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Change Doesn’t Play by the Rules.

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iStock_000005310903MediumWe know this… Yet it seems to be one of the lessons we have to learn over and over and over and over again.

When it comes to big change, there are a very clear set of principles that we can apply. Things like:

  • Whether the change is perceived as positive or negative, there will be resistance; during large-scale change resistance is critical to building commitment.
  • Commitment must be orchestrated over time.
  • It is essential that you focus both on putting the things needed for success in place, and on making the necessary shifts in thinking and behaviors.
  • Sponsorship is based on who people look to for communications and consequences related to a specific change; it cannot be assigned

There are dozens of others; if you flip through my blog posts you will see them spelled out and illustrated.

But it is important to remember…these are principles, not rules. Change doesn’t unfold neatly. It doesn’t proceed according to plan. Methodologies can be directionally correct, but don’t let that fool you into attempting to follow them blindly.

You will make mistakes; it is inevitable. Decisions have to be made in the absence of adequate information; some of them will be wrong. “Fess up,” and make the necessary adjustments, the sooner the better. (Ironically, you may have to acknowledge the mistake even though you have inadequate information to be sure you are on the wrong track.)

You will be distracted. There are a lot of “bright, shiny objects” that can easily catch your attention. And, there will be unanticipated crises that will do likewise. Be careful; it’s easy for the change to “go off the rails” when this happens.

When faced with distractions, acknowledge them and let them go.

When faced with crisis, evaluate it in the context of the change. Whatever your role in the change, you cannot delegate it. Do you need to slow the change down; to defer decisions and/or actions, to redeploy resources? You may need to decide these things and act on them quickly… But decide and act, don’t default.

You will be worn down. Change drains us emotionally, physically, mentally. Be ready! Ensure that the others who are taking the journey are ready as well!

In 2007 I completed a Himalayan pilgrimage with several others from my yoga studio. This was to be a major change from my life in metropolitan New York City in many ways. It was planned as a series of treks requiring camping, with nights in between spent in guest houses. Our first trek took us from Hanuman chatti to Dodital and on to Sangam chatti. On the second day of this trek I wrote, “Sometimes, the only thought can be, Where do I plant my trekking pole? Where do I take my next step? Where do I plant my pole for the support that I need, and so it doesn’t become wedged? Where do I plant my foot so there is a place to plant my next foot. Even these thoughts sometimes just skim the consciousness.”

I had prepared in the gym for months. But I also prepared on the yoga mat, on my prayer/meditation bench, through reading, and in reflection.

Our journey had a series of planned “plateaus,” those evenings spent in guest houses. When we completed this first trek of three days, four of the twelve announced that they were leaving. While the reasons they gave varied, the reality was that they were not prepared emotionally, physically, and mentally for the challenges of this change. They spent the remainder of their time in India at a spa, an experience that was far less challenging–and far less of a change–than the remainder of us experienced.

Prepare, prepare those around you, and plan for the plateaus. Know where you are going…not just in your head, but in your heart and in your gut. Big change journeys, just like a Himalayan pilgrimage, will test you and all who are traveling with you. The ability to call on your internalized experience of the destination will help sustain you along the way. Prepare. Then let go of your expectations, and be present to the reality that unfolds.

What do you do to prepare for your change journeys?

 

 

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“Change on a Dime”

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Dime_Reverse_13“In this environment, we have to be able to change on a dime.” If you haven’t said it yourself, you’ve probably heard others saying it.

Whether in our personal lives or our work lives, it is clear that the volume, speed, and complexity of change continues to accelerate. Having the ability to “change on a dime” would clearly put you ahead of the competition in the marketplace, and keep you out “in front of the Joneses” in the neighborhood.

But is “changing on a dime” what you really want to strive for?

In order to answer this question, it’s necessary to look at the constraints that keep us from having–or exercising–this ability now. First and foremost are those things that stabilize our lives day-to-day. At work, we might refer to the organizational culture or the operating paradigm. At home, it is the family routines, lifestyle, or traditions.

