If you are looking at this site for the first time, let me supply some context.  For the past several weeks, I’ve been describing each of the “six stages of change” identified in the book Changing for Good by James Prochaska, John Norcross, and Carlo DiClemente.

This week’s article addresses “Action--The Most Visible of the Six Stages of Change.”  This stage is what most people characteristically consider the essence of change--"Let's DO something!"

Studying this book has opened my eyes to why beneficial change is so difficult!  The experience has been a paradigm shift for me--I now understand past successes and failures with clients far more clearly.

I hope that as you read these entries and their associated articles, you are able to see evidence of what stage you are in relative to improvements you desire to make.

Dennis

The authors of the Changing for Good book suggest that an individual or organization not short-change the "preparation" stage, as described in “Preparation—A Necessary Step Prior to Taking Action.”

I've found that counsel hard to enforce, however.  Once a decision has been made in the "contemplation" stage to proceed, people tend to want to get on with it!  Fortunately, trial and error is a very powerful learning tool.  If a person jumps in with both feet and finds resistance, he or she can always try something different.

That presumes, of course, that the individual doesn't just give up and choose to put no more effort against the improvement.  That's the risk that is run with short-circuiting the preparation stage.

In this week’s article, I mention conducting an organizational health assessment.  Over the past few years, I've written four articles dealing with organizational health assessments.  If you want to see those articles, they are here:
--"Organizational Assessment--Part 1"
--"Organizational Assessment--Part 2"
--"Organizational Assessments"
--"Why Are We Evaluating the Health of Our Organization?"

Dennis

This article, "Serious Contemplation--Thinking About Improvement," and the ones from the past two weeks have been huge awareness enhancers for me.  I realize now why some clients have progressed so well and others have struggled.  

Some of my clients started with me in the "action" stage---I should have slowed them down and even backed them up into at least the "contemplation" stage for awhile.  They did not deeply understand why they were choosing their direction, and they had not built up the commitment that comes from more clearly understanding their previous circumstances.

The Changing for Good book, and especially these articles that I'm generating from the information in the book, will definitely help me reduce mistakes with future clients.  Further, my new insights will help future clients take the steps necessary to increase the probability of their success.

Dennis

Surely everyone wants to improve his or her organization, right?  That's the first sentence of this week's article, “Do I Really Want to Improve My Organization?”

I think people really do love it when improvement occurs.  But making a commitment to actively seek intentional improvement, and to do it routinely--that seems to be asking a lot.

Many leaders seem to equate "leadership skills" with the functional and technical skills necessary for providing basic service to their customers--knowing their products and being able to deliver the services they advertise. Sure, if you're selling refrigerators, you better know and understand the specifics of each make and model.  If you are an investment counselor, you better be able to answer questions about the volatility of today's stock market.

"Leadership skills" extend beyond those basic "business specific" skills.  What systems do you have in place to build skills such as listening, dealing with ambiguity, caring about direct reports, conflict management, proper delegation, patience, priority setting, strategic agility, and dozens of other leadership attributes?  Do you expect the capabilities of your future leaders to grow just by them handling the day-to-day responsibilities of their current job role?  Sorry, that expectation is not realistic.

If you've never thought about this, you (and maybe your organization) are in the "precontemplation" stage.  How do you move beyond that point?  Think about it.  That's the first step, and I'll describe "contemplation" in more detail in my article next week!

Dennis

Many leaders don't have time or energy to think about improvement when times are hard (or when times are good!).

When times are neither good or bad, they want something "out there" to change.

Discovering the "six stages of change" model, and especially understanding the first two stages (where most of my potential clients are relative to "leadership development"), has been hugely enlightening.

Take a look at this week's article, “Times are Hard!  I Can’t Focus on Improvement Now!”  Can you see that most organizations that have never thought seriously about any systematic approach to leadership development are in the precontemplation stage?

If I can just get them to move to "contemplation," that would be huge progress!

Dennis

As I work with organizations in building leaders, I find that they typically want to work on shoring up weaknesses.  Although that approach seems normal to most folks, I've found it to be less than optimum.

An individual can work on limitations to reduce their negative impact, but small incremental improvements often require extensive time and energy.  The return on the investment seems much less than putting energy against finding ways to capitalize on existing strengths.  Take a look at this week’s article, “Build Leaders by Capitalizing on Their Strengths.”

Dennis

Make your organization one of the few that takes a conscious and creative approach to enhancing contributions to your customers.

Keep in mind that your organization's customers may be internal customers.  If you enhance your service to internal customers, you enhance the larger organization's quality or lower its costs, which helps everybody!

So, every couple of months, call a "time out" and do something a little different.  Instead of focusing on solving problems, focus briefly on enhancing the services you provide to your customer.  Ask in a fresh way, "What does the customer consider 'quality'?  What would it take to make the quality of our output better?”

That's what this week's article, “Explore Opportunities with Your Team,” is all about--increasing the value of what you contribute.

Want to retain your customers during hard times?  This is the way!

Dennis

This week's article, “Preventing (or Correcting) a Dysfunctional Culture,” is taken from my notes this past Friday associated with “Catalyst Conference” speaker Dave Ramsey.  I'll use this column with future clients, because every organization faces these challenges!

Dave Ramsey is a caring, compassionate leader, yet he is firm in not tolerating the presence of certain "enemies" in his organization.  His expectations for his leaders are clear, and he backs up his expectations with personal involvement when necessary.  These enemies are constantly attacking, diminishing the effectiveness even of your organization!

Dave's presentation was fun and engaging.  Near the end of his comments, however, he said he was not nearly as funny when teaching this material inside his own company.  I can imagine that his firmness regarding ethics and values contributes to a sense of stability and service that his employees deeply appreciate.

Dennis

Continuous learning and continuous improvement are work!  But Dale Crownover suggests that it’s far more satisfying and rewarding than running from bankruptcy.  And that's where Dale Crownover's company was headed when he and his small business began learning about systems that define and measure improvement.

In 1991, Dale Crownover and his colleagues at the Texas Nameplate Company started learning about how to build quality systems into an organization.  In four short years, they applied for and won the Texas Quality Award.  The same year, 1995, they applied for a National Quality Award and profited greatly from the valuable feedback they received from their application review.  In 1996, they applied again and received a site visit.  With great disappointment, they did not receive the award, but learned a huge amount from the evaluative comments they received.

In 1997, they applied again and became a 1998 National Quality Award winner, the smallest business to that point to have received that recognition.  In 2004, they became the only small business to have won two National Quality Awards.  The employees are preparing now to apply for the 2010 award.

The attached article, “It's Easy, It’s Free, and It Works!” was never intended to highlight Dale Crownover and the Texas Nameplate Company.  The intent was to highlight the availability of the Georgia Oglethorpe three-step state award process and the annual Awards Conference held each October in Atlanta.  This is a huge and inexpensive opportunity for any leader interested in personal and organizational growth to interact with knowledgeable people and to walk away inspired to seek additional learning.

Dennis

As I've watched the news over the past week, I've searched for "leadership" truths.  Have you seen any?  I hope the leadership is occurring behind closed doors.  The individuals willing to stand in front of the cameras seem to be merely posturing themselves and their political party.  At least I hope that is the case.

When it comes to passion and logic, I fall more to the logical side.  Yet I value those with passion, for they are able to drive progress far more effectively than I.

Passion precisely applied drives productive enhancements, and I'm all about improvement!  So, let's hear it for those who are able to harness their passion and lead progress in specifically chosen directions.  Read "Put Your Passion into Execution, Please."

Dennis