Business Change Management

Is most of your success attributed to your great execution? Were you a master at getting things done? As a result of your "doing" orientation, did your company grow? 

“The trouble with always trying to preserve the health of the body is that it is so difficult to do without destroying the health of the mind.”
—G.K. Chesterton, Author

Your emotional health is as important as your physical health, if not more

Most leaders I work with are aware of the importance of their physical health, particularly the importance of eating nutritious foods, exercising and treating their physical injuries and ailments. Most of them, however, pay little attention at all to their emotional health.

Recently I wrote two blogs on many hospitals' oft-broken call centers, entitled "Five Steps To Help Fix The Sorry State of Hospital Call Centers (Part One) and (Part Two), highlighting the extensive research Simon Associates has been conducting in this area. What we found was that call centers with ongoing problems show symptoms of a culture that hasn’t adapted to the outside world and the requirements of today’s patients.

Our Guest Blogger, Cheryl McMillan, has written a very illuminating blog about a similar subject: a retailer's customer service (or lack thereof).

How do you receive new ideas? Leaders know that ideas are crucial for innovation and improvement, but ideas don’t just magically appear. They live right now in the minds of your employees. Wonder why you don’t hear more of them? Maybe you are doing something that kills your staff's ideas before they can be explored or even verbalized.

Why do we often not see what is right in front us? Recently I've been working with several clients that could grow by leaps and bounds if only they could "see" the business opportunities that are right before them. All they need to do is open their eyes, open their minds, and re-define the way they and their people think about what they could offer consumers that they're not offering right now.

As a Guest Blogger for Simon Associates Management Consultants, I recently wrote about my experiences as an Enneagram Type 8, then found myself struggling with writing a second, follow-up blog. I finally realized that what I was experiencing was not typical writer’s block but the result of my Type 8’s natural defense mechanism: denial.

What is a defense mechanism? 

A defense mechanism is a protective, psychological strategy whose function is to keep us within our own comfort zones. It is primarily triggered in uncomfortable or difficult situations in an attempt to reduce our anxiety or uncomfortable feelings.

The purpose of a defense mechanism is to maintain our self-image, and each Enneagram Type has a different one. In my case, my defense mechanism keeps alive my self-image of “I am strong and not weak.” Typically, our defense mechanisms operate automatically and unconsciously. Unless we are in observer mode, we aren't aware of when they are active.