Change Management

How much is your Product or Service Designed with the Environment in Mind?

How much is your Product or Service Designed with the Environment in Mind?

Given the below, it is fantastic to see the U.S. recently signed into law clean energy and climate investments that will trim America’s emissions by ~1 billion metric tons by 2030

So when my <1.5 year old dehumidifier recently stopped working and I looked for a replacement, I was surprised to find the majority of portable dehumidifiers in the U.S. are only lasting a few years. They run out of freon and there is no way to recharge them. It seems these manufacturers are focused on selling as many dehumidifiers as they can without caring about the repercussions their product design / lifespan has on the planet. Why do I say this? Many of these dehumidifiers will end up in landfills or burned (for the towns whose trash goes to incinerators) because many consumers either lack the knowledge to take them to an electronic recycling event, or they would rather throw them out than take the time and effort to recycle them.

As change agents / leaders we’re frequently focused on continuously improving a product or service. As you think about the product or service you’re working on or responsible for, ask yourself the below questions and see how much is your product or service being designed with the environment in mind. If the answer is not much, what can you do to change this and further help the U.S. or your country reduce its carbon footprint (i.e. greenhouse gases generated by our actions)?

How Much do You Take Progress for Granted?

How Much do You Take Progress for Granted?

Many in the U.S. are understandably feeling very disappointed in the Supreme Court’s recent decisions to:

  • Overturn Roe v. Wade which provided a federal constitutional right to an abortion for almost 50 years

  • Loosen limits on carrying guns in public in New York State where a law had been existence for over 100 years

  • Remove the Environmental Protection Agency’s ability to regulate carbon emissions from power plants which they have done for the last seven years

The disappointment is because these decisions are taking the U.S. backwards to a time in the past. All examples of the Supreme Court majority advocating for the past.

As change agents and leaders, many of us have seen when new leadership comes in, how a transformation initiative that was a priority to the old guard of leadership, all of a sudden falls by the way side under new leadership. The question is, how surprised are you when this happens?

If you’re surprised when this happens, how much are you taking progress for granted? What does taking progress for granted look like?

How Often do You or Your Organization Seek the Easy Button?

How Often do You or Your Organization Seek the Easy Button?

Whether I’m working with an individual coaching client or an organization, something I see time and time again is the search for an Easy Button. For those unfamiliar with the term, an Easy Button is a button one pushes that instantly fixes your problems.

And who wouldn’t want the Easy Button? It means less work, less energy, and less brain power to deal with the problem when perhaps you’re already feeling exhausted and drained. Whether the Easy Button you’re looking for is a:

  • Quick fix to a long standing challenge in the organization or your family

  • Material object or activity to make unwanted feelings disappear

  • Easy solution to stop a well established, undesirable behavior / habit

  • Pill to make the illness / disease go away

  • Switch to go from feeling unconfident to confident

The question is, how often do you or your organization keep trying to find the Easy Button for a challenge? What if the Easy Button you are seeking is a fairytale (i.e. an instant fix doesn’t actually exist)? Click below for an example of the Easy Button vs. reality, and ask yourself these questions to see if you’re caught in the Easy Button Trap.

How Well do you Weather Storms?

How Well do you Weather Storms?

Who knew two months later I’d be writing about a toilet again. On Sep 26th I went into my basement to find a sewage flood had occurred in the laundry room sometime that weekend. Unfortunately it had seeped into the carpeting the prior homeowners had installed in the adjacent basement living room. The same carpeting with asbestos tiles underneath I was planning to remediate down the road. So much for that plan.

As change agents we’re frequently making plans, whether it’s a plan for how to manage a change / continuous improvement in an organization, or a plan for something in our personal life. Undoubtedly something ends up going awry at some point with the plan.

Sometimes it’s a small interruption that simply ends up being a pebble along the way. And other times, it’s quite the storm that shows up and completely blows away the plan like my sewage flood. The question is, how well do you weather these storms? Read on to see what my sewage flood “storm" has entailed and reflect on how well would you have handled this storm?

How Well do you Apologize?

How Well do you Apologize?

How often does the below happen when you apologize to someone?

  • The person has their arms crossed

  • You receive an eye roll from the person

  • The person says nothing or they get upset

  • A big exasperated sigh escapes the person’s lips

  • The person has a look of irritation on their face

If you’re a change agent / leader and the above frequently happens when you apologize, whether it’s in your professional or personal life, it’s time to admit to yourself, you could improve how you say I’m sorry. Especially if you’ve been doing any of the below when apologizing:

  • Explaining why you did what you did

  • Defending your actions or making excuses

  • Following the words “I’m sorry” with the word “but”

  • Not actually feeling remorseful

  • Neglecting to ask how you can make it up to the person

Read on for what you’re actually doing if any of the first four items above fit, and how you can effectively apologize going forward.

How Much Sisu do you Have?

How Much Sisu do you Have?

Watching the Covid numbers rise once again across the country, and talking to many people who feel they’re on an emotional rollercoaster during this pandemic, a word I recently learned comes to mind. That word is sisu (pronounced see’-soo). According to finlandia.edu, “Sisu is a Finnish term that can be roughly translated into English as strength of will, determination, perseverance, and acting rationally in the face of adversity.” Sisu is the quality that lets the Finnish people pick themselves up, learn something from previous failures, and overcome adversity.

Reflecting back 15 years ago to when I was consulting in Finland, I now realize the invitation an American coworker and I received from a Finnish colleague to jump in the ocean in the dead of winter (i.e. ice swim) and then sauna, is one of the ways for the Finnish people to demonstrate and / or build up their sisu, in addition to being a way to address the winter blues. My American colleague and I both politely declined the offer as we were both quite content to stay warm indoors. And if I had known then what I know now about sisu, I may have made a different choice.

As change agents and leaders, we can frequently encounter challenges, setbacks, and adversity at work. Encountering so much adversity in our personal life however may or may not be familiar. Now that you know what sisu is, which of the below describes your sisu when it comes to adversity at work? How about in your personal life?

Be Seen, Be Heard, Be Effective in Bringing about Change