{"id":15,"date":"2011-03-22T19:31:38","date_gmt":"2011-03-22T23:31:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ohe.5c7.myftpupload.com\/?p=15"},"modified":"2011-03-22T20:10:36","modified_gmt":"2011-03-23T00:10:36","slug":"what-if","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/inourrightmind.com\/?p=15","title":{"rendered":"What if&#8230;?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>I coach executives.\u00a0 The ones whose organizations are doing well are the ones who are <em>leading, <\/em>not the ones trying to hang on by <em>managing<\/em>.\u00a0 The distinction is critical.<\/p>\n<p>Managing focuses on organizing and controlling the complexity of work.\u00a0 It involves planning and expanding what we want, and fixing or getting rid of what we don\u2019t want.\u00a0 Managers are experts at preserving the status quo.\u00a0 Their work bounces from fix it to restore it to maintain it and back to fix it.<\/p>\n<p>But organizing, fixing, and controlling are not sufficient for creating new direction and helping people discover strategies to get there.<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s what <em>leading <\/em>is about: defining a new future.\u00a0 <!--more-->It\u2019s grounded in <em>what if\u2026 <\/em>rather than <em>what now<\/em> thinking<em>. <\/em>It looks forward rather than back.\u00a0 It protects the future rather than preserves the status quo.\u00a0 Powerful leading<em> <\/em>inspires with a promise of greatness and anchors us in the world of possibility.\u00a0 And people are hungry for it.<\/p>\n<p>When times are tough, most of us fall back on what we know best.\u00a0 We revert to patterned behavior that\u2019s familiar and got us through tough times before.\u00a0 For harried executives, that means falling back on tried and true management practices.\u00a0 But times are changing.\u00a0 Management isn\u2019t getting the job done.\u00a0 We desperately need leaders to set the course.<\/p>\n<p>If you want to take up the challenge, start with the following.<\/p>\n<p>Coaching tips:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><em>What if<\/em> you could create the ideal experience for those you serve? Imagine it for a minute. Then get out your Mont Blanc and jot down some responses to the following (yes, longhand; something about scripting letters brings them to life and increases the likelihood of moving them from fantasy to reality):\n<ul>\n<li>What would the ideal experience look like from your customers\u2019 vantage point?<\/li>\n<li>What systems and processes would need to be different?<\/li>\n<li>How would employees <em>be<\/em> (as opposed to what would they <em>do<\/em>)<em>?<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Now add more detail.\u00a0 Imagine what your customers and employees might imagine.\u00a0 Then leave the executive suite and get <em>their<\/em> views.<\/li>\n<li>Next, work your way through these first-cousin questions:\n<ul>\n<li><em>What if<\/em> your organization became THE system of choice in the industry?\u00a0 What would it look like?\u00a0 What would exist that doesn\u2019t exist now?<\/li>\n<li><em>What if<\/em> each employee believed in and was committed to working backward from the customer\u2019s experience?<\/li>\n<li><em>What if<\/em> <em>all<\/em> the people in your organization could realize their potential?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Now imagine what would happen if you asked yourself questions like these every morning on your way to the office.\u00a0 <em>What if<\/em> you asked the same of customers, employees, and one another?<\/li>\n<li><em>What if<\/em> you developed the habit of asking, \u201c<em>What if\u2026\u201d <\/em>rather than \u201c<em>What now<\/em>\u2026\u201d?<\/li>\n<li><em>What if<\/em> you paid close attention to when you\u2019re managing and when you\u2019re leading? And to how and when people\u2019s behavior is aligned with what you\u2019re striving to create?<\/li>\n<li>What if \u2018<em>what if\u2026<\/em>\u2019 became your theme song?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I coach executives.\u00a0 The ones whose organizations are doing well are the ones who are leading, not the ones trying to hang on by managing.\u00a0 The distinction is critical. Managing focuses on organizing and controlling the complexity of work.\u00a0 It involves planning and expanding what we want, and fixing or getting rid of what we&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-leading"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inourrightmind.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inourrightmind.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inourrightmind.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inourrightmind.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inourrightmind.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=15"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/inourrightmind.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":35,"href":"https:\/\/inourrightmind.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15\/revisions\/35"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inourrightmind.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=15"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inourrightmind.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=15"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inourrightmind.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=15"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}