I’ve written about these things extensively in past posts, most notably in Anchors, Aweigh. Much of the time, these anchors–whatever form they may take–are operating in the background. They provide us with the stability we need in order to focus on other things. We know which decisions to make on our own, which ones require consultation with others, and which ones are to be made by someone else. We know what behaviors are acceptable, and what behaviors are not. We know how to do what is expected of us, whether as the accountant, the CEO, the spouse, or the parent.

Our anchors, whatever they are, wherever they are, keep us in relative stasis. They keep us, our families, our organizations, and our communities (even our society) generally heading in what has been determined to be “the right direction.” The stronger the connection to any specific anchor, the more tightly it holds us in place.

Changing on a dime–if the change is significant–means changing our relationship to one or more of those tightly bound anchors. It means letting go of who we have been, what we have been doing, how we have been thinking, and becoming a different person or organization “in an instant.”

From this perspective, the best way to “change on a dime” is to be adrift, without anchors. Much like a leaf floating downstream, we can “go with the flow,” bobbing quickly through the rapids, and swirling slowly in the eddies.

Once you put even one anchor down, your ability to change instantly is at risk. It is not as easy to move across the country if you have a family, or own a house (or factory). But, having no anchors leaves us–quite literally–adrift.

Given that we as individuals, as well as our institutions, tend to be strongly anchored, changing intentionally requires us to reflect on our anchors. Which ones do we let go of; which ones do we realign our relationship to; which ones do we sustain? This reflection will slow us down–both as individuals and as organizations–at the same time as it helps us change wisely. And, this reflection, when done well, doesn’t happen “on a dime.”

So if changing on a dime is not, in fact, something to aspire to, how do we better position ourselves to be able to change more rapidly?

I have recently experienced a book that has proven to be a great tool for me in this regard. Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less by Greg McKeon is a book that is intended to be experienced, not just read. While the author focuses his writing at the individual level, the lessons he shares can apply to our organizations as well.

Future blogs will, no doubt, contain references to McKeown’s work. For now, let me highlight a few elements that address how we and our institutions can become more quickly adaptable to change.

According to McKeown, the nonessentialist seeks to be all things to all people, engages in the undisciplined pursuit of more, and lives a life that does not satisfy. The essentialist thinks less is better, engages in the disciplined pursuit of less, and lives a life that really matters.

What really matters to you as an individual? What really matters to your organization? What can you not say “No” to without damaging the core of who you are and what you do? Once you know what that is, it is time to begin saying “No” to all those other things whose weight you are carrying. And, it’s time to begin saying “No” to the change opportunities that come your way, but do not move you forward on your essential path.

McKeown’s message is, in some ways, a familiar one. “You can’t be all things to all people” is the popular saying. Jim Collins addressed it with his hedgehog model in Good to Great. Writers, programmers, project managers, designers, and many others learn, “It’s not complete when you can’t put anything else in, it’s complete when you can’t take anything else out.”

Taking this essentialist approach will not enable you to “change on a dime.” But it will free you of many of the anchors that are slowing you down now. And, fewer of the changes that appear on your horizon will warrant a second thought. Those factors alone–knowing what is essential, letting go of unnecessary anchors, and letting nonessential changes pass by–will  significantly increase the speed by which you can change when the essential opportunities present themselves.

What are your thoughts?

 

 

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When Organizations “Just Leave”

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iStock_000009672442SmallLast week’s post addressed individuals “just leaving” before having a clear picture of where they were going. When I began to write it, I thought that I had to focus the post on individuals since organizations don’t just leave. But, in their own way, they actually do. After all, “just leaving” is in the eye of the beholder.

While it may be an oversimplification, organizations are collections of people working together to deliver products or services; many, though not all, do so within the context of a broader vision and mission. Their products and/or services are delivered to specific markets.

Through this lens, an organization may choose to leave its people, its markets, one or more of its product/service lines, or even its vision and mission.

