Change

Change is hard. Change is scary. Change is unpopular. A change takes hard work. Change can take a long time. There are a lot of terms that can describe change, many are not pleasant ones. Leadership involves change from time to time. The question I ask myself is what makes the idea of change so difficult? Why do leaders often face such strong opposition from folks when implementing change? When do you know if a change is needed? All questions hard to know the answer.

What I have come to understand is if you believe in a good goal, and have vision to achieve that goal, the choices become easier to see. Having conviction to stand up and makes the best decision will not always be popular. Time will tell if you we right or wrong. In the meantime if you made the decision with a heart and a commitment to do the right thing, you can relax. The point is to live and make choices with a purpose. Do not waffle to keep everyone happy; do not cave to a vocal minority. Certainly, be respectful and open minded to others opinions, but stay focused on your reasoning.

I have seen the same results in every personality/leadership training I have taken in my career. It normally goes something like this: "You are a person that likes to interact with others, often become the center of a room, I can tend toward dominating conversations and people’s perceptions of you matter." This makes decisions difficult to make at times, I do not want to anger others with my ideas or opinions. I am working on changing this approach. Not that I will personally change, but I actively work to listen more, pay attention to other ideas and slow down what I want and consider the whole picture first.

A bit of a ramble today, but I'm working through a lot of changes now, personal, volunteer, family and professional. Staying focused on the right goals and staying tuned to my natural tendencies will help. I have changes to make, and will stay committed to doing so with compassion, cooperation while staying true to the best ideals.

No matter what you have to change; health, work, programs, relationships...be a leader today.