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Execution: Six Action Steps

In the face of overwhelming change, it is often difficult to predict the future with any certainty. Managers must have the flexibility to adapt to change and harness its forces to their advantage. In many cases the results of such an upheaval cause a shift in both thinking and actions. While this process can be difficult for some managers to adjust to, one thing is certain: they can either adapt or be bypassed. Market and business conditions are unforgiving to the manager who resists change.

Managers must recognize that many of the traditional business models of the past are no longer applicable. A number of organizations have employed a host of management fads over the past decade with either limited success or disastrous results. Aside from the implementation of new ideas and concepts meant to enrich the authors rather than the company, it is certain that managers must deal with the ever-increasing forces of change that appear to be both overwhelming and unrelenting.

It is important for managers to understand that they are forced to adapt to and align themselves with the changes impacting their industry and company. The traditional direct-and-control role is being replaced by the principles of active leadership and empowerment as the most effective method to anticipate and handle changes in the business environment and marketplace. As a result, the manager is required to take a proactive rather than a passive stance. In this way leaders are on the alert and prepared to deal with the constantly changing business environment.

Managers must adapt to meet the demands of their company, customers and the marketplace. Their professional development and transformation into a proactive leader is interlinked with the changes their organization must make to survive and prosper. The shift can be accomplished by the continual application of the ideas listed below. Since change is continuous and relentless, the evolution of new ideas and professional development must also be ongoing.

Brainstorm

Managers must always be seeking new ideas to implement in their business. The best source of new ideas and insights lies within the native knowledge of their individual employees. They are positioned in the front lines of the business where they gather feedback from both coworkers and customers, and see firsthand what the competition is doing in the marketplace. Unfortunately, in many organizations this wealth of knowledge is seldom tapped, much less converted into a useful form. Yet this source of information, insight and ideas are at the manager’s fingertips.

Managers need to schedule ongoing brainstorming sessions to utilize their employees’ knowledge and work through ideas and concepts. Where geographically dispersed branches or locations prohibit this, managers should consider a threaded discussion group using email as a tool to engage their employees as a group.

Brainstorming has distinct advantages in that it feeds on participant synergy in order to build on ideas and concepts. Most participants feel energized and motivated when the exercise is properly undertaken and all ideas and feedback are considered and treated with respect.

Abandon Prejudices

Most seasoned managers have personal prejudices regarding how things in their business should be run. Formed from their experiences and successes over the span of their career, these biases can hinder a manager’s ability to develop and implement new ideas and concepts. With the speed and impact of change in the world now, it is essential to know that what has worked in the past may no longer be effective, and that the fact that old processes may still be in place does not mean there are not better ways of doing things.

New ideas and concepts developed during brainstorming or from other forms of feedback should not be summarily dismissed as a “bad fit” for the corporate culture. Managers need to put aside their personal prejudices and examine viable ideas from all angles in order to determine whether they have an application or can improve employee and company performance.

Implement New Ideas

While managers should seek out new ideas from their employees, customers and their own research, more must be done. After developing these ideas, determining their applicability to the company, and prioritizing them, managers must then implement those that can have the most impact.

People generally fear that new approaches will not work. However, managers must overcome their reluctance by continually testing new ideas. If they do fail, they should learn from the experience and move on to other concepts. It is from a series of failures and the subsequent lessons learned that new and viable ideas are built.

Remove Barriers

Managers must remove barriers their employees may encounter that hinder their effectiveness, productivity and efficiency. In the sales environment, this can typically include reports as well as reworking procedures that hinder their ability to directly deal with a prospect or customer.

Managers need to measure what is actually needed versus what is currently required. The implementation of new ideas and the increase in the level of customer service may require a streamlining of procedures to enhance the individual employee’s ability to be productive and attain desired results.

Think Small

From the mid-90s to the mid-00s there was a tendency for companies with a “bigger is better” mindset to expand through acquisitions and mergers. However, managers must now think small. This adjustment may include reorganizing units into smaller cells that are more adaptable to change. Additionally, thinking small should translate into the areas of goals and planning. IBM built their business on the philosophy of small successes. By breaking their goals down into a series of less daunting, more easily attained steps, employees were able to build their confidence and motivation by completing one after another. The outcome was the same as giving employees the entire goal at once, but in this manner it did not seem insurmountable.

Lead with Passion

As managers transform themselves into proactive leaders they must evolve in their style so that they lead with a passion, sharing their personal vision at every opportunity with their employees, customers and suppliers. They will find that their passion is contagious and that it will impact the performance of the entire team.

