How to leverage change into growth

It is incredible the speed at which everything is changing… Just when we think we’ve got everything under control the rules change.

Some things have got easier, like using a PC where back in the 80’s you used them basically for spreadsheets or for text documents. At this moment I am dictating straight into Word while sat in my car and it would be simple to include a picture, some audio or a video, make it a mail message and send it to anywhere in the world in the next few seconds.

But all this comes at a price, both financial and in terms of time needed to learn to use the technology. Training the voice recognition software has required time and patience (there it goes again — as instead of has – I had to type in has!) and when the new version of Windows comes out I’m sure I will have trouble training it again…

To grow we need to do things that are outside our comfort zone and to become good at anything we need to repeat it numerous times.

99% of great musicians have had to practice hour after hour to become not just skilled but exceptional. The Beatles, between 1960 and 1962 (when they became an ‘overnight’ success), performed 270 nights in clubs in just over a year and a half, playing live an estimated 1,200 sets. Occasionally there is a rare genius who can pick up an instrument and start playing straight away but most have to learn to play their instrument and take their part in a band or orchestra, just as in a company specific people have their own particular tasks that should match their skills and talents.

When things change we need to stop, step back and look at our environment, see where change might be taking us and assess whether we want to go there. I spent many hours learning computer programming in COBOL – totally useless now – but it gave me an insight into computing and how to do things patiently and methodically. The computer was always right; I was the one that had left out the full stop. It has also given me confidence around technology, made it easier to choose what I want and decide which experts I need to help me.

So what do we do when our skills and talents no longer fits with the company’s needs?

This is a golden opportunity to explore other talents and perhaps use our skills in a different way that will help us find a new place for ourselves.

To do this we might need the help of a coach so that we progress quicker and explore all options. By ourselves we could easily overvalue or undervalue some of our skills and talents and design a non-optimized plan to reach realistic but challenging goals.
Once we have found our real strengths we need to use them in doing something for which we have passion, since that is our strongest potential path to greatness.

“There is nothing wrong with change, if it is in the right direction” Winston Churchill (British statesman, 1874-1965)

“The key to change… is to let go of fear.” Rosanne Cash (American singer-songwriter and author, 1955)