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530. From Change to Improvement: The SMART Way to Meaningful Growth · Daily Influence

• 0:10
  [SPEAKER_00]: Welcome to the daily influence where our mission is to deliver a daily dose of positive influence that can uplift you personally or be shared within your sphere of influence.
• 0:20
  [SPEAKER_00]: While not every episode may directly apply to your unique circumstances, we strive to provide insights and inspiration relevant to most people's daily, weekly, and monthly lives.
• 0:30
  [SPEAKER_00]: Whether you are tuning in during the morning, noon or night, the daily influence is here for you.
• 0:36
  [SPEAKER_00]: Listen, share, and embrace the power of influence in your life.
• 0:40
  [SPEAKER_00]: Hey everybody, Brian Smith here with the IM team series and your daily influence.
• 0:46
  [SPEAKER_00]: And today, we are going to talk about change and how not all change is improvement, but all improvement is changed, which is why we at the IM team series ended IA business advisors.
• 1:00
  [SPEAKER_00]: Like to change that narrative as early as we can when we're talking about what's commonly known as change management or change initiatives, we prefer to call them improvement initiatives or improvement management.
• 1:15
  [SPEAKER_00]: And the difference is that often, well, first of all, humans just don't inherently adapt to or like change.
• 1:23
  [SPEAKER_00]: We kind of like where we're at when we've chosen to be somewhere.
• 1:27
  [SPEAKER_00]: We get comfortable.
• 1:28
  [SPEAKER_00]: We have our habits.
• 1:29
  [SPEAKER_00]: We have our comfort zones.
• 1:30
  [SPEAKER_00]: We have our areas of influence where we feel secure.
• 1:33
  [SPEAKER_00]: And whenever change is introduced, it can be stressful.
• 1:39
  [SPEAKER_00]: And that includes any kind of change.
• 1:41
  [SPEAKER_00]: Even change that we're trying to do for ourselves.
• 1:43
  [SPEAKER_00]: It's why New Year's resolutions don't succeed more often than they do.
• 1:49
  [SPEAKER_00]: It's why goals fail, even if we plan them in like we like to say in a smart way, planning smart and changing smart and improving smarter all very different things.
• 2:02
  [SPEAKER_00]: And it takes me first to make sure that you are
• 2:06
  [SPEAKER_00]: intentional in what it is you're trying to change what it is you want to improve and put it in that positive like this is an improvement align that change with a purpose what is the end result supposed to be?
• 2:22
  [SPEAKER_00]: In visualization helps, but when you yourself understand the improvement that you'll reach, when your team understands that, when you are intentional about the influence that you're going to have during the improvement program, it brings a better chance for positive result.
• 2:40
  [SPEAKER_00]: And by the way, not all change can bring the positive results.
• 2:45
  [SPEAKER_00]: There are unintended consequences if we don't plan it correctly.
• 2:48
  [SPEAKER_00]: If we don't have a clear purpose, we may digress, we may end up somewhere where we don't want to be and it can lead to confusion, it can lead to setbacks.
• 2:58
  [SPEAKER_00]: So one of the things we like to do is don't just use smart to set it up, use it for everything.
• 3:06
  [SPEAKER_00]: Smart is not a goal setting tool.
• 3:09
  [SPEAKER_00]: It is a framework for everything we do as humans.
• 3:12
  [SPEAKER_00]: It starts with smart communication and then smart objectives and then smart strategies and smart tactics.
• 3:19
  [SPEAKER_00]: We can apply smart specific measurable attainable relevant timely to everything in evaluating what it is we're trying to improve and
• 3:28
  [SPEAKER_00]: Whether that change truly serves either your own or the organizational objectives.
• 3:35
  [SPEAKER_00]: And you can ask, is it aligned with our values with our mission?
• 3:39
  [SPEAKER_00]: Is it going to contradict us?
• 3:41
  [SPEAKER_00]: Is it going to make us digress or veer away from our values or our mission?
• 3:46
  [SPEAKER_00]: And does my actions do the tactics move us closer to meaningful improvement?
• 3:53
  [SPEAKER_00]: And what does that look like at the end?
• 3:56
  [SPEAKER_00]: And that's the measurement part.
• 3:58
  [SPEAKER_00]: It's not just an activity.
• 4:01
  [SPEAKER_00]: It is something to be tracked and to understand as you're on that journey from where you started to where you think
• 4:09
  [SPEAKER_00]: You want to be, what does that improvement look like?
• 4:12
  [SPEAKER_00]: Can you improve gradually?
• 4:14
  [SPEAKER_00]: Is it going to be dramatic?
• 4:15
  [SPEAKER_00]: Is it going to be a hundred and eighty degree flip or is it going to be a gradual pivot through the degrees to you get to where you want to be?
• 4:26
  [SPEAKER_00]: We really emphasize in our work that sustainable growth requires reflection and accountability.
• 4:33
  [SPEAKER_00]: If you're not looking at the path behind you just once in a while to see those unintended consequences to see how the ripple effect of your influence
• 4:44
  [SPEAKER_00]: is leaving people and engaging people and altering the influence that they have on their work, on their communication, on their results.