Excerpt: Professional Development: Pinpoint Management Skill Development Training Series (Majorium Business Press, Stevens Point, WI, 2011) $ 17.95 USD

Four Major Hindrances to Empowerment

Creating a Culture of Innovation

Why New Ideas Trigger a Competitive Advantage

You Don’t Choose Your Passions, Your Passions Choose You

Written by Timothy F. Bednarz, Ph.D.

December 18, 2013 at 12:10 pm

Posted in Employees, Execution, Flexibility, Interaction, Management Practices, Performance, Performance Standards

Tagged with adaptation, barriers, brainstorming, execution, flexibility, ideas, Leadership, obstacles, organizational change, passion, personal prejudices

Four Attitudes That Hinder an Empowered Environment

Maintaining that Power Is a Fixed Sum

Traditional organizational thinking promotes the idea that power is a fixed sum; i.e., if one person has more, others have less. Organizations and individuals within it who share this belief are also reluctant to share power. They hold on tightly to it. However, this philosophy seriously retards the accomplishment of extraordinary things through mutual, collective efforts. This is the real barrier to empowerment: when managers and even employees hoard whatever power they have.

This generates powerlessness in others. In turn it generates organizational systems where political skills become “business as usual.” These are actively used to “cover oneself” and “pass the buck.” They become the preferred styles for handling interdepartmental differences and lagging productivity and results. At the same time these actions and their motives create disharmony and hindering roadblocks to cooperative and creative efforts for necessary innovation. An organization will find its products, quality, and services suffer when these wanting political skills are consistently applied, and where eliminating them is overlooked or ignored.

Failing to Provide Organizational Discretion and Autonomy

Applying discretion and autonomy within an organization comes from actively supporting its members and trusting in their ability to take decisive action whenever and wherever necessary. It includes the right to exercise independent judgment, and to make decisions that affect how one does his or her job without having to check in with upper levels every time issues and concerns surface. Without embracing and promoting elements of discretion and autonomy, an organization’s total support network is diminished and ultimately destroyed.

The opportunity to be flexible, creative and adaptive is what enables an organization to make most productive use of its resources in moving ahead and overcoming challenges. If organizations allow for individual discretion, leaders and employees will have greater opportunity to apply their creativity and collective intelligence. They will have more choices about how to successfully accomplish given goals and objectives.

In addition, when an organization practices flexible discretion, it generates higher levels of responsibility and a greater sense of obligation among all members, as all individually feel more powerful and in control of events and circumstances that would otherwise overwhelm them.

Falling Short in Identifying the Real Sources of an Organization’s Power

Within an organization, traditional power is generally thought of as having and maintaining control over its resources. However, the real power of an organization is found in its individual leaders and through their employee groups. This is where the organization’s crucial problems can be solved to ensure its long-term success and viability. An organization can emphasize its willingness to acknowledge the power of its leaders and employees by:

Involving all members in its planning and directives.
Allowing delegation to be an active part of its culture with full trust and confidence that goals and objectives will be met.
Creating and implementing an empowered spirit and team attitude throughout the organization.
Finding unique ways to reward leaders and all other members for accomplishments large and small.

Being Reluctant to Give Power Away to Strengthen Others

Upper management must embrace the idea that the only potential market power and strength they have is maintained by the mutual efforts of their subordinate leaders and employees. It is dependent upon a positive interconnection and interaction among all three parties. Organizations must recognize the necessity of giving power away to others. Upper management must actively practice four principles that strategically strengthen the organization and the members within it. They include:

Giving leaders the power to use their own personal judgment in the delegation of critical assignments and decision making. This includes them then empowering their employees to modify methods and processes to increase quality, productivity and innovation.
Allowing leaders and other members greater discretion and autonomy over resources, projects, direction and outcomes.
Developing an atmosphere that builds relationships, connecting leaders and employees with other powerful people within the organization that can mentor, sponsor and coach them.
Promoting visibility and strengthening people within the organization by sharing information and increasing flexibility in work-related activities. Top management must be able to actively enable others to act with the organization’s best interests at heart, with realistic levels of accountability and without the risk of potential negative consequences.

