Change is often regarded as an emotive subject. Many people say that they dislike change, fear change, avoid change. But is that true?

Change is constant. Day changes into night; night changes into day. Spring changes into Summer, which changes into Autumn and so on. No-one seems to be too upset about that, do they? So maybe predictable change isn’t the problem.

It’s also obvious that most people choose to change aspects of their lives and situation on a regular basis. Few people are traumatised by choosing a new car or planning a holiday. Most of us embrace that kind of change willingly. We even move house, renovate our homes, change jobs and/or partners without complaining that we don’t like change!

Of course, all of those examples are changes we control for ourselves. They’re not inflicted on us by someone else. Changes we choose for ourselves aren’t any more of a problem than the predictable changes of one season into the next.

Generally, what make people uncomfortable are the effects of unexpected change initiated by other people. When suddenly the company has a reorganisation or buys another company. When your boss gets promoted and relocates, leaving you without leadership for a while. Or when a whole function is outsourced – changing the relationships between departments and colleagues.

At times like that some people feel insecure or apprehensive. But not everyone.

How you respond to change is largely a matter of habit. It’s also likely to be a factor in how you are regarded by your peers and your bosses.

When change springs up on you, what do you do first? Think of all the positive opportunities that the change brings? Or lament the loss of what used to be?

Many years ago I had a boss, a Store Manager, who told me in the first week I was working with her, ‘Next week we’ll get back to normal’. She said the same at the end of my second week. And the third. And by the time I was moving to my next role some months later, she was still saying, ‘Next week we’ll get back to normal’.

That’s when I realised, there is no NORMAL. Things are changing all the time. We create the illusion of ‘normal’ when we only pay attention to what stays the same. As soon as we start being aware of the shifts and seasons of everyday life, change becomes part of ‘business as usual’. And at that point, the experience of change isn’t an issue.

If you’re comfortable with the experience of change, that brings the freedom to consider how to respond to the change, how to turn it to your advantage, how to get the best form the opportunities.

Contrast that with the people who focus on the discomfort and spend no time thinking about how to respond to the change. So they stay stuck in the discomfort instead of moving on.

The best way to respond to change – is with more change!

 

One of the phrases I hear a lot, in HR departments in particular, is 'Staff Engagement' or 'Employee Engagement'. When I first heard this some years ago I thought "Oh, I don't really know much about that". But as time has gone on I've realised that, yes, I do know a great deal about staff engagement – I just had never called it that.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Does your organisation do an annual staff survey? Or maybe more frequently than that? If it does, then you've probably been quite interested in the results and looking at which departments are most engaged and which ones are least engaged. Because I get to go into lots of different organisations in the course of my work, one of the things I've noticed is that quite often one of the departments that's nearest the bottom in a staff survey is the IT department.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I know it’s the right thing to do.  So let’s do it! How often have you been certain of the right course of action, revealed your plan to your colleagues and been amazed that they didn’t immediately start doing what you suggested? It’s happened to me. More than once.

If you’re like me, you might have been a bit annoyed that they couldn’t see straight away that you were right. You might have been tempted to try and railroad them.

And if you’re like me you’ll have realised that ‘the Right Thing’ is entirely subjective. Just because you or I think this is the Right Thing, doesn’t mean that everyone will agree. Or at least, not at first.

You see, being right isn’t enough. We have to also be able to persuade other people that we’re right.

And how do you do that?

There is a presupposition of NLP that tells us that ‘people always make the best choice based on the information available’. So to enable other people to see how right your plan is, you have to give them access to the same information as you.

To put it simply, you have to manage the available information so that whoever looks at it, the best choice indicated by the facts, is the one you thought of!

You might not be totally comfortable with that. It can seem manipulative – if that’s all you do.

So here’s the beauty of this approach: if you are prepared to line up all of your information that points in the direction of your view of the Right Thing, you can also invite your colleagues to add to that information. They can contribute what they know, what they believe and what they think.

Then, you make a collective decision based on ALL the data, not just one person’s. This way, you avoid arguments, you’re not manipulating anyone and the decisions made are the result of real collaboration.

Provided you’re willing to adjust your point of view, this is a great way to persuade people to a joint decision.

Part of the art of being a great listener is also being able to ask great questions. After all, it’s easier to listen attentively if the speaker is telling you what you want to know!

I could put questions in 3 categories:

1. The information question
2. The opinion question
3. The coaching question

The information question is one that simply asks for facts. For example, ‘Where do you work?’ ‘Who is your boss?’ or ‘Where are you eating dinner tonight?’ This kind of thing may seem trivial, but it’s important to recognise that if you just want facts, you have to ask a straightforward question. It’s no good asking you if you like working with your boss if really I just want to know his or her name. The information question requests someone to retrieve information from memory, nothing more.

The opinion question is one that might take a bit of thought before it can be answered. I might ask, ‘What do you think is the best way to run a team meeting?’ or, ‘How much of your available budget are you prepared to invest in your team’s development?’ or, ‘Who is the most likely person to take over your role when you move on?’