• 4:53
  [SPEAKER_00]: If you're not doing that in an active and fluid way, then you're not being smart using the smart framework along the way will help keep
• 5:00
  [SPEAKER_00]: you focused, keep you on the path.
• 5:03
  [SPEAKER_00]: It'll allow if you are thoughtful and intentional about it, to digress when you need to.
• 5:08
  [SPEAKER_00]: Those are called exceptions, or there might be a change.
• 5:11
  [SPEAKER_00]: You might have a strategy change.
• 5:13
  [SPEAKER_00]: You might find a new tactic away along the way that is more efficient than engages people better or communicates better, but if you're not measuring along the way in an intentional manner and being smart about that, you'll miss those things.
• 5:29
  [SPEAKER_00]: Things will fall through the
• 5:31
  [SPEAKER_00]: And are we tracking the outcomes or are we just looking at them?
• 5:36
  [SPEAKER_00]: Are we actually understanding those measurements?
• 5:40
  [SPEAKER_00]: How they influence us?
• 5:41
  [SPEAKER_00]: How they influence our team?
• 5:42
  [SPEAKER_00]: How they influence the journey?
• 5:44
  [SPEAKER_00]: How they influence our ability to be attainable and stay relevant?
• 5:51
  [SPEAKER_00]: And are they
• 5:53
  [SPEAKER_00]: I can't even the way of timeliness.
• 5:55
  [SPEAKER_00]: So identifying those benefits as you move through the improvement program is really important.
• 6:04
  [SPEAKER_00]: It will also keep you energized.
• 6:05
  [SPEAKER_00]: As you see results that are positive, then you can get energized.
• 6:10
  [SPEAKER_00]: It makes you want to stay on the path that makes you want to implement the improvement program.
• 6:16
  [SPEAKER_00]: And lastly, it is that
• 6:19
  [SPEAKER_00]: When we approach these initiatives in our lives, whatever it is, change should be relevant in tied to your needs.
• 6:29
  [SPEAKER_00]: And if they are, they make you more resilient.
• 6:33
  [SPEAKER_00]: And being resilient as an individual or within our teams is really important as leaders.
• 6:39
  [SPEAKER_00]: It's amazingly important because we're gonna have setbacks.
• 6:42
  [SPEAKER_00]: We're gonna miss the mark.
• 6:43
  [SPEAKER_00]: We're gonna be held accountable.
• 6:45
  [SPEAKER_00]: And when we approach the improvement change, when we approach this in a smart way, it gives us a foundation to be resilient.
• 6:55
  [SPEAKER_00]: It allows us to not ignore or to stop ignoring current environments, context, the things that get thrown at us out of left field, right field, the surprises, the exceptions.
• 7:11
  [SPEAKER_00]: And it allows us to say focused on what our improvements are, what they're supposed to do and how we're getting there.
• 7:18
  [SPEAKER_00]: And they allow us to adapt in a very smart way.
• 7:22
  [SPEAKER_00]: And if we get off the track, we need to slow down, take a moment, take a breath, understand where we got off.
• 7:30
  [SPEAKER_00]: Was it because of digression?
• 7:32
  [SPEAKER_00]: Was it because of an exception?
• 7:34
  [SPEAKER_00]: Was it because of a whole new direction?
• 7:36
  [SPEAKER_00]: And then we have to hit the reset button.
• 7:39
  [SPEAKER_00]: Rinse and repeat, start over.
• 7:42
  [SPEAKER_00]: And that may seem too tedious, too difficult.
• 7:46
  [SPEAKER_00]: But without it, we end up being individuals or teams who don't fulfill our objectives.
• 7:54
  [SPEAKER_00]: And we make it part way.
• 7:56
  [SPEAKER_00]: And there are a lot of organizations, there are a lot of people who make it part way.
• 8:02
  [SPEAKER_00]: And sometimes that's enough.
• 8:04
  [SPEAKER_00]: But the difference is do you want that to be enough or do you want to reach the ultimate objectives that you've set for yourself and your organization?
• 8:12
  [SPEAKER_00]: Building resilience using smart and building resilience converting change to improvement is one of the best ways that we can help ourselves and our teams grow.
• 8:26
  [SPEAKER_00]: So I would encourage you, don't just embrace smart, but embrace within smart, specific things that can help you to elevate and motivate yourself and your team using new words like improvement instead of change.
• 8:43
  [SPEAKER_00]: Creating pauses, creating opportunities for self-accountability and team accountability within a structure that makes sense in that everybody agrees to.
• 8:53
  [SPEAKER_00]: And when we do that, improvement comes together, not just individually, but together, that we will recharge objectives, those goals that we set, and we will do it in a way that we understand, that we could measure,
• 9:07
  [SPEAKER_00]: and that we can enjoy that will lead us to the next set of improvements again.
• 9:13
  [SPEAKER_00]: I hope you've had a great listen today.
• 9:14
  [SPEAKER_00]: I hope you will start to pivot away from the word change and into the word improvement and make sure that whatever change that you decide that it is an improvement.
• 9:27
  [SPEAKER_00]: It's not a bad name.
• 9:28
  [SPEAKER_00]: It's an improvement and you're always moving forward positively and responsibly.
• 9:32
  [SPEAKER_00]: I hope you have a great day.
• 9:33
  [SPEAKER_00]: Thank you.