Excerpt: Empowerment: Pinpoint Leadership Skill Development Training Series (Majorium Business Press, Stevens Point, WI 2011) $ 19.95 USD

Execution: Six Action Steps

Performance Plans Create Results and Maximizes Performance

Objectives Allow Managers to Focus on Obtaining Results

For Additional Information the Author Recommends the Following Books:

Performance Management: The Pinpoint Management Skill Development Training Series

Planning to Maximize Performance: Pinpoint Leadership Skill Development Training Series

Maximizing Financial Performance: Pinpoint Leadership Skill Development Training Series

Improving Workplace Interaction: Pinpoint Leadership Skill Development Training Series

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Written by Timothy F. Bednarz, Ph.D.

October 16, 2013 at 10:49 am

Posted in Connection, Employees, Empowerment, Leadership, Performance, Trust

Tagged with adaptive, autonomy, control, cooperation, culture, decision-making, delegation. Synergy, empowerment, flexibility, independence, innovation, judgment, Organizations, plans, political skills, power, problem solving, productivity, quality, responsibility, status quo

Flexibility is Required When Change is Present

Avoiding a ‘One Size Fits All’ Approach to Decision Making

In the midst of change, trial and error abound. Organizations must acknowledge the fact that change and total empowerment evolve slowly. Decisions must be made along the lines of small steps designed to move the process along smoothly and steadily. This implies discarding management fads that claim all change can be swiftly accomplished with one method or solution.

Instead, leaders must be given full authority to assess every emerging situation and adopt the best-suited courses of action. Organizations discourage their leaders from becoming rigidly embedded in any processes, tools, methods or techniques limiting their creative capabilities to overcome any challenge posed by an emerging situation.

Break Out of Comfort Zones

Organizations often look the other way when some of its leaders repeatedly and doggedly use a particular style or approach to leading people and making decisions directly affecting them. This can be damaging in that it more often than not generates rigidity in thought and action among other leaders and employees. It works to limit creativity and unity of purpose and thought.

Decision-making constrained by comfort zones is generally not conducive to quickly emerging situations demanding immediate and sensible determinations. One’s favorite style or approach often does not fit the demands of a given situation. Immediate directives may at times be more effective than full-blown discussions of certain problems. Other situations will require more intense analyzation to determine root causes and numerous subsequent participatory discussions undertaken. Making effective, lower-risk decisions often requires applying an intensive, customized, and even untried approach to a situation. Organizations and its leaders refuse to take a “prepackaged” response to its problems.

Harnessing, Not Managing Change

Organizations and leaders understand that leadership is a “calling” that demands commitment to the organization’s mission, values and people. All decisions are made with these elements in the forefront. This calling implies leaders must meet external conditions that are always in flux because of new competition, new opportunities and unforeseen threats. Decisions must be made to adapt to and get ahead of changes. In other words, organizations and its leaders must ride the changes, not succumb to the temptation to manage them.

Decision-making must be quick, flexible and agile to surmount the challenges that change brings. When traditional decision making processes are adhered to, an organization builds an internal barrier to responding to a wide variety of contingencies and moving ahead.

Being Ready to Make Changes Immediately

One of the greatest challenges that organizations and leaders face in the midst of change is resisting the temptation to revert to “business as usual” mode, or assume there is only one way to move the organization ahead. Many leaders fall into the trap of returning to the familiar when things get out of control. Leaders must be continually encouraged not to cling to comfortable and automatic responses and actions when stressed by the situation they are forced to deal with.

When it comes to decision making, leaders and organizations need to remember to think small, be flexible and think creatively but opportunistically. They must remain open to new definitions of success, while making the organization stronger and healthier in smaller decision making degrees, not great leaps.

Excerpt: Organizational Empowerment: Pinpoint Leadership Skill Development Training Series (Majorium Business Press, Stevens Point, WI 2011) $ 19.95 USD

Related:

Empowerment is a Structured Discipline

Seven Key Benefits of an Empowered Workplace

Managing Change: The Transition From Chaos to Order

Anticipating and Handling Employee Fears of Change

For Additional Information the Author Recommends the Following Books:

Facilitating Change: Pinpoint Leadership Skill Development Training Series

Empowerment: Pinpoint Leadership Skill Development Training Series

Dealing with the Challenges of Leadership: The Pinpoint Leadership Skill Development Training Series

Improving Workplace Interaction: Pinpoint Leadership Skill Development Training Series

Written by Timothy F. Bednarz, Ph.D.

