteria? - [quote="DwayneGarrett":1igrdgib]Out of curiousity, what has to be present for you to know that your business is a success? The top three things for me are: 1. Maintaining a 6 figure income year in and year out. 2. Creating and promoting my own products. 3. Income not solely dependent upon my personal effort. How about yours?[/quote:1igrdgib] I would have to say mine were: 1. Monthly Residual Income that exceeds all expenses by 110% 2. Free time to create and promote my own products (relies on #1) 3. 5% of all revenues generated by my team going to feed starving kids Now that is "feel good work".
Re: Over work for the day - Welcome trolley - I think we've all had days like that. Tomorrow is a new day!
My first working day - Thank you very much for the comment!! Today was my first working day on the project. I'll add everyday how the project is going on the blog. I'm really tired. Tomorrow I'll got up at 7:00 AM to continue.


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