You have it all figured out. You see a new direction to take the group that will benefit everyone, but it will require changes from others. How will you get others to believe in what you now envision?

By merely telling others what it is they will be doing differently, you will have a passive or even aggressive fight on your hands, one mind at a time. People inherently come to believe that the work they have already been doing and how they are doing it for them themselves are just okay with them. Only you have the belief at the start, not them (yet).

To change what they believe into what you envision as a new and better way requires a change process that can only occur one person at a time.

Minds must first be opened to the new belief for what is possible for the group and for themselves.

To begin a change process, first ask questions to find where people are at and what their interest might be in together building a better way. Don’t simply tell them to change, ask and dialogue with them about change as a possibility.

Begin a journey to discover with them what a new belief might lead them to. What is it specifically that they and the group would need to do differently as a group and alone to realize the new belief?

Start together to turn these collective thoughts into actions that will validate the possibility for the change. Reinforce efforts to discover with open minds what the possibilities might be. Engage their perspectives. Facilitate dialogues, knowing their first thoughts are about what is in it for them and how they might be impacted if work were done differently.

Successful change can only be discovered and sustained for additional future growth when the process is completed while looking forward with people and not “to” them or “for” them.

“The secret to change is to focus all of your energy not on fighting the old, but on building the new.” — Socrates —

MITM