Blog about Leadership

Leaders know how to change.

1. Everything and everyone changes. We get older, we start a family, we have kids, and our kids have kids. It’s the same with an organization. The economy changes, technology changes, personnel change, and the organization changes.

2. Change can be beneficial, but change can also be detrimental. That’s why it is critical for a leader to know how to lead change. Leaders guide and direct the organization toward the correct economic and technological path.

3. But for a leader to know how to lead change, the leader must know how to change. Adrian Savage wrote a piece for LifeHack.org on 10 virtually instant ways to improve your life. I recommend you read it, because there are a lot of good points.  Until you learn how to change yourself, you not know how to change an entire organization.

4. In order to be successful at change, leaders learn how to deal with change.  I remember a book that I read many years ago, Who Moved My Cheese?. The title is a bit comical, but the topic is not. For many organizations and many individuals, change can cause you to feel lost. You have to learn new places, new procedures, and new habits. You can feel like the world is passing you by and along the way someone moved something you need. The very substance that you rely on for existence may no longer be available through the same means.  Who Moved My Cheese? is a book about how to deal with change (available here).

5. Change requires adaptation and acclimation. Both are learned over time and are best learned by doing. Sometimes you need to take small steps, but then there are times that require drastic and decisive changes. Experience is often the only guide. Leaders have experience with change – personal and professional.

Remember: Leaders know how to change.

Enjoy this article? Subscribe to my RSS feed.