Four Steps to Continuous Improvement to Succeed in our Turbulent Times

by Dave Kahle

For much of my career, I’ve been cognizant of the threat posed by the rapid pace of change. Simply put, the world is changing around us at a pace that is unprecedented in human history, and unless we change ourselves and our organizations at least as rapidly as the world we inhabit, we will fall behind.

           The implications are staggering. Our organizations are swept along by the currents of change in our industries, floundering to stay on course in a world where the next major change pops up unexpectantly and unpredictably. Personally, we are constantly threatened by the next new thing, new technology or new competitor.

            In the last few years, for example, we’ve confronted the changes brought on by the pandemic, the rise in social media influence, and now the advent of Artificial Intelligence. While these changes are dizzying, the future will bring more unexpected, momentous change. As I say in almost every seminar, “If you think things have changed rapidly for you in the past few years, hang on, you have seen nothing yet,”

           In this world, our ability to change ourselves and our organizations becomes a high-priority strategy for success. But change is difficult. If we are going to do it well, and do it repeatedly, instead of reacting haphazardly, we’ll be far more effective if we create a system to help us change. For the last 30 years, I’ve made my living helping individuals and organizations change. While my area of expertise is B2B sales and sales systems, the things that I have learned apply to every discipline.

           Recently, one of my clients recommended that I compile a series of posts on the most important lessons I’ve learned over my 30-year career. This is one of them:  In order to change one’s behavior, you need intention, practice, repetition, and accountability.

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           INTENTION
           While some changes are forced on us by circumstances – a car accident, or a sudden health crisis for example — for the most part we don’t change our behavior until we want to. This ‘wanting to,” or intention to change, probably trumps all the others.  The world is awash with people who are not interested in changing themselves. It is a part of human nature. One hundred years ago, James Allen said,

           “Men are often interested in improving their circumstance, but are unwilling to improve themselves, they therefore remain bound.”

           In my world, that takes the form of apathy towards improving themselves.  I’ve often said that if you randomly select 20 salespeople and survey them, you’ll find that only one in twenty has spent $25 on his own improvement in the last 12 months.

           On the other hand, the one in twenty, because they want to find a way to learn new skills, excel at those they have and eventually become the movers and shakers in their worlds.

           In my training programs, I find myself spending as much time on “here’s why you should learn to do this better” as I do on the skill or practice itself. If we have the intention to learn, to grow, to become more, then we will.

           PRACTICE
           Teaching isn’t just telling, and learning isn’t just listening. At some point, if you are going to gain a new skill or improve an existing one, you need to move from intention to action. As a life-long educator and trainer, I label this point in the process the “gap between idea and action.”  Change doesn’t happen by osmosis, on its own. You’ll need to invest time and energy in the process. So, if you come across a good idea that you want to incorporate into your routines, you’ll need to bridge the gap and actually act on it. 

            The best way to bridge that gap is to turn the intention into a specific ‘prescription’ for your new behavior. For example, after having completed... READ THE FULL ARTICLE HERE