When Leaders Resist

In December I attended a workshop on Creating a Lean Culture. The focus of the discussion was on what Toyota has done to establish a culture of continuous improvement in its operations. While Toyota has developed a unique culture (despite the recent recalls), it is difficult to translate the Toyota Way into other organizational contexts. This is particularly true for the companies that are implementing Lean or Six Sigma concepts in existing, reasonably successful companies or operating units. Yet the question among the workshop attendees was often not “What should we be doing?” but rather, “What do you do when a leader resists?”

It often appears and it’s certainly conventional wisdom that whether the change in lean, six sigma, a new IT system, or a benefits change, some leaders and managers will resist the change. When it’s the successful, seasoned mid-level leaders, it can be extraordinarily difficult to bring them around. This article speaks to a few strategies that can prove useful in breaking down the resistance and inviting these leaders to join the change. While the example is a lean implementation, I encourage you to rewrite this story with the change that is underway in your organization.

Meet Larry. Larry is a plant manager. He’s been at this facility for 15 years, the last 7 as plant manager. He’s successfully managed or led the plant through capital projects, labor negotiations, environmental incidents, seasons of sold-out production and full line shutdowns. The plant safety scores are continuously improving and he regularly meets his cost reduction targets. Larry is well-respected at his plant, within in his community, by his peers and by the business head. Having outlived most of the corporate programs, he’s expecting to do it again with this change.

Larry’s a smart guy. He’s joined the tours to “best practice” facilities. He’s read the articles. He’s listened to the successes, challenges and failures of his colleagues who’ve moved forward with the changes. He doesn’t argue that it won’t work. He doesn’t block the consultants from running their workshops. He even gives one of his people, perhaps not one of his stars, the role of project lead, and dutifully reports at the quarterly reviews the work that is going on at the plant. Yet everyone knows that that little is actually happening.

Larry may be someone you know, or you may need to influence people like Larry. I invite you to read the rest of this article to identify some strategies for working with Larry. If none of its working for you, or you’ve lost patience, give me a call and we can talk about how I can I support you in developing new strategies, or I can work directly with Larry in moving through the change.

As mentioned before, Larry is smart guy and he’s seen and heard all of the evidence. Nonetheless, as organizations frequently made up of engineers and accountants, we fall back on trying to move him with either 1) evidence or 2) management “persuasion”. Consider how ineffective solid evidence is in changing many behaviors, such as, flossing, exercise, smoking, speeding, etc. While evidence of the value of a change is critically important, the most compelling evidence to a person if what they experience. Larry’s evidence is that he’s been successful, is successful, and believes that he knows how to continue to be successful. Furthermore, Larry knows that his past success has involved avoiding these “passing fads”.

Before considering useful strategies, we want to begin with recasting the resistance. In 1999, Dent and Goldberg in “Challenging A Resistance to Change” argue that accepting the conventional wisdom that people naturally resist change leads to counter-productive behaviors. Instead of looking at ways to overcome resistance (read more in my last newsletter) , we’ll explore ways to influence behavior.

1. It’s too big, too much or unclear. Look to the success stories to identify for the “vital behaviors” – the smallest set of behaviors that will have the greatest impact. These are not thoughts, values, or qualities, but the very few “must do’s” that done consistently and persistently will lead to change. For more on Vital Behaviors see Influencer by Patterson, Grenny, et al.
2. People resist loss, not change. In the SCARF model suggested by David Rock (Your Brain at Work), apparent resistant may come from feared changes in Status, Control, Autonomy, Relatedness, or Fairness. Explore and acknowledge what people may lose. Once the fears are identified, opportunities arise to address the fear, alter the change to minimize the impact, or allow the person to set aside the fear and proceed.
3. Unclear alignment with personal goals. Support people in uncovering their goals and how the change fits in with them. Perhaps Larry is motivated by seeing teams get energized – show how your change will make that happen. Maybe Larry wants to keep things quiet until retirement, so taking a risk and working hard isn’t motivating; can he see this as leaving a legacy? Spend time on the values, goal and purpose looking for the places of alignment.
4. “You’re not listening.” Ford and Ford in Harvard Business Review April 2009 remind us to look at resistance as feedback. Focus on the purpose of the change and invite discussion, engagement, involvement and even refusal as you refine the change effort.
5. Plan for a marathon, not a sprint. New behaviors are often not easy and take time to become comfortable. People will experience challenges from others and from existing systems, and so need ongoing support. Unexpected roadblocks will arise. Build support teams, provide regular communications, celebrate what’s working, and add fun into the change.

