Let’s be honest – change is never not there – and it’s exhausting many of us.
We are living in a fast-changing world – business is moving quicker than ever before, our clients and suppliers are increasingly demanding, resources are being cut, the demographics of the workplace are changing with four generations at work (baby boomers, Gen X, Y and Z) – I could go on.
The Institute For The Future in their Future Work Skills 2020 report state, ‘global connectivity, smart machines, and new media are just some of the drivers reshaping how we think about work, what constitutes work, and the skills we will need to be productive contributors in the future’. In the same report 10 future skills are listed including sense making, virtual collaboration, social intelligence and design mindset (this report is well worth a read).
Yep – change is never not there.
Every single one of us is being asked to ideate, innovate and create.
We are being asked to rethink what we do, how we communicate with each other and how we will operate as leaders and businesses in to the future.
We are being challenged to amplify others, engage in commercial collaboration to drive change and innovation all whilst creating a culture of freedom within our organisations that enables and celebrates individual thought and opinion; that allows people to be heard and to be seen; where everyone can be self-expressed.
Exhausted yet?
In this changing world there is one critical constant – we all need to take ownership of who we are being, what we stand for and our individual goals for ourselves. It’s about positioning up with confidence and influencing out with conviction.
It requires the following;
- Build a network of transformational connections.
The connections YOU create are the ones that will decide your success or failure. Don’t be afraid to network. Own it and build the nexus of you. Be at the centre of a core group of influential connections that will transform you – a select group of people providing quality thinking, creating new perspectives, pushing you further than you could ever go alone, supporting you and taking great pleasure is seeing you succeed.
- Lead Out and Embrace Diversity
Lead out and see the potential in new connections, in the collective intelligence bank of brainpower. Understand that in working together, respecting the myriad of different viewpoints and abilities creates opportunity. Leading out is facing out; it is to lead towards not away from mutual opportunities for success.
- Beat Your Own Drum
You matter. Every choice and action you take, every word that you speak, has the ability to influence others and in turn, the decisions being made at that moment in time. Your views are unique to you. Walk the talk and own the change you want to see.
- Step out of status quo
You have to be your key competition so make sure your first competitive audit is always with yourself. Better the last goal; ask the hard questions – are you growing in sales, profit, learning? Status quo is the enemy of change, of new ideas and new thinking. We all need to be constantly curious, ask why and explore more.
- Speak Up And Collaborate Openly
Collaborate openly and willingly, with complete, honest and full disclosure and you will have the ability to influence one to one, many to many, more to more. Your team, your colleagues, your leaders, your children, your friends, your family; but true influence requires one critical thing – for you to speak up.
Join Us
To help you with points one, three and five above, Gabrielle Dolan and I have come together to run a very special one-off program – The Winning Formula . We will show you how to strategically network and share stories for greater success. We will share the skills and framework to elevate your personal positioning, to build a influential network that works with you and the mastery of story-telling to influence more. This is a valuable day for anyone who wants to take control of their career. Especially if you are feeling slightly insecure in your current role. We are running a day in both Melbourne and Sydney and it will deliver you immediate results. Take a look at the video we recorded below which explains the session in more detail.
One thing is for sure – the world is moving very quickly. If you continue to sit in the solo business space of ‘me’ – then inevitably, you will come to an influential standstill.
Stand in your spotlight, own your vision and position up because it is here that you have the chance to influence more through inspiring, shifting and creating the movement around you.
