“Don’t just begin with the end in mind. Begin by ending something before you start something new.” -Kari Granger
Welcome to Leadership Impact, the podcast for modern executives who are reinventing leadership within their organizations. Hosted by executive leadership coach and CEO of The Granger Network, Kari Granger, and Sound Financial Group CEO, Paul Adams, this podcast aims to address the topics of performance and leadership through real life examples. This is episode 11, our third episode of our four-part series on new futures.
In this episode, Kari and Paul talk about creating a new future amidst feelings of negativity, anger, frustration and resignation. Paul provides an example of a CEO who rolled out a new piece of technology to assist a merger between three large groups. According to Paul, in retrospect, it was a brilliant plan; however, the side effects were severe and debilitating. Kari provides insights as to what she believe went wrong. Kari talks about the importance of creating a new future by beginning with an end. When a future does not begin with a clear and distinct end of old era, people get left in no man’s land. It is imperative that their fundamental cares be taken into consideration, so they feel that they have a voice in this new future. Finally, Kari shares the strategy that she utilizes with clients who are dealing with post- merger and acquisition challenges. This ‘Era Work’ strategy starts with Kari asking simple questions to start an honest conversation in order to get to the root of the issues. By listening with the intent of understanding, Kari has been able to help clients complete the challenging era powerfully and create their new futures.
What We Covered:
00:26 – Introducing today’s topic: How to Inspire a Resigned Team
01:01 – Paul’s experience working with a CEO who merged three companies into one
02:35 – The negative side effects of the CEO’s plan
04:24 – Kari’s insights into managing the psychological transition that comes with big changes
06:01 – What Paul believes, in retrospect, was the biggest flaw of the CEO’s plan
07:02 – Why psychological transitions begin with an ending of something else
08:57 – How moods can shape our world and our actions
09:41 – Kari points out the multiple endings in Paul’s example
12:25 – The neutral zone between an old reality and a new reality
13:47 – Kari recalls working for a hospice company who had a ‘funeral’ for their old company
15:14 – The temptation to downplay the transition into a new future
16:26 – Addressing the fundamental cares of the new future
19:20 – Kari reveals the strategy of Era Work
22:13 – Paul gives his final thoughts on today’s topic
24:09 – The importance of listening with the intent of understanding
25:46 – Paul challenges the audience to begin by ending something before starting something new
Tweetables:
Links Mentioned:
Managing Transitions: Making the Most of Change
Acknowledgements:
Our work is mosaic art. We read, study, and practice many philosophies, methodologies, and modalities of human performance, to ensure that our approach best serves our clients. We would like to acknowledge all of the thought leaders and organizations, whose ground-breaking work has influenced the Granger Network approach – especially Fernando Flores, Jim Selman, Michael C. Jensen, Julio Olalla, Pluralistic Networks, The Newfield Network, and the Strozzi Institute.
In this episode, we’d especially like to thank William and Susan Bridges for their work in their book: Managing Transitions: Making the Most of Change.
Podcast production and marketing provided by FullCast.
More Leadership Impact episodes: http://grangernetwork.hexcode.ca/category/podcast