It often seems like most people are not wired for change; yet the reality is that we are marvelously equipped to accept, adapt to and adopt change. It is a reality of all elements of our lives – in our homes, in our family life, in our education, in our careers, in our economics, in our jobs. We may not always respond rationally to a change, but then doesn’t that in itself, give us clues on what strategies may begin to influence behavior.

For help working with leaders who are (apparently) resisting change, send me an email at Sherry@ReadSolutionsGroup.com or leave a comment on the posting.

Four Rooms of Change

I had the opportunity to listen to Kenny Moore, the Monk from "The CEO and the Monk" speak. He introduced the "Four Rooms of Change Theory" developed by Claes Janssen. While similar to other change models, this one offers some imagery that may be useful in conversations with managers. As with all models, it has some limitations.

The premise is that all systems - individuals, teams, communities, organizations - live in a within a space of four rooms; often referred to as a 4 room apartment. The rooms within this apartment are Contentment, Denial, Confusion and Renewal. According to Moore, people move from one room to the next when 1) they are ready, 2) life invites them, and 3) reality kicks them.

When we look at this model in the context of organizational change, its very simplicity enables its use with management teams. It is easy to relate each room to life experiences, as Janssen and his collaborators have done.

What makes the model interesting for these discussions is the premise that people move of their own accord. As leaders, we can not push, pull, threaten or entice people from one room to the next. We can, however, work to "keep the doors open".

As we look more deeply at this model, we begin to notice the following questions:
1. How do people behave in each room?
2. What are the most effective leadership tools aligned with the behaviors each room?
3. If every room is a necessary part of the change, what is the value of each room?
4. Is there a way to "decorate" or light each room that makes it a safe place?
5. How do we keep the doors open? Are there different strategies for different rooms?
6. What organizational systems and structures keep doors open? Which ones shut doors?
7. Is it true that the best thing that leaders can do is keep the doors open, and not push, pull, threaten or entice?

If you've used this model, I invite your comments and thoughts. I'll use future blog posts to delve into my questions.

People resist loss, not change

So much is written about why employees resist change. Yet it takes little time to find research supporting the concept that resistance is an interpretation of the situation from the eyes of the change agent. In fact, most people recognize that change is inevitable - a reality of life.

What people might resist is loss - loss of status, loss of certainty, loss of control, etc. Or perhaps they are mistrustful - whether of the message or the messenger.

What will the change agent see when they expect resistance to change? What will they miss when they focus their efforts on overcoming resistance to change?

Challenges in Adapting

Recent posts have been exploring the seven behaviors most commonly seen in derailing a career. [Links connect to original publication in Read Solutions Group newsletter.]

• Believing that skill and results are the sole keys to success
• Being arrogant and not open to feedback, introspection and personal growth
• Consistently acknowledging yourself for the successes and blaming others for the failures
• Failing to staff and develop a strong team
• Lack of composure
• Unwilling to adapt to change and compromise
• Inability to develop a strong professional network, internal and external to the organization.

From the final two career stallers – willingness to change and expecting results to be the key to success – with change present in my life, we’ll focus on the outcomes of resisting change and compromise, what might ensue during a change and how you can support yourself and others in change and compromise.

Let’s start with some definitions appropriate for this career staller, offered by www.dictionary.com:

To adapt is to adjust oneself to different conditions, environment, etc.