In early October 2003 an American airstrike hit a hospital in Kunduz, Afghanistan. Dozens of people were killed and injured, including several medical personnel serving on behalf of Doctors Without Borders. Reluctantly, the organization withdrew from Kunduz, leaving the war torn region grossly underserved. Sometimes, organizations–like individuals–find themselves in untenable situations that require an immediate retreat.

However, sometimes organizations “just leave” for economic reasons, and they do so in ways that create significant hardship for their people and the communities they are leaving. Factories are shuttered; storefronts are boarded up; offices are vacated. Jobs are eliminated, or are moved elsewhere. All too often, the announcements and the actions come after considerable analysis and planning in headquarters, but with little or no forewarning for those who will be affected. Generally, the law is obeyed, union contracts–if they exist–are complied with, personnel policies are adhered to. But the leaving is experienced as a negative failure at the local level. “They just left.”

To me, there is another way to “just leave” in this situation; it is one that I have recommended to clients in the past. Engage those being left in defining how to make the leaving a success. “How do we successfully end our operations here…successfully for you as employees, successfully for your families, successfully for the community, and successfully for us as an organization?” By returning a sense of control to those being impacted by the change, you are not only reducing the level of disruption they are feeling. You are also positively affecting how your brand will be seen. You are no longer “just leaving.”

There are times when organizations leave their product/service offerings. As a sometime photographer I experienced this first-hand about a decade ago. I used to shoot Scala, a black and white slide film, with my Minolta pro camera. In one year, Agfa, which manufactured Scala, went out of business, and Minolta merged with Konica; they left the field of photography altogether to focus on office products. Their leaving was understandable. Quite simply, digital photography was replacing film at all levels of the market; the industry was being shaken up from all directions.

I cannot speak to the experience of the employees when these two corporate departures took place; I can speak to the consumer experience. Initially I saw this as a negative change. I preferred film to digital, which does not capture black and  white the same way. I had thousands of dollars of lenses suitable for Minolta–but not other–camera bodies. (For those unfamiliar with photography, different manufacturers use different lens mounts, making it difficult, and expensive, to switch brands.) Yet, while the transition was uncomfortable, it proved to be manageable.

Scala film required special processing; there were perhaps a half-dozen labs in the country that developed it at the time. One by one they closed down their Scala darkrooms as the demand faded; as late as this spring there was still one available for those still shooting with the film.

Minolta sold all of its patents to Sony, which began developing digital camera bodies that could use Minolta lenses. Today, Sony’s digital cameras are highly regarded in the world of pro photographers. I still shoot with the Minolta lenses, along with some newer lenses manufactured by Sony. My digital camera bodies are made by Sony.

If your organization is planning to leave product/service lines, pay attention to the customer experience. Communicate with them; if possible, offer them paths to successfully transition to other ways of accomplishing what your products/services were providing to them. Leave, but don’t abandon your customers in the process.

Leaving your mission or vision is particularly challenging; beyond the products and services, these are what tie the organization to its employees and its external stakeholders.

Sometimes, the leaving is due to the vision having been fulfilled. As one example, some nonprofits whose mission was to achieve marriage equality have now closed their doors. Others have reframed their vision and mission to a broader equality perspective. In the former case, acknowledge those who have supported your pursuit of the mission, and do everything that you can to assist your employees in transitioning to other employment.

Whether you are a nonprofit or for profit, when the vision and/or mission change, it is important to acknowledge those who have supported you from outside, whatever that relationship might have been. Some may stay, while others may leave; they all warrant recognition. The same will be true of employees. When the organization’s purpose for being shifts, not everyone inside of it will want to remain. Once again, how you respond as an organization will say a great deal to them, as well as to others. Don’t demonize those who elect to not take the change journey; honor them for what the have given in the past, and support them in making their own changes in employment.