February 27, 2013 at 10:20 am

Posted in Decision Making, Flexibility, Problem Solving

Tagged with Change, decision-making, emerging situation, flexibility, forces of change, Leaders, Organizations

Taking an Inventory of Your Leadership Skills

with 3 comments

Sound leadership includes continually and objectively taking inventory of oneself. This is not as easy as it appears, because leaders inherently have high levels of self-confidence and often believe they are strong in most areas relating to their leadership role. Even though this quality is important for leaders to fulfill their role effectively, it often obscures specific areas needing improvement.

When leaders honestly assess their performance, they will set goals for improvement. By responding to precise questions in six specific categories it becomes easier to determine areas for improvement that might otherwise be overlooked. These areas and questions need to be addressed carefully in order to improve one’s performance in their leadership role.

It is important for leaders to honestly evaluate themselves in the areas of:

Establishing a core belief system
Prioritizing tasks
Developing methods for monitoring workplace progress
Giving clear and detailed instructions
Promoting responsibility
Improving the overall workplace environment

In order to pinpoint specific areas of strengths and weaknesses, print out the following evaluation areas and questions and write “yes” or “no” before each number.

Establishing a core belief system

Do you continually prepare your employees for impending changes by effectively discussing and defending why they are necessary?
Do you review procedures and results with your employees on a regular basis?
Do your employees know where your direction is taking them?
Do your employees understand why it is important to achieve set goals?
Do your employees understand and accept established standards for performance and are they complying with workplace rules?

Prioritizing tasks

Are your priorities flexible?
Do you model the importance of organizational skills to your employees?
Do you set daily priorities?
Are your employees a daily top priority in terms of their needs and concerns?
Do you take an active role in helping employees prioritize their tasks and assignments?

Monitoring workplace progress

Do you keep daily records and check off items that move workplace progress forward?
Do you have at least one weekly meeting to discuss performance progress and/or timeline implications?
Do you consult with individuals that need to increase overall performance on a regular basis?
Are you able to determine reasons behind a lack of performance in most of your employees who aren’t meeting expectations?
Do you motivate using various leadership styles that meet specific individual needs?

Giving detailed instructions clearly

Are you allowing adequate time for discussions, asking questions and addressing particular concerns and specific issues that arise?
Do you address all the “why’s, how’s and when’s” of assignments and tasks?
Do all employees understand why particular procedures are necessary?
When plans, goals and objectives are detailed, are they completely understood by all involved?
Do you listen to employees carefully and anticipate potential problems or complications in assignments or tasks and take appropriate action before they actually arise?

Promoting responsibility

Do you give adequate feedback to employees to build development of responsibility?
Do you use motivational techniques to help build the desire to accept responsibility in your employees?
Do you assign tasks and responsibilities equally among all employees?
Do you encourage your employees to take risks without fear of negative consequences?
Do you delegate responsibilities whenever possible to the most qualified individual?

Improving the overall workplace environment

Do you celebrate individual successes, great and small?
Do you put forth daily efforts to make assignments and tasks more enjoyable for everyone involved?
Do you encourage cooperative efforts and input in planning the goals for the direction you wish to take?
Do you work to stimulate creativity and “out of the box” thinking?
Do you make sure to give each employee one-on-one time throughout each week?

Excerpt: Leadership Roles & Responsibilities: Pinpoint Leadership Skill Development Training Series by Timothy Bednarz (Majorium Business Press, Stevens Point, WI 2011)

Written by Timothy F. Bednarz, Ph.D.

November 8, 2012 at 11:08 am

Posted in Leadership, Leadership Development, Roles and Responsibilities

Tagged with clear and detailed instructions, core belief system, employees, flexibility, Leadership, leadership styles, monitoring workplace progress, motivational techniques, organizational skills, performance, prioritizing tasks, responsibility, skills inventory, tasks and assignments, workplace environment

Power Must Be Shared for Organizations to Grow

with 7 comments

The forces requiring companies to continually change, transform and improve are becoming progressively more compelling in today’s business environment. This is the result of a globalized economy, the shifting sands of deregulation and re-regulation, accelerated technological advances, and the competitive challenges posed by emerging companies.

It is important for an organization and its top leaders to understand that power needs to flow to lower-level leaders and employees whose tasks; projects and assignments are needed to deal effectively with critical problems. The capacity of a company to strengthen itself comes from the empowerment of its members, which has its origin in the degree to which the organization is willing to share power with its leaders and employees.

