4 minute read
Love Change? Me too! When it’s my idea
Julie Henry will be leading the STS course this fall at the 4S Summit in Sarasota, FL.
I love change. I’m the person who charges boldly into the room when it’s time to brainstorm new ideas for the next fiscal year and is totally comfortable going off-script in the moment. At home, I change out our cloth napkins to match the seasons every year and my two teenagers have become accustomed to searching for whatever they can’t find around the kitchen as mom moves things around. I’m excited about new ideas, tempted by shiny objects, and have (begrudgingly) learned not to follow every new thought down the rabbit hole…which my teams have had to drill into my head over the years.
What I don’t love so much? When someone comes up with a new idea that I don’t think is going to work, that we tried five years ago, or that I just can’t get behind. I also don’t love feeling like I finally got a handle on everything, all the changes coming down the pipe, and suddenly there’s something new. When I feel like change is happening TO me, when I feel like I can’t participate effectively, or that it has devolved way past the point of being constant into just being chaos.
How about you? Does change invigorate you as you start the day? Would you rather go for a long run by yourself than open your email to discover a new change you need to implement? Do you ever feel completely overwhelmed and wonder how you can get back to actually leading rather than simply managing all this change? It’s true – change is constant, but it doesn’t have to be chaos. I’ve devoted my entire 25+ year career to helping people drive and survive change by gleaning insights and lessons from a place that is designed to thrive with change – nature. Look outside your window – what do you notice? Does it look the same as yesterday? Ever see something curious outside and wonder what’s going on? Me too – everyday. No sunset is the same, each bird acts differently (even in the same species), and the plants pop up where I didn’t expect them to in my yard – wildlife and wild places are designed to not just deal with change, but to thrive. As leaders, we can not only draw inspiration from this fact, we can incorporate concrete lessons too, such as:
Julie Henry, President, Finish Line Leadership
See the trees outside your window? You can’t always see how deep their roots go, but you know that they are there. How? Because the tree can withstand the weather, animals, and other stresses around it. For you as a leader? To effectively lead change, you must root your efforts in a cohesive process with discrete phases. These steps may not always be visible to your team, but trust me, they (and you) will know if they’re gone. Because the change you’re trying to lead – without roots – will simply fall down.
Ever encounter an animal that startles you so suddenly that you jump? Chances are you didn’t even have time to think before your reacted – this is your natural, instinctual reaction. And if you’re anything like the majority of people I know, that animal was probably a spider (somewhere in your house). Why do people react so differently to change? Yes – sometimes it’s because they’re overwhelmed, they don’t want to do it, and more, but sometimes it’s not an intellectual reaction. It’s a visceral reaction that comes up so quickly they don’t even think before they react. There are many reasons people can be afraid of change, but just like people’s fear of spiders, it is real and must be acknowledged and respected. When you think about an animal that really goes the distance (literally), what comes to mind? Here where I live in Florida, we have thousands of sea turtles that nest on our beaches then return to the ocean, never to see their hatchlings again. When it’s time to lay their nest, the female literally swims thousands of miles back to the same beach from which she was hatched. I can’t imagine what that’s like – swimming through dark water for days on end with no GPS for guidance – but it does remind me of what it’s like to lead change. When it gets hard (as it always does), going deep and relying on your internal sense of purpose will get you to the finish line, every time.
Leading change is more than a responsibility, more than a privilege – to me, it is the very definition of leadership. To see possibility and act on it, to envision a better future and make it happen, that’s what leadership is all about. After all, if you’re not leading change, what are you doing?
