When I saw this picture, it brought a smile to my face. As a Mentor, a Coach or a Leadership facilitator,depending on which cap we wear when, we experience this all the time.

 

Our biggest wins are when we manage to convert walls  to windmills 🙂

 

During our Business Mentoring where we help organisations scale up 2X, we often come across so many walls as we confront status quo with our Business Healthscan Assessments across multiple business parameters. So often the scores given by the MD/CEO and the leadership team members are so very different for the same question with the range swinging from a 2/10 by the MD to a 7/10 given by the leaders.

 

Unity in diversity? Absolutely not ! Just good,old plain defence mechanisms of the leaders at play since the walls are up to start with.

And then we confront, question, challenge, coax the leadership and get to aminimum common acceptance of where the gaps are in the organisation in relation to where they want to be. Some clients politely call me a shake up artist 🙂

 

Other CEO’s more bluntly say so in private that they have been caught with their pants down. Almost the weary feeling when an annual health check up throws up major issues on vital parameters, when you otherwise feel all is well and dismiss the warning signals. And you know the docs are going to prescribe some bitter pills or lifestyle changes for your good, not for theirs.

 

Same experience with our 1:1 Coaching with leaders across roles and levels where the initial walls often bring on responses like – yes I am open to change, but … the problem is with more with the bosses, or the culture is not good, or my style works whether my people like it or not. Maybe they are right, maybe they are not, since they are effectively deflecting blame from themselves in their minds.

 

The problem is almost always with “them” not “me “. Now that sure is a problem 🙂

As the journey pans out and the chemistry, the trust and comfort factor sets in and they realise we are actually on the same side and working on the same goals, focusing on their strengths and working together on their change areas, the walls slowly come down. Its fun to see the reactions when strengths as seen by others is shared.

 

And there is openness to working differently, trying things which otherwise would have got brushed under the carpet and letting some fresh air in.

When the leaders accept, align, cut the conflicts and the egos and soak in the winds of change, the walls get converted to windmills and sweep in a change in culture, accountability, team work, alignment and results.

 

On the Coaching front there are so many examples we have of Coachees who are also able to additionally  achieve their personal goals of focusing on fitness, pursuing their interests or passions, or just working on their relationships. Something they always wanted to do, but …. Maybe they were just missing that gentle push, increased self belief and someone unbiased encouraging them to pursue their dreams.

 

Like we read somewhere, change is difficult in the beginning, messy in the middle and glorious in the end .

The one’s who change and succeed are the one’s who are challlenged  to visualise what the glorious end is going to look like, how they are going to feel at the end, and accept how the pain of change is just a blip in the mind. The quote below captures it

 

 

Embrace change for a better you .. as a professional , an entrepreneur, an individual and the many other myriad roles we play.

 

Windmills generate power and set you free , walls just box you in. So choose your menu option 🙂

 

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