10 Jul Leadership Radar (part 2)
Types of Changes
There are many types of changes. Too many to list. But, we can group changes into buckets or categories that will guide you as you use your Leadership Radar to find changes. In addition to a large volume of change types, changes can be easy to find or identify and changes can be difficult and nearly impossible to find or identify.
Confidence that a change is the reason something gets better or worse is needed to find hidden or invisible changes. The belief that there must be something that changed is needed to find the hard to find changes.
Here are some examples of changes, grouped by ease of identification:
Easy to find changes
Statistics. These are the easiest way to find changes because they are right there on a graph! Statistics are also objective – there is no opinion with a statistic. It is either going up, flat, or going down. That simple. This is why statistics are so valuable. They are easy to see and completely accurate (without opinion). As such, they should be created for as many areas as possible AND be used all the time.
- For example, if new sales went up – what changed? Let’s find that and do more of that.
- For example, if we signed fewer contracts this month than last month – what changed? Let’s go back to what we were doing last month when we sold more contracts.
- For example, if the results of the best places to work survey (and accompanying statistics) went up – what changed? Let’s find out what changed and continue doing what we were doing and change nothing in that area.
Obvious Changes. These are changes that jump out at you if you are paying attention to your environment.
- For example, your staff does not show up for work. What changed? Find out where they are and if everything is okay.
- For example, there is a burning smell in the kitchen. What changed? Go look and make sure everything is okay.
- For example, a staff of yours is now getting twice as much done as before. What changed? Find out what they are doing that is different than before and that led to them getting more done.
- For example, there is a loud noise in the meeting room. What changed? Find out what changed and led to this noise happening.
- For example, a person is laughing and having fun. What changed? Find out what led to their laughter and increased happiness at that moment.
- For example, a person is crying. What changed? Find out what changed that led to this person crying.
- For example, a person yells or gets openly angry. What changed? Find out what changed that led to this person getting angry.
- For example, a person comes to you and tells you that they love coming to work more than any other job. What changed? Find out what they love about coming to work and what changed from the way it was before.
Subtle changes
A person’s communication level. How much they talk – how talkative they are.
- For example, if a person that is normally quiet and reserved is now outgoing and talkative– what changed? Let’s find out what changed.
A person’s mood. The emotion of the person.
- For example, if a person that is normally very happy and is now serious – what changed?
A person’s smell. The actual scent of the person.
- For example, if a person normally smells fine or not at all and now they have body odor – what changed?
A person’s accuracy. The accuracy of a person’s work.
- For example, if a person is normally not accurate and requires a bit of review, but now they are more accurate and their work does not require review – what changed?
A person’s willingness to be responsible. The person is willing to make sure that projects get done and not quit until they see that they are done.
- For example, if a person that is normally willing to help out and pitch in and make sure things get done, but now they don’t want to do it – they want someone else to run it– what changed?
A person’s work ethic. The hours a person puts in at work.
- For example, if a person normally works 60 hours a week and stops – what changed?
A person’s production level. The amount of things a person gets done at work (not tracked in a statistic).
- For example, if a person normally gets very little done and now they are getting a lot done – what changed?
A person’s weekly report. What a person makes the time to write to you each week.
- For example, if a person normally talks a lot and now talks very little – what changed?
Hidden changes.
These are the most difficult to find or detect. Here are some categories of hidden changes.
Emotional changes
- For example, emotional changes can include, but are not limited to:
- In love
- Nervous about getting married
- Wanting to be in love
- Upset, angry, frustrated, or annoyed with a co-worker, boss, or staff
- Does not like working with someone
- Marriage/relationship issues or fights
- Family issues (mom, dad, sister, brother)
- Friend issues
- Death of a loved one (person or animal/pet)
- Pregnancy
- New Child
- Staring or stopping drinking and/or smoking
- Not enjoying a project at work
Physical changes
- For example, physical changes can include, but are not limited to:
- Body is in pain
- Pregnant
- Injury
- Recurring pain
- Working out
- Losing weight
- Gaining weight
- Feeling tired
- Lack of sleep (new born or other reasons)
- Hair loss
- Old age
- Starting or stopping drinking and/or smoking
Life changes
- For example, life changes can include, but are not limited to:
- Falling in love
- Newly married
- Newly divorced
- Having a baby
- Moving
- Buying a house
- Losing a loved one
- Getting promoted
- Someone new living with them (family or friend)
- Taking care of aging parents or friends