Editor’s Note: Thought leader Grace Ueng is CEO of Savvy Growth, a noted leadership coaching and management consultancy, like WRALTechwire, celebrating its 20th anniversary. Grace writes a regular column on Happiness & Leadership for us. A TED speaker, she is hired to facilitate team building retreats and HappinessWork programs.
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RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK – In recent years, I have grown increasingly focused on how to create lasting change. I’m sure that is common for folks in the final decades of their career.
Lasting Change
Over the last two decades of running Savvy Growth, I have been told that the value through our consulting process does indeed create lasting change. Last month, a CEO of a venture backed technology company that engaged us to do a strategic review sent me a video telling me how valuable our work was for his company. His EVP of Sales and Marketing then shared:
“Grace – you bring extraordinary value to your engagements and have brought sustaining insights to our business. Thanks to you and Richard.”
Creating lasting change is what makes our consulting work worthwhile.
Honeymoon effect is common. Transformational Change is not.
In giving motivational keynotes and conducting workshops, I often see teams inspired and motivated immediately upon the session experience. However, what matters even more to me is how much they will change after they go back to their day to day. I strive to assign cohorts and schedule accountability check-ins. While I cannot force the hard work to take place in between our meetings, I can structure a process to give this work every chance to see the light.
My happiness teacher, Tal Ben Shahar, the creator of Harvard’s most popular course ever on this topic, reminds us that transformational change is rare. He shared this quote from Peter Senge, seminal thinker in organizational behavior and lecturer at MIT Sloan School:
“When I look at efforts to create change in big companies over the past 10 years, I have to say that there’s enough evidence of success to say that change is possible
– and enough evidence of failure to say that it isn’t likely.
Both of those lessons are important.”
Grace Ueng (Photo by Christer Berg)
Research shows that in most leadership development programs:
- A certain percentage don’t connect and therefore, there is no change.
- The majority, however, do experience a temporary change, known as the “honeymoon effect.” While these individuals are initially touched by the information, the “high” does not last.
- The minority of the time there is lasting change – these participants experience a sustained higher baseline, and they and their teams experience transformation.
What’s Hope Got to do with it? Will Power & Way Power
Having experienced a fifteen year struggle with chronic pain, positive psychologist Rick Snyder was fascinated by the concepts of hope and forgiveness and published six books on Hope Theory and 262 articles about the impact of hope on work and life. His work shows how
hope is a critical component of how confident we are, how happy we are, and ultimately how successful we are. See my post: Never Give Up Hope.
His book The Psychology of Hope explores two aspects concerning people’s ability to shape their futures.
- Will Power – the person’s desire to succeed and reach a particular end.
- Way Power – the person’s creating a path to succeed to reach a particular end.
When I suffered from my severe depressive episode, my psychiatrist and psychologist both told me I needed to focus on getting well in the city I had moved to, even though I was quite sure one of the reasons I had fallen into this dark place was from my relocation. I had a huge desire to create an option C of sorts that no one else saw. I went back to the buyer of my old home and asked him if I could buy it back. And this was in the midst of an extremely difficult housing market when almost all homes were purchased sight unseen with multiple offers. But I wanted to create a way to get back to where I knew I would be happier. I had the ability to see new ways to shape my future into a better place.
It is of utmost importance to believe that change is possible.
For years, I’ve had a goal to run faster. My son joked the other day and said his dad told him that decades ago when we went running, his dad would have to circle back around twice for each loop I ran. These days, I like to say that I am happy in a race if I double my son’s pace! While I am genetically not made to run fast, nonetheless I still would like to run faster.
So I’ve had the willpower, but have been unsure of my waypower, of how to get there.
After my depression, my baseline for running was even lower than before as my jog had slowed to a walk. Knowing that just my sheer desire to run faster would only take me so far, in the new year, I signed up for a 5K and put myself on a 7 week training plan. I matched my will to run faster with a way to run faster with a researched plan!
4 Steps to Transformational Change
Many organizations want change. How can this change last and lead to transformation? First, real, grounded hope is essential. As well as these 4 steps:
Transformational Change Model
- Fit – there has to be a good match between the goal and a change approach, both of which ideally build on one’s strengths.
- Hard Work – “Genius is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration.” Inventor Thomas Edison knew from his own experience that the systematic hard work of trial-and-error experimentation paid off.
- Guidance – this can come from a teacher, coach, book, or program. Let’s say there are 2 identically talented and passionate people who both put in 5 hours/day of playing tennis. The only difference is that one works with a competent coach to advise on strategy, proven strength exercises, and techniques. In all likelihood, the person with the coach will far outperform the one who practices on his own. This is why I chose in my piano restart to study weekly with a piano teacher with strong credentials who is also a good fit.
- Belief that change is possible – having a growth versus a fixed mindset. Research shows that merely learning about neuroplasticity, to understand the working of the brain and how it can indeed change for the better, was enough for subjects to think that change was possible for themselves.
Why is it that very shortly after Roger Bannister broke the 4 minute mile barrier, so many others broke that same barrier? For hundreds of years, the world thought this speed was impossible. Bannister showed the way that a 4 minute mile is indeed possible!
Last, but not least, to enjoy lasting change: create new habits one or two at a time
The Keys to Lasting Change
Have the motivation AND give yourself the time and space to create new habits:
- Time – it takes 21 days to create a new habit. Give yourself 30 days.
- Space – less is more. Focus on just 1 or 2 new habits at a time. Spreading your motivation over too many goals is a recipe for failure.
“Incremental change is better than ambitious failure…success feeds on itself.” –
Jim Loer and Tony Schwartz, leading performance psychologist for elite athletes and corporate consultant
About Grace Ueng
Grace is CEO of Savvy Growth, a leadership coaching and management consultancy founded in 2003. Her great passion to help leaders and the companies they run achieve their fullest potential combined with her empathy and ability to help leaders figure out their “why” are what clients value most.
Companies hire her firm for leadership coaching and strategy consulting as well as to facilitate HappinessWorks™ programs, infusing the happiness advantage into corporate culture, leading to higher productivity and results.
A marketing strategist, Grace held leadership roles at five high growth technology ventures that successfully exited through acquisition or IPO. She started her career at Bain & Company and then worked in brand management at Clorox and General Mills. She earned her undergraduate degree from MIT and MBA from Harvard Business School.
Grace and her partner, Rich Chleboski, accomplished cleantech veteran, develop and implement strategies to support the growth of impact-focused companies and then coach their leaders in carrying out their strategic plans. Their expertise spans all phases of the business from evaluation through growth and liquidity.