Sometimes organizations leave because their current paradigm is no longer serving their customers, their shareholders, and/or their employees. The following paraphrases the announcement of a large commercial bank that was shifting its paradigm; this was how they told their rank-and-file employees.

They began by stating the case for change. They then want on to say this.

We are closing the old commercial bank; we are opening a new one. It will be very different, as described earlier. As an employee of the old bank, you are invited to apply for a position at the new bank. We know that no one is fully qualified for these positions. For that reason, we are providing you with position descriptions, skills requirements, and professional development worksheets. When you interview for your new position, please be prepared to discuss your worksheet with the interviewer. That will allow us to know what we need to do to help you be successful in your new position.

I love to tell this story because it says so much about what it means to “do it right” when your organization is leaving in any way. It acknowledges the significance of the change. The case for change provided clear answers to questions such as “Why?” and “Why now?” By “closing the bank,” individual employees regained control of their future; they could make the decision as to whether they would leave or stay (apply for a position in the new bank), rather than waiting to see if they would be retained or terminated. It does not try to make people comfortable about the change; that would be disingenuous. Instead, it shows a strong commitment to helping people succeed despite their discomfort.

Finally, there is the story of a large technology-based company that was being acquired by another giant in its industry. As is the norm with major mergers and acquisitions, there is a significant time lag between announcement and closing (or not) of the deal while it undergoes regulatory review. During this time it is not unusual for the company being acquired to experience significant drops in productivity and quality as employees across the organization wonder about their future. Those who are most capable of transitioning to new jobs elsewhere will often do so, leaving the organization weaker in its ability to transition into the acquiring company.

In this case, the company being acquired did something different. They made use of the time to strengthen their internal ability to address change, a capability that would serve them well whether or not the deal was eventually completed. They put more than 1,000 of their most senior managers through a one-day workshop on leading during times of uncertainty. As a result, the company was able to sustain its performance levels, despite the discomfort that employees were experiencing.

Organizations do leave. When the do, unless the circumstances are unexpectedly dire, they should leave successfully. To leave successfully calls for looking at the human impact, not just the bottom line, and carefully considering that impact across stakeholder groups, as well as the organizational brand. It warrants finding ways to engage those affected so that they are able to regain a sense of control over their own fates. And–when possible–it is worth investing in preparing people for the inevitable disruption that they will experience with the change.

Have you experienced an organization leaving? Share it below.

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Don’t Just Leave!

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Cirrus clouds and a blank directional sign. with Clipping PATH

Too many change journeys start at an ending. They are about leaving the current situation: a relationship, a job, a career, a shifting market, an outmoded product line or production process.

This post looks at “just leaving” at the personal level. What surprised me in writing it is how many parallels exist at the organizational level. Next week’s entry will address organizations “just leaving.”

As I’ve often posted before, change does require letting go; there is stopping and releasing some of the old to make room for the new. The challenge is this… Many roads might lead you away from where you are. But if you don’t know where you are going, which is the right one to take?

Sometimes it is important to leave before knowing your destination. For whatever reason, the situation is untenable: an abusive partner or boss; bullying from co-workers or classmates that cannot be stopped. Sometimes the choice isn’t yours: a layoff or termination, a divorce announced, a career choice no longer in demand.

When this happens, find the nearest safe way-station in your journey. This may be physical: a shelter, a family member’s home; I have one friend who–upon being laid off–set up “office” in a corner of the local Starbucks the next day; she was there five days a week as she prepared for her journey.

Your situation may require an economic way-station: finding a new job, finding new clients so you can fly solo, going to work for a temp agency.

I have been let go from my job before; I have been dumped by a long-term partner in a relationship before. It isn’t easy! As I reflect back, I remember the counsel of one of my mentors:

Don’t confuse the present with the total. It is a moment, the one you are in now. But in another moment there will be a different present. Each present is real. But none is forever.

Find your way-station. Then use it as the launching pad for your change journey. Know it is not forever.