An opinion question invites the other person to consider a range of information and conjecture about the big picture. Their answer is based in fact, but relies on their own subjective judgement as well.  Most people will want to think a little before answering this type of question.

The coaching question is one that has an impact on the other person’s perception of a situation. Simply by asking the question, we open up new possibilities. An example of this might be, ‘What are you assuming is not possible, that might in fact be the answer?’ or, ‘How would you know if that was not true?’ or, ‘I know you can’t do that, but if you could do it, how long would it take?’

These are not just verbal gymnastics. This kind of question will actually change the other person’s perception. Sometimes it might make a huge difference, sometimes it will just be a subtle shift in mindset. Questions like these invite the other person to consider ideas that have not, until that moment, been a part of their thinking. 

For that reason, a coaching question might require quite a lot of thought before an answer is possible.

The best questions can be identified very easily. The best questions lead to silence…
 

Business partnering is a phrase you'll hear spoken about in lots of different organisations and, as far as I'm aware, it started out mostly with Human Resources. Recently what we've started to see is that the idea of business partnering has moved beyond HR and has now been extended into all of the so-called support services in organisations. Departments like Finance, IT, Purchasing and so on might also find that they can benefit from a business partnering approach. So let's just think about what this really means…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

One of the questions I often get asked about NLP is when people say to me: "Isn't NLP manipulative?" Which is a good question and quite an interesting area. So I'd like you to ask yourself: what's the difference between manipulation and influence? 

 

Have you ever started the day with a list of ‘stuff’ to do and lots of good intentions? It’s a regular feature of my week.

How often do you actually get everything on the list complete by the end of the day? In my case, it’s rare. But that’s because it works for me to have a rather longer than realistic list. And I prioritise my list.

Not everyone works at their best with too much to do, however. If you find yourself overwhelmed with the amount of work on your list, here’s something for you to experiment with:

Empty your head of everything you’ve got to do, want to do, need to do, dream of doing. Write it all down.

Next, pull out of the list anything that has a deadline in the next week and put that on a new list. Pick the three most important items on that second list and do them today. When you’re done, stop. Make coffee, go for a walk, read the news or whatever else appeals to you.

Notice how you feel.

Make a plan for tomorrow, and do the same again.

Three things might not seem like very much. If you take it in context with all the ‘noise’ of emails, telephone calls and other interruptions, it can be quite an achievement to complete three tasks. Of course, it depends on the average size of the tasks you have on your list and the amount of email you get.

So, do three things per day for a week and then try four. If that’s still too easy, move up to five. If you’re getting overloaded, drop it down again.

What’s the point? By doing this you’ll get a realistic sense of how much work you can accomplish in a day. How useful would that be?

Somewhere in the middle of the 1990s when Daniel Goleman first published his book 'Emotional Intelligence' a lot of people began to realise that there is a lot more to intelligence than simple IQ. Traditional measures of IQ are mostly concerned with things like verbal and numerical reasoning, some spatial orientation and so on, but they are mostly very traditional ways of measuring how clever somebody is. There have been lots and lots of books written about intelligence in its various forms, including 'Emotional Intelligence', but I think one of the big consequences of Daniel Goleman's book was that lots of people began to realise that in fact it's not your IQ that determines how successful you'll be in life…

 

It’s hard to say on which side lies the greatest leap of faith – with the person who takes on a new role – or with the employer who offers the position.

On both sides there is a risk. For the employee, if it turns out that the role doesn’t suit their talents and interests, there is the risk of sudden unemployment or the task of more job-hunting. For the employer, if they offer the role to someone who turns out not to be a good fit, there is the prospect of another recruitment campaign and a period of time when the job is not being carried out.

Small wonder, then, that there are lots of people turning up for work every day to do a job that doesn’t really use their talents or bring them great job satisfaction. It’s hard for either side to admit to it, if a person has been appointed to the ‘wrong’ job.

But what makes the ‘right’ job?

Here are some of my thoughts, see if they fit with yours…

1. In the right job you get to use your greatest talents.  You do the things that you are best at and can contribute the most with. You get job satisfaction.
2. In the right job, you feel a sense of belonging to the company and pride in the particular company that you represent. You derive some meaning from being part of it.
3. Your values align comfortably with the corporate values, so that you are able to work in ways that seem ‘right’ to you.
4. In the perfect job, as well as all of the above, there is scope for you to grow and develop at the right pace for you, so that the role stays interesting and your experience never becomes outdated or stale.
5. In the perfect job, you work alongside people who complement your skills and whose skills you complement. Nobody is perfect, but collectively you can do a perfect job.

Do you agree?

And do you choose the role or the employee with any of this in mind? Or is it all about past experience and technical knowledge? Is it all about salary and benefits? 

What would it be like in your organisation if everyone had a role that brought out the best they can contribute and every task was carried out by someone who enjoyed doing it? Wouldn’t that be an interesting place to work!