• Change, the noun, means the supplanting of one thing by another.
• To compromise is to settle difference by mutual concessions; an agreement reached by adjustment of conflicting or opposing claims, principles, etc., by reciprocal modification of demands. An alternative definition for compromise used, as a noun, is an endangering, especially of reputation; exposure to danger, suspicion, etc.
• Willingness is freedom from reluctance; readiness of the mind to do or forbear.

This staller appears in the person who seems to resist new programs, philosophies or even people. They may be seen as disagreeing inappropriately, vocally, or perhaps subversively with senior management. Conversely, Buckingham and Clifton in their book, Now, Discover Your Strengths define the person with a strength in adaptability as one who lives in the moment, seeing the future not as a fixed destination but one that is discovered a choice at a time. The adaptable person responds willingly to current demands, even if pulled from original plans.

With credit markets and currencies gyrating wildly, with companies turning overnight from sound financial institutions to those warranting a government bailout, an ever-increasing pace of change is a certainty. If so, then does adaptability become even more important – perhaps a key competency to develop? Adaptable behaviors will involve a readiness to explore change, openness to new ideas and the opinions of others, and skill at challenging ideas and people in constructive ways.

At the base is what Runde and Flanagan in Becoming a Conflict Competent Leader: How You and Your Organization Can Manage Conflict Effectively define as the passive-constructive behavior of “adapting”. They define adapting behavior as “staying flexible and trying to make the best out of situation”. This can range from taking a positive attitude, to making adjustments that will minimize unnecessary problems in the future. At the most skillful level, active-constructive conflict behaviors include “perspective taking” and “creating solutions”; that is, the ability to clearly understand the other person’s point of view and then to work with them to arrive at a resolution.

At the heart of change is conflict – conflict in perceptions of the “right way”, conflict in understanding, conflict in expected outcomes, conflicts in beliefs and knowledge, conflicts with prior experience. Increasing skills in conflict management becomes key in improving adaptability. When we are clearer on whether a change is worth it, and learn how to make the change, then we can move forward. Skillful conflict management enables an individual to dig into the why, to be clear on the impact, to explore what is known and what is not, and then to create a solution that skirts endangerment and allows for broader success.

Runde and Flanagan offer the following suggestions for these constructive conflict behaviors:

• Listen to understand rather than debate
• Practice active listening to ensure that you are clearly hearing the message
• Never stop at one potential solution
• Explore the viability of multiple options to gain greater understanding of the constraints
• Gain agreement on the path forward and possible future decision points

Not only is change inevitable, the pace of change continues to accelerate. So, where does that leave the serenity prayer that suggests that you should “ask for the serenity to accept the things you cannot change, the courage to change the things you can, and the wisdom to know the difference?” Perhaps the wisdom lies in knowing that the only thing in our lives over which we have control is ourselves. When we couple with that the wisdom that changing ourselves can be extraordinarily difficult, perhaps we’ll also find the courage and skill to willingly adapt to change.

Get Out of Your Own Way at Work

Mastery in work and life comes through a series of two steps forward and one step back. When you find encouragement to take the next two steps forward, mastery and success follow. When instead, you feel confused, surprised, defeated, perhaps even victimized, you take three steps back and build self-defeating habits.

Mark Goulston, M.D., published Get Out of Your Own Way at Work in 2005 to capture 40 self-defeating work place behaviors that he most commonly encountered in his consulting and coaching work. For such behaviors as "Not Learning from Your Mistakes" and "Quitting Too Soon", he gives examples, symptoms, consequences and Action Steps.

If you have a good sense of what might holding you back, have received sound feedback on your challenges or are looking for ways to support others in the workplace, Get Out of Your Own Way at Work provides concise analysis and suggestions on how to proceed.

In Appendix 3, Goulston offers a Twelve Step plan for getting out of your own way. Users of the book would be well advised to start with these last few pages. The twelve steps outline a plan of identifying and changing self-defeating behaviors.

