Stop Doing What Works

While it appears to break the number 1 rule of ‘continue to do what works’ – it’s the only way to take yourself to the next level.

Working with Leaders is incredibly inspiring and also sometimes frustrating ( I do like a bit of frustration – it keeps me on my toes).

A huge problem that leaders face is the ability to let go of what works and then inspire and encourage others to do the same.

In my role as a leadership coach I often find that leaders hold onto their past success too much.

They attach their identity to past success, when they were CEO of a particular organisation or when the delivered the 200 Million project or when they took the company from 10 people to 1000 people.

All amazing achievements… but all past achievements.

Part of my job is to help leaders find their power and use it to move forward. Finding their power is reasonably easy, moving forward – not so.

If it’s not broke, why fix it?

The biggest challenge is getting them to look at what’s working and drop it. If it’s already working, the chances are it was conceived and built for customers and a marketplace that existed in the past. When you use processes and techniques that worked in the past and keep using them to take you in to the future it’s a sign that you are misguided, out of date, stagnant and indeed I hate to say it, lazy !

I know these are strong words but come on – look around, look at the speed of innovation.

Speed of Innovation

It used to take 10 years to arrive at a world changing idea and 10 years to have that idea adopted globally. We call this 10:10. In 2005, thanks to YouTube, the speed increased dramatically to 1:1 and since then the speed has continued to increase. When you think about how quickly the ‘Ice Bucket Challenge’ was adopted around the globe – really we are talking about 24 hours for it to go viral.

Why stop doing what works ?

Because it allows you make it better, more current, more relevant, it takes it up a level

I believe When you stop changing what works, you stop changing!

Part of the challenge is the separation anxiety from what works. After all it works, it meets with approval, it’s been proven, its already accepted.

Stepping up to the next level means stepping away from your current one.

News Flash : Old thinking in a new normal doesn’t work.

Why are we so anxious about letting go what works ?

Mostly because there is a comfort level with what works and if you have been the creator or leader of what works it’s even more difficult.

It means your success is stale, in business today – stale success stinks.

Our past success supports our confidence and we should continually bank it as an acknowledgement of our ability to succeed. Our future success is where it’s at. Its where we continually grow and get inspired and stay alive, give it a go.