I know from talking to a lot of you that many organizations are stuck in the trap of “we’ve always done things this way, so why change now.”
Which is pretty stupid, if you ask me.
Why am I being so harsh?
Because in the words of the great philosopher, Pat Riley, “the only thing constant in life is change.”
But too many of the people and businesses I visit with have gotten trapped in the mindset that what has gotten us a certain level of success will be the same thing that will help us grow to another level.
Yet, that isn’t true.
What got you where you are is great!
Yippee!
I’ve been fairly successful at points as well, but if I sit back and think that I can coast…you know what? I’m going to start sliding back almost immediately.
Which brings us back to you, me, anyone…
How do we break that rut of falling into the always done things this way trap?
I think there are 3 things that you can do immediately that will give you a quick win and get you out of the rut.
1. Embrace change:
I get it, change is scary.
That doesn’t mean you can avoid it.
You have to embrace it.
Let’s use me as an example.
When I got out of college, I went back to work in my old city job that I had before I left for college.
I did a good job, had a paycheck, and had a little security…or what passes for security for a 21 year old.
Then, all of a sudden, I got the opportunity to take a job with a nightclub and help with the marketing and PR.
Boom!
I took off in that role.
Which opened up a number of new roles for me and new ideas about the world.
But where the big payoff from this came was when I decided to move halfway across the country with a group of people to St Louis to help open another club.
The only people I knew were the people I was moving with.
Fast forward, club failing…need to make a next step, I have to confidence in my ability to adapt to change to move to Seattle without having anything lined up.
Boom!
Next thing you know, all of these experiences coalesce into the start of the person I am now.
Which led me to moving to NYC without having anything lined up or knowing anyone, which led to one of the great adventures of my life.
All because I embraced change.
I didn’t want to go into too much detail because I am not the rah rah kind…but for you, change is costly, but it more costly to not do anything.
So the first step is that you need to get on board with embracing change.
You can do that pretty easily by making short term ambitions or minor changes, to build comfort.
2. Come up with some new goals:
This goes hand in hand with making minor changes or looking for short term wins.
If you want or need to change, then you need to absolutely come up with new goals.
The same way that the same actions that got you somewhere won’t get you to the next level, your goals might no longer be working for you either.
So pick an area or two that you want or need to reinvent, and set some new goals.
Don’t try to change the whole ship at once, but pick a few things that you can start on and get measurable, meaningful impact from. If not, it becomes pretty easy for everyone to fall back into the same old patterns.
3. Pick one thing and take action:
We could do a whole lot of writing about a holistic approach to change management, but I’m not sure if that would help much with nailing down short term wins!
But one thing that will help is getting some momentum going.
Which begins with one step.
Look for one new activity you can start that will lead you naturally to the next step and take that.
Then when you get to the next step, make a plan for the next step.
One step after the next, drip by drip.