If circumstances allow, don’t leave until you are prepared. As Phil Cousineau (“The Art of Pilgrimage”) writes, “Being ready mentally, spiritually, and physically makes us lighter on our feet, more adroit at making decisions, and perhaps even helps keep chaos at bay.”

For me, being prepared requires several things. It requires knowing your destination, and knowing it in your heart and gut, not just your head; it means creating your change story. Being prepared means planning the journey once you know the destination. It will most likely be long, and arduous. While you can plan some things, other things cannot be anticipated. How will you know that you are making progress? What milestones will you be looking for? Being prepared means doing what is required mentally, spiritually, and physically so that you can face the challenges–expected and unexpected–that you will face. It means doing whatever you can to lighten your burden as you step out on the road. Being prepared means having the belief in yourself–and in those people and things that will anchor you on your journey–so that you have the courage to take that first step, and then the next, and the next, without turning back.

Every change, whether it be individual, family, organizational, or societal, requires different preparations. Yet if you know the patterns that lie beneath those change journeys they are remarkably consistent. Being prepared means learning the patterns, and how to navigate them.

What do you do to prepare for change? What advice would you give others? Comment below.

 

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What’s In Your (Internal) Change Toolkit?

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Picture1When people think about change toolkits, they generally think about things like assessments, guides, white papers, and the like. Those may be important, especially when engaged in organizational change. But that is not what I am talking about here. I am addressing those things that are inside of you and help or hinder you as you navigate change.

In June 1990, I was laid off. It wasn’t the first–or last–time I was out of work. This instance stands out in my mind because of one particular question in a book that I found helpful at the time. The book was Fired for Success. The question was, What do you do like breathing?

What an important question to ask as you think about your change toolkit! What do you do like breathing? What is it that comes so naturally to you that you don’t even know that it is there? What do you do with such unconscious competence that you don’t even see it as a strength?

One challenge of unconscious competence is that you can’t call on it when you need it… Either it works, or it doesn’t. On a bad day, it doesn’t. If you raise it to the level of consciousness, you can intentionally apply it when it is needed.

Below are some of the most significant “tools” in a strong change toolkit. Some you may “do like breathing,” others you may be okay at, and others you may not do at all well. You definitely want to know your strengths, and be prepared to apply them. Use this as a checklist for determining what is in your toolkit, what you need to strengthen, and what you have to add. Remember the old adage, If all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail.

(Note that it doesn’t matter whether the change is personal, organizational, or societal, and it doesn’t matter whether you are leading the change, or are playing another role in its execution, these tools are all important. The list is in alphabetical order.)

Accountable: Whether this is a personal change or a global transformation initiative, if you do not hold yourself personally accountable for how it unfolds–if the organization and/or the people around you do not do likewise–it is unlikely to go well.

Ambiguity: Whatever your change, if it is big, you will be dealing with a great deal of ambiguity. Get used to it. You need incredible clarity on where you are going. You need incredible clarity on how you will know you are making progress, and how you will know when you have achieved success. And along the way, you need the ability to move through ambiguity. If you need “all your ducks in a row,” or to “know what’s waiting around the corner,” undertaking major change is not for you.

Big Picture; Little Details:  You need to be able to see the big picture: Where is the change going? What will the journey be like? What is required to achieve success? How will we know when we have gotten there? And, you need to be able to define (and execute or have executed) all of the infinite number of steps required to successfully complete the change. You can fudge on the little details, if you have people that you can trust to fill in the gaps in your toolkit; if its an organizational change, you should step back from the details so you aren’t micro-managing. If you are in a leadership position, you can’t fudge on the big picture; you have to own that.

Boundaries: Know when to work, and when to step away.

Courage: Big changes are not for the timid; you will be stepping into the unknown over and over again. There are risks, many of which can be mitigated if you “know the patterns” (below); but they are real, and they can be scary!

Decisive: If the change is big, you need to be able to make decisions, and act on them. And, you need to be able to do so even when the information available to you is insufficient.