Silos, Politics and Turf Wars

Fighting for your department at the budget meeting. Never getting help from another department. Being surprised by changes in plans. Seeing customers caught in a morass of bureaucracy.

These are symptoms of silos, politics and turf wars found in organizations as diverse as charities, hospitals, manufacturing plants, Fortune 500 companies, hotels and restaurants.

In his new book, Silos, Politics and Turf Wars: A Leadership Fable About Destroying the Barriers That Turn Colleagues Into Competitors, Patrick Lencioni spins a fable about a consultant learning to challenge and destroy the barriers in organizations.

The consultant learns through firsthand experience and observation that organizations frequently come together at time of crisis. His key selling point is "Why wait for a crisis?"

The leadership fable is a quick read, followed by a few brief chapters summarizing the key points.

• It all starts with the leadership team.
• Each member of the leadership team needs to remove their functional hat at leadership meetings, and assume the role of "executive" of the company.
  
• The team/CEO needs to identify a key rallying point for the next 6 to 12 months.
• The team needs to define the specific initiatives that will deliver the desired results.
• These initiatives need to be supported by, but not confused with, the ongoing operational objectives.

The book focuses on setting the stage of the needed changes for breaking down the barriers. Organizations needing support in execution will need to pick up other resources.

A quick read. Great points. And a fantastic starting point - "Why wait for a crisis" - to make a change in your department or business.

Turbulence and Agility

An estimated 60% of industries are deemed to be turbulent compared to 20% three decades ago. Turbulence is defined in industries where there are dramatic changes in the profit pool or the "rules of the game" are changing rapidly. (The Secret to Growth? First, Define Your Core by Chris Zook, Bain & Co)

More than 80% of American executives believe the pace of change is increasing around the globe. (AMA’s 2006 Agility and Resilience Survey Reveals the Effects of Change on Business)

What then are the lessons for companies, managers and individuals to succeed in such environments?

• Know your strengths as a company, manager and individual
• Understand how these strengths add value to your organization, clients, and customers
• Understand what differentiators these strengths provide to you
• Evaluate and take action on ways to leverage your strength in the interest of your organization, clients and customers
• Determine the ways or circumstances in which the strength becomes a weakness
• Put systems, structures or people in place to mitigate the weakness
• Invest in learning
• Stay on top of changes in your industry
• Travel and consider how different solutions to everyday problems might be applied in your industry
• Look for innovations in other industries and consider what can be leveraged from your strengths
• Stay agile
  
• Keeping the pipeline full of business ideas,
• Maintaining a personal network
• Be prepared to execute on Plan B
  

When the world is changing at an ever accelerating pace, when companies like Google can generate revenue per employee at rates twice as high as companies like Microsoft, Intel and Cisco (Our Challenge Is Change, Not Globalization by Rich Karlgaard), when the rules of the game organizationally and personally are being rewritten annually, only the agile will keep on top of the game.

- What step could you take to improve your agility? -

Adapting to Change

An earlier blog was about “Decide to Change”, yet often change is thrust upon you. It could be a reassignment, promotion, family/life event, company sale, accident, or health crisis. Unless the event is so dramatic that you are stopped in your tracks, your brain will try to force-fit habitual thoughts, actions, perceptions and decision-making approaches to the new situation.

In moving out of your comfort zone, decision-making ability tends to suffer. Do I do this or do that? I’m being asked to do something that I don’t want to do. I’m able to operate more independently, but I’m not sure I’m comfortable with it.

A quick trick to help you adapt is to create some new rules. Your strengths haven’t changed. Your values haven’t changed. If you can create a set of rules around what to do, and what not to do, you will move more quickly back to a steady state, and stay true to your strengths and values.

