These activities will prepare your organization for change thinking:

Author Seth Godin has given us some of the more thought provoking and entertaining business books over the last 5 years (See Tribe, Purple Cow, Meatball Sundae, etc.). His insight, humor, and plainly spoken style continue with his latest effort, Linchpin (Portfolio, 2010).

 

Linchpin looks to turn your career on its ear. Godin’s argument is that where once an employee sought to fit in, the focus –and NEED – is now on differentiation. The new key employee, The Linchpin, is one who creates what Godin terms as “art”, and in the process breaking out of a black-and-white corporate world into something far more colorful.

 

Passion for your work, and an altruistic desire for the betterment of your organization, can create the art that the author speaks about – and it is the sharing of this passion in creative ways that can help you to become indispensable.

 

The only unfortunate note is that those who pick up this book and are captivated enough to read it are likely to already be “Linchpin” types. As usual with Godin’s work, Linchpin was a quick read complete with smile rendering anecdotes and enough fresh new thought to keep you eager for the next page.

 

How do organizations typically roll out major changes to their employees?  They typically start by enlisting the power of persuasion. Most of you have either attended or presented a "Change Speech" at some point. They are meant to be persuasive, inspirational, and help the company "press the reset button," right? 

 

As long as the audience is already willing to accept change, then those speeches can be a great beginning.  Without a certain latitude of acceptance though, they are as good as speaking to an empty room.  In essence, you can convince people to endorse an idea that they generally accept, but it's when you are talking them into an idea that they currently reject, that you really have your work cut out for you. Here is the startling conclusion:  Persuasion and other typical communication tactics are unlikely to work when instigating high stakes change.  So what can you do?

Since persuasion is a weak tool for getting resisters to change what they are doing, consider activation. It is the "try it, you'll like it" method.  It promotes early positive experiences, so change within the ranks can gain its footing, right from the start.

Here are the key aspects of activation:

No matter who they are or what they're doing, every person and organization experiences problems, difficulties, unexpected reversals and crises that knock them off balance.

 

Organizations are threatened by loss of sales, new competitors and economic conditions.  Our lives are affected by personal, financial or health crises.  However, what differentiates us from each other is how we handle those situations. So how can you make sure you are on the right side of the fence?

 

Here are four steps you can take to gain composure, relieve stress, and move ahead:

 

Reacting (or overreacting!) to stress negatively is a sure fire way of shutting down your brain. It has been said before, but bears repeating: When you are in the moment, start by taking a deep breath and then thinking carefully about your next words and actions.

 

Make better decisions by accepting 100% responsibility for yourself and for everything that happens from this minute forward. Refuse to blame anyone for anything.   Your mind will become clear as soon as the anger and blame dissipates, and clarity of thought leads to clarity of purpose. 

 

During times of stress or crisis, we are often swamped with more tasks than we can realistically handle.  In order to garner the calmness and self-control you need, simplify everything you can, both from a personal and business standpoint. 

 

Follow in the footsteps of professional athletes, who eat the right foods, do the right exercise, and get plenty of rest. The food-exercise-sleep combination creates the perfect trifecta for clear thought.

 

Jeff is the production manager for a parts plant in the auto industry.  Recent union disputes have caused a number of disgruntled employees to leave the company and take jobs with a competing employer on the other side of town.

 

With a skeleton crew on the production floor, each member has to do more work than ever.  Jeff is confident that the remaining employees are up to the task, but right now they are angry about the situation, and a few have even threatened to quit.