Are you and your team ready for TRANSFORMATION?

We are often asked “What is it that InitiativeOne actually does?”    Enthusiastically, the short answer for InitiativeOne has been “we accelerate change”!  However, if you ask the leaders we work with – they tell us we  “transform” their life and business.

Like all goals in life – transforming requires leadership and behavior change.  In its truest form, transformational leadership garners the trust, respect, and admiration from its followers.   Business owners and leaders committed to creating positive and sustained change understand this as a key principle for success.   “How do I excel” in creating this level of change in my business or business unit.  Often, the answer to this question comes as a response to a challenge or a preferred future that the leader is looking for.  In other words, as a transformational leader, you must “marry” your desired vision (or preferred future) with the level of passion that will work to inspire, build trust and gain the backing of the rest of the team.  Sounds simple right?!  It is NOT!!!

Here are 3 questions to ask yourself if you are evaluating your business, department or work team for the next level of performance (and transformation).

1) Am I crystal clear about the vision, meaning and purpose for this team and each individual on the team – beyond financial results?  (Leading by meaning and passion vs. power, position and “getting the job done” catapults teams in an entirely new dimension of success)

2) Am I willing to direct valuable resources (time, money, energy, human capital) to attain this goal?

Alignment, Alignment, Alignment – to achieve greater results, internal structures and systems have to be reviewed and rebalanced to support the desired future.  This is where the adage “status quo” and “park benches” truly come to light.  Each and every member must objectively look at the current state of the business and “let go” of the past.  This is a process (not an event!!) of adapting to the “new normal” – to master this change process is to master TRANSFORMATIONAL LEADERSHIIP.

And finally:

3)  When I look at our decision making processes within the organization – does the culture reward transparency, open dialog without repercussion, failing forward, and a sense of “ownership and responsibility” to the goal?  Or do the decisions come from the top and “delivered” down the hierarchy for implementation?

Developing a culture in which the team brings “all of themselves” to work (brain, heart and passion) requires a solid understanding of human behavior – starting with ”ourselves” as leaders, of sociological impacts, and of generational differences within the teams.  Setting the stage in which team members do not “check their brains at the door” brings team results to a whole new level of success.

Are you and your team ready for Accelerating your business TRANSFORMATION ?

InitiativeOne is a Transformation Company leading other to Accelerate Change.

Tough Principles for Turning Your Business Around in a Tough Economy

After asking each of them to share how they were feeling, a pattern emerged of blame, justification and anger quickly emerged. Together they provided an impressive litany over all of the things in the economy that had robbed them of continued success. Great pains were taken to explain how all of their competitors were facing the same downturn in revenue, perhaps alleviating themselves of any responsibility for their present state.

The discussion revealed they were hoping for a magical solution that would not involve discomfort. Because such magical fixes don’t exist, they found themselves in a terrible bind, caught between indecision and terror. There is no more painful place for a leadership team.