Hold On; Let Go: If you are to succeed, no matter what the change or what your role, you need to know what to hold onto, and what to let go of. And you need to know when to hold on, and when to let go. (also, see Mistakes)

Know the Patterns: This tool is fundamental to all the rest; in some ways it is “Tool # 1.” There is a clear set of patterns that underlie the human response to change. If you know the patterns, you can apply the other tools to help you successfully navigate your way through them. If you don’t, you are “flying blind.” You have tools, and you may be applying them…but you don’t really understand what is going on.

Mindful: Are you one of those people who remembers getting into the car in the driveway, and then finds yourself parking it at the office? Never assume anything about your change is so routine that you can do it on autopilot; you need to be mindfully attentive every time you touch it.

Mistakes: You will make mistakes along the way. Success requires recognizing them, admitting them (which may need to be a public process in some cases), learning from them, applying the lessons learned, and moving on.

Open to Diverse Perspectives: If you surround yourself with people who see the world through your eyes, they are going to miss the same things you miss. You need to be open to hearing a wide range of perspectives.

Pay the Price: Big change isn’t cheap, no matter what. There are some changes that may not cost a lot of money, but they still require an incredible investment of time, energy, personal power, etc. You cannot avoid paying the price, so it is better to pay it in prevention than in healing.

Reflective: Step back and think about your change periodically. Have things shifted in the environment that require adjustments to the plan, or even to the desired end state? What is going well, and what isn’t? How effectively are you executing your role(s) in the change, and what do you need to do differently?

Reframe: How many lenses do you have in your tool kit? Can you reframe how you see things? Can you reframe them so that others see them differently?

Resilience: How well, and how quickly, can you recalibrate to changes in expectations? For more details, see Resilience Is Critical When Facing Challenge.

Resolve: It may be that this is the best idea you ever had. It may be that you loose sleep every night over it. It may be that you “can’t afford to fail.” All of that may be, but in the absence of resolve, it will fail. Big change means a difficult journey; you will need resolve to get through it successfully.

Story Telling: You need to be able to move people’s hearts, and their guts, not just their heads. All the logic in the world cannot accomplish that. Story telling can.

Teamwork: You can’t do it alone. Even the most personal of changes, if it is major, requires skills and insights beyond what you possess. Day-to-day you may pride yourself on being an independent spirit. At work your people may love you because you protect them at any cost. But when it is time for change, you can’t be independent; you can’t be siloed.

Trust: You are not going to get through big change alone. It’s that simple. Even the most personal of big changes affects–and is affected by–others. You need to be able to trust, and you need to be trustworthy.

What You Need to Hear: Some people surround themselves with others who tell them what they want to hear; to some degree I guess we all like to have cheerleaders. But you also need to seek counsel from those who will tell you what you need to hear, even when you don’t want to hear it.

What do you do like breathing? What else do you have in your change toolkit? Comment below.

 

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What’s Your “Plan B”?

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iStock_000009613557SmallHow many times have you heard that question? For me, I am sure the answer is “in the hundreds.” It began as a young boy who wanted to become an architect. And, it has come back any number of times since then in both personal and professional situations.

What’s your Plan B? 

I have now wrestled with this question and the best way to answer it for more than four decades. For me, the wrestle isn’t about “what” my Plan B is, but whether I should have one; for my clients, the wrestle is whether I should recommend that they have one.

Why wouldn’t I have–or recommend–a Plan B? Here is my reasoning. I will illustrate it with my own circuitous career path.

In fourth grade I discovered graph paper. How cool! I could draw rooms, design buildings. Suddenly my perspective went from logic and words (I was good on lined paper, but not an artist) to more creative visual thinking. Architecture became a passion that stayed with my through high school. I had a drawing board mounted under the window in my bedroom, and would spend hours lost in designing. I took mechanical drawing every semester, advancing my skills. The money I earned after school went into buying drafting supplies and books on famous architects. On career day I would visit la local architectural office. I entered competitions. When the time came for college I applied to three architecture schools, and was accepted to one. I had no Plan B. Being an architect was the one career that, in my heart, I wanted to spend my life pursuing.

