On today’s episode of No Bullshit with Alex Willis, Alex will make sure you understand that old dogs can indeed learn new tricks, and he will show you some strategies designed to assist you and your team as you face your next big change. By the end of all our segments, you’ll know why a herd of cattle will run away from an impending storm, while a herd of buffalo will run towards it.
Think back to the last time you went through a big change. Whether it was the last time you moved homes, when you married your partner, or your last promotion, you most likely experienced some levels of stress or growing pains as a result. And that’s okay, change is hard…for everyone.
On today’s episode of No Bullshit with Alex Willis, Alex will make sure you understand that old dogs can indeed learn new tricks, and he will show you some strategies designed to assist you and your team as you face your next big change. By the end of all our segments, you’ll know why a herd of cattle will run away from an impending storm, while a herd of buffalo will run towards it.
In our third segment, The Foundation, Alex showcases the final steps along The Change Curve. You’ll also be challenged to think of the last time you had to go through any type of big change in your life. Using this example, Alex will walk you through the Circles of Change, which represent the stages we overcome in order to grow.
Tune into our final segment, The Frame Out, where we come full circle, and find out why cattle run away from the impending storm, and why buffalo run towards it. It might be surprising to find out who actually gets rained on the most. Hopefully by the end of the episode, you’ll know which herd you want to belong to.
Be sure to subscribe wherever you get your podcasts as well as the YouTube channel to watch full video episodes and be notified as soon as the next episode is live.
Helpful Links
[00:00:00] Alex Willis: Hey, what's up guys? Welcome back to episode 10 where we are talking about change management and what you as a leader can do. For yourself as well as your team to make sure you get the maximum benefit from change. Quickly. Quickly. So in in our first two segments, we really dove into some of the principles about change.
[00:00:29] Alex Willis: We talked about how to get a quick ROI on change. In our last segment, we really jumped into. Starting to talk about this thing called the change curve, right? In those first three segments of the change curve you have to master in order to start really seeing benefit from it. Now, I'm not gonna go over that in this segment.
[00:00:45] Alex Willis: You have to go back to the level to check that out because those are some things hard times you're going to have to go through with change. And you need the techniques to know how to do that. And we talked about that in that segment. Now in this segment, we're gonna cap off the change curve to talk about that last piece.
[00:01:02] Alex Willis: Finally, you've gone through the dip, you've gone through low performance, you had people trying it out, and now all of a sudden it's like a hockey stick. Woo. It takes off my friends, and this is what we like to call the acceptance phase, right? The acceptance phase. Now, what will you see in the acceptance phase?
[00:01:19] Alex Willis: Well, here's what you're gonna see. You're gonna see people actually accepting the chain. No longer will you hear the grumblings anymore, my friends. It's as if. They never doubted you in the first place. I know as a leader, that shit is difficult. I know my friends, but you have to hold your cool here because you're gonna see them accepting the change.
[00:01:38] Alex Willis: You're gonna see 'em future oriented. They're thinking about what else they can implement, how they could do it. They're self-efficient. At this stage because they've accepted it, because they're doing it now. They know it and they mastered and they like actually like it, right? As well as they're very, very confident.
[00:01:53] Alex Willis: Very confident with this right here, so, so what will you hear? What will you hear in this stage as a leader? You're going to hear, I can contribute more. I. Because ideally the change, freed them up in some kind of way, shape, or form, be it a process, be it a tool or whatever. You're gonna hear them say, let's get on with it, right?
[00:02:10] Alex Willis: Let's get this implemented in more areas. So they're going to have to actually start trying to drive the change instead of you having to pull them, actually, they're going to take it and run with it right now, right? As well as you'll hear them being really, really confident and prepared for whatever comes up.
[00:02:27] Alex Willis: So, In this stage, what do you need to do? What do you need to do as a leader? Well, a few. Think number one, you need to provide guidance and support as well as recognition, guidance, and support and recognition. Oftentimes, this is where leaders drop the ball. You've gone through the lows, and you're finally at a high production as well, and you're like, oh, we're done.
[00:02:46] Alex Willis: On to the next. No, my friends, pump your brakes. You have to provide guidance, support, and recognition. This is when you are the biggest cheerleader ever. You have to cheer 'em on, push 'em, right? What else? Well, you have to provide frequent feedback and progress, right? Because they're doing it, they're implementing, but hey, they need to hear from you.
[00:03:06] Alex Willis: You need to reassure them, reaffirm what's going on. You need to establish performance levels because understand, this is a new behavior, right? So, so understand I can come in and just do something and so I'm doing it. I don't know. Is this at the top level of this new behavior or am I at the bottom level?
[00:03:25] Alex Willis: They don't know yet because it's just been implemented. So all of a sudden now, you as a leader have to implement new behavior standards for the new process, right? To say, oh, oh no. Hey, this is what a 10 looks like in this new behavior. This is what a one looks like, so that they understand how to gauge it and measure it for themselves with that right there, right?
[00:03:45] Alex Willis: You have to provide leadership and less information, but more inspiration, right? It's in this point here that you really begin to lead, lead, and guide, giving them freedom. And letting them go so that they could begin to tinkle with this thing and have a good time with it. Right? And then last but not least, you have to be an advocate and truly be an assistant right to them and let 'em get it done.