For example, early in the development of my business, opportunities were being presented that didn’t feel right, yet I was reluctant to turn anything away. Instead, I wasted energy thinking about and talking about the opportunities, but not committing to making them a reality. A set of criteria for evaluating opportunities helped me make clear decisions about the ones that didn’t feel right, and released me to pursue those that did. Think about the criteria in the form of an open-ended statement. Examples might be:

• I will make decisions without consulting my manager when ...
• I will set non-negotiable boundaries with my teenagers when ....
• I will go to networking events when ...
• I will pursue new job options when ...
• I will leave this job when ....

Having the criteria in place relieves the burden of guilt, uncertainty and discomfort. Having the criteria in place does not lock you in; rather it may lead you to a place where you need to re-evaluate your criteria, add a new one, or make a decision. In any event, by giving yourself rules on when to act or not, you have given yourself additional mental energy for creating the new habits of thought and action needed in the change.

Share with us where you have found criteria helpful in your life.

Decide to Change

Is there one thing in your life would you change if you could? Your job, your relationships, your habits, your fitness? Stop reading, for just a moment, and jot down what you would change.

Have you written down a note or a phrase? If you have, great!

If you have not, what is holding you back?

Tony Robbins has built a successful self-help program on the following theory. "The secret of success is learning how to use pain and pleasure instead of having pain and pleasure use you. If you do that, you're in control of your life. If you don't, life controls you."

If you have written down something, there are two competing principles. You believe this change will bring you pleasure. Yet, something has, so far, held you back from making the change. Tony Robbins states, "Everything you and I do, we do either out of our need to avoid pain or our desire to gain pleasure."

If you have not written something down, potentially an even stronger fear in holding you back from acknowledging the possibility of the pleasure. Are you concerned about rejection, failure, loss of control?

It is only when you have decided that clearly identified the pain of not changing, identified the pleasure associated with the change, can you then move toward the creation of your success. The change then comes through linking pleasure with the new and pain with the old.

Let’s take the example of Sue who really wants, and needs, to improve her fitness. Sue says to herself every evening, “Tomorrow, I’m going to get some exercise.” And every evening, Sue says again to herself, “Tomorrow, I’m definitely going to get some exercise.” Occasionally, she finds a day when she goes for a walk, signs up for the class, maybe even does some sit-ups. She pats herself on the back and then thinks about how the traffic was noisy and busy, her feet hurt, she’s not in good shape, now she’s all sweaty, and so on.

How likely is that Sue will exercise tomorrow? Sue is focused on the discomforts; on what she is “losing” by exercising. She is linking exercise with pain. The benefits, the pleasure, if any, is not acknowledged or little celebrated. “The truth is that we can learn to condition our minds, bodies, and emotions to link pain or pleasure to whatever we choose. By changing what we link pain and pleasure to, we will instantly change our behaviors.” (Tony Robbins)

Exercise is linked for Sue with pain; never with pleasure. If Sue is able to create new linkages, she can quickly adopt new habits. For example, Sue might decide that every foot or leg pain was a sign of success. She might decide that every city block walked equaled a fraction of a centimeter off her waist. She might enlist a walking buddy to translate exercise into a time of laughing and talking. She might join an exercise class that included a social activity after each class. She might link the aches of exercise with another day of living for her children.

Recall from my earlier newsletters that our brains are extraordinarily plastic. We have the ability to create new habits of thought and action through choice, focus, repetition, reinforcement, and celebration. When you redefine pain and pleasure to suit your aims, you naturally institute new habits.

Go back to your note. What pain exists in your life and may even grow through staying with the status quo? What pleasure accrues to you through the change? What tools can you use to avoid the pain for continuing with the old habit? What plan can you put in place to reinforce the pleasure of the new habit?

What is the one action you can take today?

-Leave a comment on how this community can support you in your change -

You CAN Teach an Old Dog New Tricks

The common idiom “you can’t teach an old dog new tricks” is interpreted as “people who have long been used to doing things in a particular way will not abandon their habits” (The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, 2003). Research shows that you are unlikely to abandon a habit unless there is a strong motivator to do so, but then, you can change.