Maintaining that Power Is a Fixed Sum

Failing to Provide Organizational Discretion and Autonomy

Falling Short in Identifying the Real Sources of an Organization’s Power

Involving all members in its planning and directives.
Allowing delegation to be an active part of its culture with full trust and confidence that goals and objectives will be met.
Creating and implementing an empowered spirit and team attitude throughout the organization.
Finding unique ways to reward leaders and all other members for accomplishments large and small.

Being Reluctant to Give Power Away to Strengthen Others

Giving leaders the power to use their own personal judgment in the delegation of critical assignments and decision-making. This includes them then empowering their employees to modify methods and processes to increase quality, productivity and innovation.

Allowing leaders and other members greater discretion and autonomy over resources, projects, direction and outcomes.

Developing an atmosphere that builds relationships, connecting leaders and employees with other powerful people within the organization that can mentor, sponsor and coach them.

Promoting visibility and strengthening people within the organization by sharing information and increasing flexibility in work-related activities. Top management must be able to actively enable others to act with the organization’s best interests at heart, with realistic levels of accountability and without the risk of potential negative consequences.

Excerpt: Organizational Empowerment: Pinpoint Leadership Skill Development Training Series (Majorium Business Press, Stevens Point, WI 2011) $ 19.95 USD

Written by Timothy F. Bednarz, Ph.D.

August 28, 2012 at 10:24 am

Posted in Employees, Empowerment, Leadership, Performance

Tagged with autonomy, decision-making, discretion, empowerment, flexibility, flow of power and influence, independent judgment, Leaders, organizational power, synergy

Execution: Six Action Steps

with 15 comments

Related: Creating a Culture of Innovation

Brainstorm

Abandon Prejudices

Related: Why New Ideas Trigger a Competitive Advantage

Implement New Ideas

Related: Four Major Hindrances to Empowerment

Remove Barriers

Think Small

Related: You Don’t Choose Your Passions, Your Passions Choose You

Lead with Passion

Excerpt: Professional Development: Pinpoint Management Skill Development Training Series (Majorium Business Press, Stevens Point, WI, 2011) $ 17.95 USD

If you would like to learn more about how to transform yourself into a more effective leader, refer to Professional Development: Pinpoint Management Skill Development Training Series. This training skill-pack features eight key interrelated concepts, each with their own discussion points and training activity. It is ideal as an informal training tool for coaching or personal development. It can also be used as a handbook and guide for group training discussions. Click here to learn more, or to view our catalog of over 125 training titles.

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Written by Timothy F. Bednarz, Ph.D.

May 24, 2012 at 12:45 pm

Posted in Change, Execution, Performance

Tagged with adaptation, barriers, brainstorming, execution, flexibility, ideas, Leadership, obstacles, organizational change, passion, personal prejudices

Four Attitudes That Hinder an Empowered Environment

Maintaining that Power Is a Fixed Sum

Failing to Provide Organizational Discretion and Autonomy

Falling Short in Identifying the Real Sources of an Organization’s Power

Involving all members in its planning and directives.
Allowing delegation to be an active part of its culture with full trust and confidence that goals and objectives will be met.
Creating and implementing an empowered spirit and team attitude throughout the organization.
Finding unique ways to reward leaders and all other members for accomplishments large and small.

Being Reluctant to Give Power Away to Strengthen Others

Giving leaders the power to use their own personal judgment in the delegation of critical assignments and decision making. This includes them then empowering their employees to modify methods and processes to increase quality, productivity and innovation.
Allowing leaders and other members greater discretion and autonomy over resources, projects, direction and outcomes.
Developing an atmosphere that builds relationships, connecting leaders and employees with other powerful people within the organization that can mentor, sponsor and coach them.
Promoting visibility and strengthening people within the organization by sharing information and increasing flexibility in work-related activities. Top management must be able to actively enable others to act with the organization’s best interests at heart, with realistic levels of accountability and without the risk of potential negative consequences.

Excerpt: Empowerment: Pinpoint Leadership Skill Development Training Series (Majorium Business Press, 2011) $ 19.95 USD

If you would like to learn more about effective empowerment strategies and techniques, refer to Empowerment: Pinpoint Leadership Skill Development Training Series. This training skill-pack features eight key interrelated concepts, each with their own discussion points and training activity. It is ideal as an informal training tool for coaching or personal development. It can also be used as a handbook and guide for group training discussions. Click here to learn more.

Written by Timothy F. Bednarz, Ph.D.

