While everyone is emerging from the pandemic in slightly different ways, we are all wary of change, and as a result, may be afraid of moving too quickly. But one thing we (hopefully) have learned is that the cost of delay can be significant. In her July 6 “Your Best Next Move” video, Bobbie LaPorte shares a simple tip to help leaders get started again…and leverage “small wins” to fuel transformative change.
“YOUR BEST NEXT MOVE: START SMALL…BUT SMART, WITH SMALL WINS”
Hi, everyone. Bobbie LaPorte here again with my weekly tips for “Your Best Next Move,” where I help you have more agency in your work, acknowledge your capacity to act, and see what you can do right now.
[I know it’s July fourth and it’s summertime, but if you live in San Francisco, you know that this is one of the coldest times of the year. So I’m sitting here with the heater on and a fleece top, and it’s drizzling outside. And I would love to be back in Lake Tahoe, where it’s sunny and warm. All right, forgive me for that little side conversation.]
So I’ve been talking recently in these tips about how, while we’re all coming out of the pandemic in some way, many of us are in different places, transitioning from one phase to the next. But there is one thing I do see in common. We are all change-weary, feeling depleted, with nothing more to give. We desperately want to return to a normal routine…minus all the uncertainty, stress, anxiety, and instability we’ve all felt for the last 15 months.
I get it. Really, I do get it. We all want to feel like we’re back in the game. We all want to feel excited to work again on special initiatives, to feel fully engaged with our teams, to see our businesses moving forward and thriving, as all successful and ambitious leaders do. Of course, we all want this.
But the magnitude of it all just seems like too much for most of us right now. So we wait. We stall taking action. We observe others to see if they make the first move. We’re afraid we will be seen as unfeeling, unempathetic towards others. If we try to move too quickly or too decisively, or take aggressive action, we’ll launch some bold new initiative and then not have enough energy or resources to follow through.
But if we’ve learned anything during the pandemic, it’s that the cost of delay can be significant, given the pace of change we’re continuing to see.
So what do you do?
Well, here’s my tip:
Start in your own corner of the world with what you can control and influence. It may be taking the first step to repairing a relationship with a colleague or testing the idea of a new program with your team. Or soliciting some outside help with an idea you have to address an issue in your organization.
You don’t need to take on the world…just what’s right in your own backyard, so to speak.
You may have also heard me talk before about the power of small steps which lead to small wins. There’s a huge body of research that shows that small wins have enormous power. They actually have an influence disproportionate to the accomplishments of the victories themselves.
Small wins are a steady application of a small advantage. Once a small win has been accomplished, forces are set in motion that favor another small win. Small wins fuel transformative changes by leveraging tiny advantages into patterns that convince people that bigger achievements are within reach.
It’s really important, so let me say that again: Small wins fuel transformative changes by leveraging tiny advantages into patterns that convince people that bigger achievements are within reach.
So start small…but START.
I want 2021 to be a year momentum for you…one of possibility thinking, where you take advantage of the agency we sometimes forget we have. That’s my tip for this week.
I hope you enjoyed the July fourth holiday weekend. We live in a great country, and we have many things to be thankful for. All right, everyone, take care. Have a great week, and I’ll see you next Monday.