The majority of what we do, think, observe and perceive on a daily basis is handled subconsciously, by our habits. Within a stable environment, habits are those behaviors that require little thought to start or stop. These habits are strong, stable and highly connected chains of neurons in our brain –the wiring, so to speak.Research has shown that while this wiring is critical in dealing efficiently with the world,our brains are not “hard-wired”. Indeed,the brain has a tremendous capability to adjust and adapt as needed. The trick is in establishing and supporting the need for change.


1. Going for the challenge
Whether your golf swing or how you conduct meetings, once a behavior is habituated, performance becomes automatic within a moderately stable environment. Governed by strong neural connections, there is only limited improvement that can be made. Only by accepting the challenge of going beyond competence to growth will you begin to lay the groundwork to reach a new level.


2. Create the motivation
You have identified the change to be made; now you must link it with strong and clear motivations. What are the specific benefits that will come to you? Vague benefits such as “I’ll feel better”, “I’ll accomplish more” are unlikely to support you in overcoming the brain’s natural resistance to change. Keep asking yourself “why” until you get to specific, measurable outcomes that you really want, for example, “My waist size will shrink by 2 inches and I will be able to hike in the mountains this summer.”


3. Create a structure
When actions are inconsistent with an existing habit, the brain signals an error. Emotions, including fear and discomfort, are triggered, along with a reduced capability for rational thought. It is no wonder that habits are so hard to break when our brains are naturally designed to sabotage change efforts. Structures, including notes in your diary, buddy systems, tally sheets, daily affirmations,etc., support a change by reducing the need to think and make decisions, as well as providing a sense of security when the brain is sending out warning signals.


4. Pay attention
Attention focused on the new habit closely enough, often enough and long enough builds and strengthens the neural connections. Talking about the change, establishing plans, reviewing progress,visualizing the outcome, thinking about new ways to get there are all mechanisms for increasing attention and the likelihood of creating a new habit.


5. Celebrate
Every step on the way to a new habit should be celebrated. Good feelings release chemicals in the brain that mark the new neural connections for preservation. As the new neural connections become stronger, the change becomes easier. Success breeds motivation, which breeds further success.


You can teach yourself new tricks, when you choose to make a change, have strong positive emotions tied to the change, provide structures to support the change, focus positive energy and attention, and celebrate each step along the way.

Strengths as Weaknesses

Marcus Buckingham, author of such books as First, Break All The Rules: What the World's Greatest Managers Do Differently and The One Thing You Need to Know...About Great Managing, Great Leading and Sustained Individual Success, argues that the best managers share one talent - the ability to find, and then utilize their employees' unique strengths. He has been quoted as saying, "The guiding principle is, 'How can I take this person's talent and turn it into performance?' That's the only way success is possible." With his book, Now, Discover Your Strengths, co-authored with Donald O. Clifton, he kicked off the latest management trend – strength-based management. By focusing on strengths in every management practice, from hiring, assignment, development, motivation and promotion, managers apply the greatest leverage to business success.

Yet, with historical practices focused on strengths and weaknesses, challenges are sure to arise. Consider the standard (and dreaded) interview question, “name your top three strengths and weaknesses”. What about the typical performance review where “areas for improvement” are required? Doesn’t development planning normally focus on three areas “needing improvement”? What about the contention that our greatest strength can be our greatest weaknesses?

As the key proponent of the StrengthsFinder system from Buckingham and Clifton’s book, the Gallup Management Journal touched on this topic in Probing the Dark Side of Employees’ Strengths: Can their talents actually alienate colleagues and hurt your organization? They give as an example, Matt who has a top talent theme of Command. The question is whether this can result in being bossy (bad) versus decisive (good). Gallup falls back on their definition of strength “the ability to consistently produce a nearly perfect positive outcome in a specific task”. If Matt is being bossy, he needs to learn to refine his talent so that it is used in a more productive fashion. In this way, a strength can’t be a weakness. If not used productively, it is not a strength; though can perhaps be developed as one.

