Leadership Qualities

Why You Should Not Fear The Future

By Brandon W. Jones on February 3, 2014 1

After going through the recent economic downturns, many people are very leery about any form of change. They shutter just hearing the word change. They associate change with terms like layoffs, forced retirements, restructuring, pay-cuts, etc. Many people’s first response is to fear the future.

When you hear “change” and begin fearing the future, it can cause a number of negative results in your life. Some of those negative results are increased stress, limited patience, and increased anxiety.

Increased Stress

To fear the future at the mention of change is not an uncommon reaction, but it is a misunderstanding of change. When we fear the future, it immediately causes increased stress. That stress comes from trying to control the uncontrollable. It is very common to automatically expect the worse case scenario for each action. You may think if there is going to be change at work, it means your company is going under, or you’re going to lose your job, but in reality you’re just getting a new boss. The worst sometimes does happen, but stressing over it is not a good thing to do because it doesn’t change the outcome. [Read more…] about Why You Should Not Fear The Future

Become The Victim Of Change

By Brandon W. Jones on January 31, 2014 0

It is not uncommon when change is being implemented for people to “become the victim of change.” When something new is implemented or another form of change happens, people will say that they are the victims of change. They will say that the change was forced upon them and they had no control over it.

What is the victim of change mentality?

The victim of change mentality happens when people give control of their life over to others. When people take on the “victim of change” mentality, they fight or have a defeatist attitude towards change. They feel like whatever happens is out of their control. As the victim, they claim that they have no control over their life or what happens to them.

You may hear people say things like, “What does it matter, I have no control over it anyway.” They may say, “Management, leadership, government, etc. just forces it upon us and they don’t even care what we think” Another common statement is, “Why do you want my opinion when you won’t listen to it or do anything about it anyway?” Each of these statements can be taken as an indication that the person believes he/she is the victim of change.

Why is this mentality bad?

When I think about the victim of change mentality, I also think about empowerment. When you are empowered, you believe that you can do anything you set your mind to. When you become the victim of change, however, your mindset changes to one of dependency on others. [Read more…] about Become The Victim Of Change

Change At Your Own Pace

By Brandon W. Jones on January 29, 2014 0

Have you ever tried to implement a change when one person that wasn’t ready for the change? He/she probably told each team member to, “change at your own pace” which challenged your team members. As a result, that person probably slowed everything and everyone down. He/she probably was a roadblock to the change for the group or you individually. What they may not have realized was that their mentality became a major stumbling block for everyone.

So why is change at your own pace a fallacy?

To know why this is a fallacy you don’t need to look any further than the three drivers of change (technology, people, and information). Technology is constantly advancing. Computers, machinery, vehicles, phones, and everything else technology is constantly improving. With each technological advance, you can improve efficiency, productivity, and effectiveness. Or, you can stay where you are. If you choose to stay where you are, you will be effectively moving backwards because everyone else will be moving past you.

The change at your own pace doesn’t work with people either. When you change at your own pace with people, you will either move too fast or too slow. You will slow down others around you or you will encounter resistance when you are changing faster than others. You can’t change at your own pace when you are changing with others. This hurts the team and everyone involved in the process. [Read more…] about Change At Your Own Pace

Misunderstandings About Change

By Brandon W. Jones on January 27, 2014 0

Change is very applicable to leadership. Leaders regularly drive change. As they drive change, they will face resistance. There will be people that will think the leader doesn’t understand them or how they have done things. They will fight change at all cost. In most cases, it will be because they have a misunderstanding about change.

Many people have misunderstandings about change. Some people think that if they don’t want change it will just go away. Others think that change will slow down if they don’t change quickly. They think that when they stop changing their surroundings will also stop changing. There is also a wide range of other misunderstandings about change. However, they are just that, they are misunderstandings about change.

Change happens all the time. The only thing constant about change is that it is always happens. For some people, change happens so often that they call it the “flavor of the week.” With change happening so frequently, it is important to understand it and know the common misunderstandings about change so you don’t fall trap to them. [Read more…] about Misunderstandings About Change

Help People Learn How to Change

By Brandon W. Jones on January 20, 2014 0

When someone understands that change is necessary, it doesn’t mean they know how to make the change. They may know that something is important to do, but not know how to implement it. There are two types of people that don’t know how to change. There are humble people that want to change and will accept your help. And, there are people that want to change but are too arrogant to take help from anybody. As a leader, you will experience two extremes and everything in between.

They don’t know how to change

Have you ever heard the saying that, “You can’t teach an old dog new tricks?” That saying is definitely true when it comes to change. There are a lot of people that have a very hard time picking up new methods or techniques when it comes to change.

Regardless of one’s age, there are many “old dogs” that can’t be taught new tricks. This could be the young teenager that thinks they know it all. It could be the recent college graduate that thinks he or she learned everything they needed to know to be successful in college. It could be the experienced professional that feels they have all the answers because they’ve “been there and done that.” There are also people that question why a change is necessary because they have gotten along this long without the change, so why do they need the change? Whoever it is, there are many people that can’t change because they don’t know how to change. So why don’t they know how to change? [Read more…] about Help People Learn How to Change

Information Drives Change

By Brandon W. Jones on January 15, 2014 0

When it comes to change, one of the key drivers is information. Information drives change because as people learn more, they act differently. They immediately want to act on their new knowledge, so that life can be better than it was up to this point.

Exponential Increase of Information

Knowledge and information are increasing faster than ever before. Some researchers say that the amount of information available on the earth is doubling every five years. The more people know, the more they can act on their knowledge.

Today, the Internet has made the transfer of information easier than ever before. With the Internet, people share knowledge and ideas across the world. Through this website and through social media, I am able to communicate with people that live all over the world. This exchange of information allows people to learn and grow much quicker in the past.

Knowledge is Power

Information drives change because knowledge is power. Have you ever been in a room where everyone knew more than you? Or, have you been in a situation where you knew you had a lot to learn to be more successful? Well, the saying that, “Knowledge is power” is just as true now as it was in the past. The more you know, the more you successful you can become. For that reason, people are doing all they can to obtain knowledge. People want to progress in life, so they can live a better life, be more powerful, and have more influence. In addition, people want to create better lives for their family members through gaining and acting upon information. [Read more…] about Information Drives Change