One of the critical factors for success in a leader’s career is continuous personal change. As the saying goes, nothing is more permanent than continuous change. Many of us find it hard to believe that adjusting our styles and skills as demanded by the VUCA (volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous) world is necessary.
It is perhaps worth recalling what Jack Welch said many years ago: “Change before you have to”. Or, as W Edwards Deming put it, back in 1900: “It is not necessary to change. Survival is not mandatory.”
Everything we know — our markets, our competition, our customers and even our employee demographics — are changing. These changes are disruptive and discontinuous. Failure to take note of them has proved suicidal to organisations and individual leaders.
Similarly, many careers have gone through difficult times because the individuals concerned have refused to see the writing on the wall and failed to implement changes in time.
A simple model for managing personal change can be explained with the acronym: PACE.
P for Preserving
This obviously means we must examine what we need to preserve. Simple examples include working hard besides working smart, and adhering to timeless values that guide our lives at work and outside, such as collaboration, sharing for common good, and the like.
A for Accepting
We learn to accept what we cannot change. The trick here is to differentiate between what we cannot change and what we do not want to change. Elevating the latter to the former is plain gaming and will not help.
A good example for what we may accept is the speed and ferocity with which technological and sociological changes are impacting our way of working. It is not only wise to accept these changes, but equally important to respond to them in time
C for Changing
This is the most significant part of the equation we are talking about. For example, in dealing with the millennial generation that is occupying our office cubicles today, we need to dramatically change our belief systems and managerial styles with which we intend to manage them.
Prof Gary Hamel warned us that, in many places and organisations, we still notice managers from 20st century using 18st century management practices and paradigms to manage the 21st century workforce. Obviously, this is going to backfire and prove expensive. It is therefore important to continuously assess our beliefs, styles and thought processes to ensure they are relevant for the current reality. If not, it is critical to change them to make them relevant.
E for Eliminating
This is again closely connected with the personal change process we are talking about. There are a whole lot of habits that need urgent attention and removal from our routines.
Dr Marshall Goldsmith, the celebrated Executive Coach, contributed significantly to our understanding of habits that can derail an otherwise successful executive by focusing on over 20 habits that need correction, in his best-selling book What got you here won’t get you there.
This is a must grab for anyone keen on personal change. A well-constructed 360-degree feedback processes can help identify and zero in on the habits we all must eliminate.
Therefore, as we go about building a successful career, it pays to stop and reflect at regular intervals on how we can prepare ourselves for the future by adopting this simple but powerful PACE exercise.
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