Turknett and Anderson in their article, Aggressive Leadership: When Does Strength Become Weakness? argue that aggressiveness, often considered a strength in a leader, can be a weakness when it affects interpersonal relationships. A bit confusing, since if we apply the Gallup definition, the aggressiveness wouldn’t be strength since it’s not consistent produces a positive outcome. Turknett and Anderson argue for learning new behaviors that channel the aggression toward positive outcomes.

In a blog posting titled Are Your Strengths Under Control the theory suggested is that no one has weaknesses – they are merely strengths carried to an excess. In these examples, aggression carried to an extreme leads to bullying. Posited as an approach to having performance reviews with marginal employees, this could be the “softer, gentler” approach to the needed development discussion. When a manager says to you, “you’re so good at this, it’s a problem” I wonder whether the message is received better?

Chris Rodgers of informal coalitions agrees that strengths can be carried to an excess, with the resulting behavior being a problem. He disagrees with the assertion that there are no weaknesses, believing that this leads to a denial of weaknesses and a tendency toward mediocrity. He argues that we need to own our strengths and our weaknesses. With our weaknesses acknowledged, we should work to ensure that our “unavoidable weaknesses” are expressed in the most positive way possible and in support of our strengths.

Gallup recommends that we help people understand their nature patterns so they can be applied in a positive and productive way; therefore, strengths cannot be weaknesses. Turknett and Anderson argue for coaching to build the new behaviors that channel attributes into positive interactions with others. PainFreeLearning requests that we consider whether we have a tendency to overplay any of strengths. Chris Rodgers asks that we manage our “warts and all”.

It is intriguing to me that none of these articles speaks to the interaction of the behavior or attribute with the environment. A strength is neither good nor bad. A weakness is neither good nor bad. The only legitimate question is perhaps alluded to in the definition Gallup gives for a strength, “do the behaviors result in a positive outcome in the context in which they are used?” The commanding presence of Matt may be bullying in a small collaborative high tech company; it may be appropriately decisive in a privately held Chinese company. Without context, without measurable outcomes, the behaviors are neither strengths, nor weaknesses. Perhaps the focus should not be on whether there are strengths and weaknesses, but rather which behaviors are most appropriate when hiring, promoting, developing and motivating staff to support the desired business outcomes in the particular environment.

Are your strengths weaknesses? What could you alter about the behavior or context that would change your answer?

The Power, or not, of Acknowledgment

Growth occurs with a person when she has ownership over the learning, changes in habits and thoughts, and the outcomes. Coaching literature is filled with recommendations on the importance of acknowledgment. I contend that some of the forms of acknowledgment do not serve the client, and at worst, are disempowering.

Making a change is a continuous cycle of understanding one’s current experience, creating images of the future, developing a plan for achieving those outcomes and acting upon the plan. Each action requires another cycle of understanding, adjustment to the image and plan, and further action. A coach helps in all areas of the cycle from helping the client build the connections between experiences, assisting them to clarify and deepen the images, offering alternatives when needed, supporting the plan and actions, and helping the client process and learn from the experiences.

Coach training suggests that we provide support to help “clear out doubt and even disbelief in oneself.” Absolutely; however, when the support is based on “I [the coach] know you can do this”, who has ownership of the actions, risks and outcomes? Alternatively, when we have our client reflect on the prior experiences they bring to the situation that support future success, we engage their understanding of probabilities. The client then owns the probability of success, the actions, risks and outcomes.

Coach training recommends that we use the language “I want to acknowledge you for ....”. From the first time, I heard this phrase I had, and continue to have, a visceral negative response. My reaction has two components. Firstly, I characterize the language as “coach speak”. A definition of acknowledgement is:

ac·knowl·edg·ment or ac·knowl·edge·ment n. 1. The act of admitting or owning to something. 2. Recognition of another's existence, validity, authority, or right. 3. An answer or response in return for something done. 4. An expression of thanks or a token of appreciation. 5. A formal declaration made to authoritative witnesses to ensure legal validity.