As it turned out, by my junior year of college I had lost that passion. I no longer wanted to be an architect. I could probably succeed and make a living at it, and I knew that if I did, I wouldn’t feel very good about myself or my work. But by then, I had developed another passion… I was doing youth work on the Onondaga Indian Reservation, and had become very interested in Native American cultures. My new major became cultural anthropology. (“But what are you going to do with that? What”s your Plan B?”)  I continued into grad school with the same focus, thinking I would love to teach anthropology at a college or university.

Midway through the first semester of grad school I received my draft notice. The next four years were spent as an Air Force Basic Military Training Instructor (“drill sergeant”) and earning two masters degrees. My passion for Native American studies morphed to larger issues of social justice, and my focus on higher education shifted from the classroom to administration.

Eight years of various higher education positions led to four years of consulting to higher education and nonprofits. It was during this time as a consultant that I was introduced to the nascent field of change management, and realized that underneath every career shift was a commitment to executing change.

By 1990, AIDS was a growing crisis in America; I became the Deputy Director of Finance and Operations at an AIDS organization providing permanent housing and support services to homeless people with AIDS. They needed to put in place an infrastructure that would help ensure their long-term viability without becoming bureaucratic, and I knew how to do that.

And so the path has twisted and turned, even to today. The thread has always been change. It has taken me inside of organizations, and outside. I have worked independently, and on teams. I have been a residence hall director, a fund raiser, an internal (as well as external) change consultant, a coach, a trainer, a mentor, a trusted adviser.

And, I have never had a Plan B.

I have spent time exploring options. But those explorations have always been just that…where am I being pulled to go next?

Perhaps if I had a Plan B when I made some of these transitions, I would have made them more quickly. But for me, the only way to have a Plan B is to say, “I am good with doing either A or B.” And, if that is the case, then I would not be able to fully invest myself in either one. If Plan A failed (and some of them have), I would never know whether–had I been more fully committed–I could have made it work. And, given that we go into big changes in our lives naive about the difficulties that will inevitably arise, it would be too easy to walk away from the realities of Plan A to begin the uninformed optimism of Plan B.

Big changes are tough. There is no guarantee of success. That is why I always begin, for myself, with an exploration of what is in my heart…what is my passion? That is why I always urge the same reflection for both personal and professional clients. If you are not passionate about the intent of your change, how will you ever complete the journey? I have been laid off, fired, and had a nonprofit that I attempted to start fail to get the funding that it needed; in each case, I can say that I put everything that I had into success.

I have also had incredible successes. I have turned around a stagnant annual giving program, established a living learning program, and supported major strategic shifts that make a difference in people’s lives both within the corporate and the nonprofit worlds. I have continued to engage in issues of social justice. I have helped individuals successfully navigate some of the most difficult personal life-changing events one could imagine. I have taught, coached, and mentored students, change practitioners, and organizational leaders. Along the way, the changes that I have been engaged in have touched tens–if not hundreds–of thousands of lives. And I still have no Plan B.

When my clients ask me if they should have a Plan B, I tell them quite honestly that I can’t answer the question for them. I help them to understand the reasons I do not. I point out how uncertain a Plan A tough change is, and the fact that there is no such thing as “this change cannot fail;” every change can fail. I help them understand the reality of a difficult change journey. And, I assist them in determining whether developing a Plan B is right for them.

Sometimes, when the realities of change sink in they revert to an immediate Plan B…and don’t proceed with the change. Sometimes, they develop a Plan B (which they may or may not ever call on). And sometimes, like me, they dive headfirst into Plan A and leave the idea of creating a Plan B behind.

How do you answer this question for yourself? Do you have a Plan B? Do you recommend that others do? What am I not seeing that would make it an easier one to answer, or is it really as personal a decision as I make it out to be? Please comment below.

 

 

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