Leaders stall change by waiting for the right time or endless permission. Instead, identify what's broken, co-design solutions with peers at your level, then act decisively. Know when to ask forgiveness instead of permission, and share credit to build momentum.
Chapters
Another letter, this time asking about why change takes so much time, why people don't implement programs quickly. It's not just about budget. So what are the answers to this? The answers are you have to step into the actual work itself. Some of the failure factors for change are waiting for the right time, constantly asking for approval and permission from everybody, thinking that others' way is the only way. Waiting for that right time is like waiting for Godot. It's just not going to come. Instead, just do it. Move forward. Allow others to co-design with you. Make it their idea and your idea and move forward. In a great change process, the very first step is to determine the change itself and the dissatisfaction inside of your system and enable the people within your level to co-design that change with you and bring it up to the higher ranks so they can also co-design with you. Very important, don't wait to do this. Do it yourself and bring in the resources later to achieve it. Just remember, if you're going to change, don't constantly ask for permission to change because you'll never get anything done. There are times to ask for permission before forgiveness and times to ask for forgiveness before permission. So know the right times. If you need, need to, you can warn people before you do something to ensure they understand your urgency. And you might do it like this: Joe, this needs to happen today because of time constraints. Instead of thinking everyone else has great ideas, make your own and then bring it to co-create. So then bring credit along to them. The greatest leaders focus on getting things done rather than taking credit. Give it to others. They'll be your brand ambassadors if they get credit for it. I guarantee you, great things will happen.