If any of these definitions are put into the sentence, “I want to acknowledge you for ...”, I find jibberish. More importantly, the emphasis is on what I, as the coach, see, recognize, admit or own.

The training materials state, “If you simply help your client see and appreciate their strengths you will empower them and even encourage them to do better.” To this, I strongly agree. When the client sees and appreciates their strengths, they own them.

The question then becomes how we help our clients see and appreciate their strengths. How do we help the client believe in the probability of success, and thereby reduce the self-doubt? How do we help them to learn from an experience regardless of the outcome? To do this, we need to ensure that the learning remains with the client, supported by the coach.

In the book, “The Art of Changing the Brain”, James E. Zull talks how about learners respond to teacher evaluation of their work, in particular with re-writing.

“They were fighting to keep control. I could not create enthusiasm for my suggestions, exactly because they were my suggestions. Their emotional connections are with their own ideas and their own judgments. When I made suggestions, they only knew they had lost control. ... In the final analysis, we still find that we defeat learning when we take it away from the learners, when we make it about us rather than about them.”

Our role as coaches is to help the client overcome self-doubt, to evaluate their progress and to turn that into a new learning. We have the ability and the charter to stand away from the emotions, risks and outcomes. In that role, we can and should challenge the client to see the probabilities, to capture the learning, and to celebrate the successes. We need to do this not from what we “acknowledge”, but rather through our questioning, so that the client can recognize, celebrate and therefore own their growth.

International Coach Academy, AC101: Acknowledgment (2002)

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition copyright ©2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2003. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.

Zull, James E., The Art of the Changing the Brain, pg 242 (Sterling, VA: Stylus Publishing, 2002)

Faster Than the Current

“You know about boats. You can’t steer if you’re not going faster than the current. If you’re not under your own steam then yer just debris, stuff floating.”

Tim Winton, Cloudstreet

Change is so difficult. You first must decide the direction to head and then overcome inertia. It is frightening; for with each change comes the loss of some things and the gain of others. The unknowns – “is this the right thing to do”, “what if I fail” – can easily grow out of proportion with the possible outcomes. Finally, if inertia has not kept you in place, habits often draw you back.

The reality is that the world is changing. Our bodies are aging. Our jobs are redefined in response to the latest quarterly earnings report. Our boss moves on and the focus shifts. Our companies are bought or sold. Our friends, as well, see their lives changes. The needs of our children change from year-to-year, if not day-to-day. The world around us whether weather, technology, the latest war, medical advances, moves forward at in inexorable pace. Isaac Asimov said, “It is change, continuing change, inevitable change that is the dominant factor in society today.” The current of change is tremendous.

Perhaps it becomes important when contemplating change to consider the current. “If you’re not under your own steam then yer just debris, stuff floating.” When we stick with the safety of inertia, we’re just drifting, floating like some debris. Only when we’re under our own power, we will be able to manage the change and have some level of control.

If you have been drifting along with the current of change, gaining control of the boat may take some time. Asking yourself to define your passion and deciding where and how you want to live all at once may be too much.

Begin with just a few questions:
1. What adjectives would like used to describe you? Examples might be: caring, compassionate, professional, successful, creative, powerful, trustworthy.

2. As you look at the elements of a Wheel of Life, over the next few years, where do want to place your emphasis?

3. If your life were to come to an abrupt end in 5 years, you were described by your answers to question 1, and had accomplished much in the areas of life you emphasized in question 2, would you feel that you had lived the right way for you? If not, you may want to re-evaluate your answers.

4. Create a dream map, by drawing, cutting out pictures, or making a list of all of the things, people and feelings you would like to have in your life. Work this picture until all of the parts truly reflect what you want for yourself.

What are some (small) steps that you can take that move you out of the current into steering your ship in the direction of the person you will be, with the right emphasis, to realize your dreams?


Winton, Tim. Cloudstreet. Ringwood, Victoria: Penguin Books Australia, 1991.