THE ORGANISATIONAL CHANGE PROCESS OR TRANSFORMATION

Key to an organisation going through any change are a few fundamental principles which apply to any size organisation. Rather like a journey you have to decide where you want to go and once you have that clear in your head you have to decide where you are now. Most people have heard the story of the Irishman who informed a lost couple “that if he wanted to go to their desired location  he would not start from here” . And there is a lot in that statement, for it is understanding the reality of the current position of the organisation and preparing and adjusting it until it is  right to begin the journey that is vital to the process. For it is from there that the journey starts.

Once you know where you are and where you want to go youe have direction and vision underpinned by a dose of reality. This is your strategy.

Now you must turn to the execution of that strategy constantly basing your assumptions and reviewing that strategy when necessary.

The execution phase continues the planning of the change journey. How are you going to move from where you are to where you want to be? Who are you going to undertake the journey with? What controls and checks do youneed in place to assist you upon that journey?

The first question is complex and yet simplified by the strategy,  for it is here that the dastardly detail lies. The second is more about knowing your people and optimising their talent and potential; putting the right people on the right tasks. The final question is about boundaries and momentum. Boundaries and checks to ensure that you progress in the right direction at the right pace  and the measurement of progress to maintain momentum to keep you going when you lose motivation or drive to complete the journey.

So simply the rules for the change process are:

• Decide where you want to go
• Recognise where you start from
• Develop a detailed plan based on the agreed strategy
• Know and optimise the strengths of your people
• Maintain momentum through checks controls and the measurement of progress

PUBLIC SPEAKING PHOBIA

How many people are prepared to speak in front of large audiences? Not many and yet it is always an excellent opportunity to reach out  to people quickly and effectively. Public speaking is about connecting with every single person in your audience. It is about managing yourself and your stress in order to deliver the required message as competently as possible. But nobody's perfect and perfect people often appear cold  to people with high emotional intelligence. So mistakes are fine as long as there are not too many of them and they are not repeated. To make mistakes is to be human and we all like humans don't we.
Reading from a script or reading power point slides is worthless most people can read for themselves, it is the speaker's additional knowledge that people want to hear. Nobody attends a voluntary presentation unless they want to understand something better so the more natural we are the more we connect. And if we connect we give the audience the opportunity to learn.  We all learn in different ways using  Visual, Auditory  and Kinesthetic means and the more you can cover all of these in your presentation the more you will connect with your audience
Three basic rules for public speaking are engage everyone, be natural in yourself and allow the audience to go away with what they want, additional knowledge.

WHY DO PEOPLE SHY AWAY FROM BECOMING LEADERS

Leadership is an issue that frightens a great many people and yet often they lead naturally. Recently I was talking to a 'Team Leader' at an event and I asked him who he lead. He denied leading anyone but merely stated that he was a team manager not a leader. Why is there such a stigma attached to leadership?
Teachers lead, parents lead, coaches lead- there are not many roles in life that don't involve a leadership role  somewhere and if they don't they involve followership which is critical to effective leadership. Good leaders are great followers, as they have to have learned their leadership somewhere, therefore most good followers have the capability to become leaders all they need to do is want to lead.
I believe it is the fear of responsibility that drives people away from leadership. they fear accountability and they fear failure. Humans are often pessimistic about outcomes and therefore expect  to fail; to lead therefore would be driving failure. It is overcoming this fear of failure that is one of the key attributes of good leadership, be aware of it but don't be frightened by it. Striving for success is what leadership is all about and that requires vision, courage and determination. Vision to see the success, courage to keep believing in yourself when others doubt you and determination to keep going when the outcome appears a long way off.
Managers are the police force for leaders and they are vital to successful leadership. They ensure targets are met, expectations are understood and resources allocated they don't drive the outcomes like leaders do because they live in the present  and not the future. It is leaders who bear responsibility for the future as they have the vision, set the direction and inspire their teams. For me it is that burden of responsibility that frightens people away from leadership. Overcoming that fear is key to training great leaders for the future.

COACHING SIMPLICITY

So many of today’s coaches and consultants take great pleasure in over intellectualising their clients issues. For with complexity comes confusion and confusion requires interpretation and consultants interpret confusion and keep their jobs.

A better consultant creates simplicity where there is confusion, for with simplicity comes comprehension as they turn from coaching to mentoring and finally to supporting. These rarer leadership consultants believe they should do themselves out of a job as quickly as possible if they are to be true to their ethics. For great consultants create simplicity and allow the organisation they are working with to get on with business after all an organisations  business is its business.