[00:04:07] Alex Willis: Now, if you can begin to do that, my friends, it's here in this acceptance stage that you'll begin to see maximum benefit people taking off. And once that happens, all of a sudden, this is when that change becomes integrated into the culture, it becomes sustainable and all of a sudden, The only way is viewed as, ugh, why would we ever do that again?
[00:04:32] Alex Willis: But understand, there's a process you have to be willing to go through to push to get to this point. And if you could begin to do that, you can truly have a phenomenal team. As you push through it for a second. I want you to think about something. I want you to think about the last major change you went through.
[00:04:49] Alex Willis: What was it? What was the last major change you went through and how did you handle it? How did you get through it? Right? Oftentimes, if we can think of that, be it technology, be it family, be it neighborhood, be it moving. I think the last big, big, big change I went through was moving here to Illinois, right?
[00:05:07] Alex Willis: So think about that. My first, I moved from sunny Florida to Illinois, never living in, in snow in my life to, holy shit, I gotta drive to work in a snow storm. How do I do that right there, right change, right? So I was, I had to be patient. I had to really enjoy the process of learning. I had to look for opportunities to learn.
[00:05:30] Alex Willis: I had to change my mindset as I went through that, right? And oftentimes, those are some things you're going to have to do. So as you think about this, I wanna give you a broad approach to what I like to call these circles you're going to go through as you implement this change. And number one is this.
[00:05:44] Alex Willis: Here's why most people don't like change, because we like comfort. Most people prefer comfort over discomfort. Please understand change is always uncomfortable. So if you can think about it from a circle standpoint, there's this comfort zone, and most people never leave that comfort zone because it feels cozy, it feels good, but you don't grow if you stay there.
[00:06:05] Alex Willis: But here's the deal, as soon as you leave out of the comfort zone, you go to the next zone, which is the fear zone. Holy shit. It's like, I've never been here before. I don't have the skills. I've never done this before. What's going to happen to me, right? So you have to understand for yourself as well as for your people, you go from comfort immediately to fear, which is why most people never are willing to do it.
[00:06:28] Alex Willis: Or if they do, they dip their foot in there and they immediately jump back into fear. Now, if you could push forward, you go from comfort to fear to what I like to call the learning zone. All of a sudden, I'm in this zone where, you know what? This isn't too bad. I, I'm learning some new skills. It's still difficult, but I'm getting to test some things out, figuring some things out.
[00:06:47] Alex Willis: And then if you can stay there long enough, you go to that next zone, which is the growth zone where man, you have new goals, new inspiration, new levels of things that you're going after. Now here's the crazy part about this, my friend, if you are on this, make it Happen Lifestyle, make awesome happen lifestyle.
[00:07:07] Alex Willis: You are going to find yourself in this zone your entire life. Going from zone to zone to zone, right? Going from comfort to fear, to learning, to growth, back to comfort again. Because understand, once you grow and you do it long enough, all of a sudden now you're comfortable again. You're like, uh, I know this process.
[00:07:27] Alex Willis: So I challenge myself. I challenge leaders that I work with to understand this is a looping cycle. When you begin to get comfortable again, it's time for you to push yourself and challenge yourself again to get out of that comfort zone. Now, in order to do that, you have to master two things, and, and this is these two mindsets that people tend to have, and this is a growth mindset and a fixed mindset.
[00:07:49] Alex Willis: Now, in order to continually get better in life, you have to have a growth mindset. Now I wanna share a couple things. So, so understand if you have a growth mindset, here's what one thing that a growth mindset does, a growth mindset. Failure is an opportunity to grow with a growth mindset. So you're never like, oh, this is the end.
[00:08:07] Alex Willis: No, no, no. Oh man, oh, I got a chance. I can grow now and learn right now. Now. But a fixed mindset on the other side, failure is the limit of my abilities. I'll never be able to do that. My kids will tell you the number one thing that pisses me off if they do or say is I can't do it. Yeah. I tell them I can't do it yet.
[00:08:29] Alex Willis: I make them put a yet on everything. Be it math, be it working out, be it hitting a home run, be it kicking a soccer ball. I can't do it yet. Why? Because you have to begin to talk to your brain in this change process. If you don't realize that, my friends, you'll find yourself in this fixed mindset.
[00:08:47] Alex Willis: Constantly staying where you are never being willing to get outta that comfort zone because you're not willing to get uncomfortable. Right. So here's the deal. In our last segment, we're gonna really begin to unpack several items I need you thinking about with your teams, especially at work. That you need to think about as you implement change for them, right?
[00:09:12] Alex Willis: Oftentimes we implement change. We don't think about the impact that it has. So in our last segment, in the frame out, we're gonna frame out what you should look at, questions you should ask before you even rule out a change. So I look forward to seeing you in our next segment. The frame out. Hey, I want to thank you again for tuning in to No Bullshit with Alex Willis, the number one go-to source for leadership development in the construction industry, my friends, and don't forget to hit play on that next segment.