October 20, 2011 at 11:49 am

Posted in Empowerment, Execution, Leadership

Use These Seven Strategies to Respond to Change

with 7 comments

It is difficult to predict leaders’ responses to change, as they must continually be on guard for unpredictable occurrences and forces, and in some cases immediately respond to a series of unknown and unanticipated events and circumstances. The only certainty is that change will occur, and leaders must be at the forefront of the process regardless of circumstances and apprehensions.

Change undoubtedly poses a challenge to every leader. This is because it can be anticipated only to the degree that it is predictable. Long-term changes and trends can be generally anticipated, but these changes are often complicated by numerous factors and elements continually altering and transforming themselves at varying rates of speed.

The concept of change also demands that leaders embrace stability and instability within the organization as it transforms itself. Several strategies that leaders need to employ during periods of change include:

Being Visible

The very nature of leadership demands that leaders be actively involved in their organizational unit. Leadership does not emanate from behind a desk or within an office. Leaders must be active and visible in the front lines of their business. Only when leaders are out and about among their employees can they see and feel the pace of progress, and witness firsthand the problems their employees are encountering.

Testing

Paces of change and organizational transformations demand that countless ideas be constantly generated and experimented with at all levels. Undoubtedly, some ideas will fail and some will succeed. The only way leaders can sort out the winners from the losers is by constantly applying new ideas and concepts on the line to test for feasibility and adaptability to their organization.

Listening

As leaders become increasingly visible, it is important that they simultaneously begin to develop listening forums where everyone within their organizational unit is sharing new ideas, celebrating minor successes and learning from small failures. This increases the synergy between employees, builds and solidifies team bonds, and enhances overall organizational cohesiveness.

Appreciating Failure

As aforementioned, an organization’s response to change as it transforms itself implies countless new ideas and concepts are being experimented with on a regular basis. Leaders know that constant experimentation means that they must test concepts, ideas and strategies rapidly—fail or succeed fast—and adjust quickly.

Active leaders must immediately discard bad ideas and learn from their failures. However, no idea can be deemed good or bad unless it has been adequately tested. The key is to learn from the failures and quickly move on to the next idea, building knowledge and expertise from a continual string of ineffective results, failures and shortcomings.

Taking Action

Leaders in the fast pace of change must be proactive rather than reactive. They cannot let the organizational bureaucracy interfere with the progress of their organizational unit. At times they must actively work against this bureaucracy when it regulates or inhibits the testing and experimentation of new ideas and concepts.

Effective leaders do not only involve their frontline employees in concept, idea and method experimentation, they encourage the participation of multi-functional teams as well, and work to get them fully involved in the process.

Learning from Customers

Leaders have learned that the external influence of the customer is a stabilizing factor in the midst of change. Successful leaders interact with their customers, and encourage employees at all levels to do the same. This can be accomplished through scheduled customer visits to the organization for discussions, observations and feedback, and by sending representatives out to the customer’s business. Once there, their job is to objectively observe exactly how specific products and services are being used and applied. They also interpret what problems occur and why, as well as each one’s impact on various time factors.

This allows leaders to cross-pollinate ideas and concepts throughout the organization so that all involved have mutual goals and objectives, increasing the overall quality of the product and its value to the customer.

Additionally, employee exposure to their customers makes daily tasks and assignments more tangible. Employees are able to see how the product they produce is used. This increases empowerment and overall responsibility toward the customer.

Making It Fun

The concept of change and accompanying process of organizational transformation are stressful. Most leaders have learned that they can ease stress by making certain elements of the process “fun.” This is not to say that leaders create a jovial and joking atmosphere, but that there is pleasure and enjoyment in accomplishing something together as a team and sharing interesting failures and mistakes in a non-critical atmosphere. It means keeping things light, celebrating the little successes, and using them to build on others to the accomplishment of mutual goals and objectives.

Change will throw many curves at an organization. It takes large doses of flexibility and participation to adapt to these trials. It also helps if leaders and employees lighten up at times where stress is at its highest, which helps to reduce the urge to take things far too seriously.

Excerpt: Facilitating Change – Pinpoint Leadership Skill Development Training Series (Majorium Business Press, 2011) $ 17.95 USD

If you would like to learn more about techniques to facilitate change, refer to Facilitating Change – Pinpoint Leadership Skill Development Training Series. This training skill-pack features eight key interrelated concepts, each with their own discussion points and training activity. It is ideal as an informal training tool for coaching or personal development. It can also be used as a handbook and guide for group training discussions. Click here to learn more.