Leadership is a Contact Sport: Change and Follow up

If a tree falls in the forest and no one hears it fall, did it make a sound? This is the general conundrum behind why it is critical that you take the next two steps of the Leadership Is a Contact Sport behavioral change model very seriously. You’ve absolutely got to do them or this whole process just isn’t going to work. So, what are they? They are involve and change.

Involving is like advertising. You have to tell everyone exactly in what area you plan to change. You’ve said you’re sorry, you’ve apologized for the behavior, now you’re going to tell people you’re going to do something about it. This is a tough one, because it’s a lot harder to change people’s perceptions of your behavior than it is to change your behavior. That’s because people view you in accordance with their existing stereotype.

For example, if you think I’m an arrogant jerk, then everything you do, think, or feel about me, will be filtered through that perception. Within this framework, it’s almost impossible for me to be perceived by you as improving, no matter how hard I try. But! (This is the case of “But” being a really good word to use, despite the previously described, “No, But, However” bad habit discussed in my Teaching Leaders What to Stop series.)

Anyway, your odds of being perceived as getting better greatly improve if you tell people you are going to try to change. Suddenly your efforts are on their radar screens. If you tell everyone how hard you are trying and repeat the message week…