Leading the Change We Want: A Simple Formula

Posted: Friday February 6, 2009 under Lead Individuals, Lead Myself, Lead Teams

Talk of “change” is all the buzz these days. And the current economy has most of us scrounging for all the change we can find.

Of course, change isn’t some new fad. A thousand years ago, philosophers were saying, “Change is the only constant.” Ben Franklin said, “When you’re finished changing, you’re finished.” Change happens regardless. The kicker is, it’s not always the change we necessarily want—it can take us forward, backward, and around in circles. People sometimes talk about all the great changes they’re going to make without ever really changing anything except their jaw muscles and the amount of time that has passed.

Leading requires three things: someone to lead, someone to be led, and a change of some sort (since we don’t lead people to stay in one spot). In your role as a leader and influencer—at work and outside work—, the most fundamental mission you have is to create change in people and through people. The “people” you lead might include just yourself—making you the leader and the led—, another person, a small group, or a hundred or a thousand or a million or a billion other people.

Our typical goal is to lead people toward progressive changes that make things better; for example we don’t want to influence people in a way that makes them less motivated, less effective, less ethical, or less loyal. Good leaders stimulate forward thinking and forward movement that people buy into, and although it’s not always simple or easy to accomplish, leading progressive changes follows a simple formula that’s easy to remember. It addresses three basic questions.

• Where do we want to go? (Our desired state)
• Where are we now? (Our current state)
• How do we get from here to there? (Change)

For example…

Do I want to be healthier? I ask myself: Where, specifically, do I want to go? Where am I now? How do I get from here to there?

Do I want to be wealthier? I ask myself: Where, specifically, do I want to go? Where am I now? How do I get from here to there?

Do I want to be wiser? I ask myself: Where, specifically, do I want to go? Where am I now? How do I get from here to there?

(Our friend, Ben Franklin, provides his own simple formula for making ourselves healthy, wealthy, and wise. If only it was as easy as he suggests.)

This formula is the basis for any development plan we write down—and we should always write it down—for improving a skill, a process, a career, a relationship, whatever.

Ask yourself now: What are some ways I follow this formula in my daily leadership role (with myself and others) to make a specific improvement? How do I determine where I want to lead people, how do I assess where they are, and how do I figure out the right path to move them from here to there?

Once you know, and can follow, this simple change formula, you have laid the foundation you need to move forward as an effective leader.