My change goal: Lose 50 pounds by Jan 1, 2012.
Progress: As of April 25, I have lost a total of 21 pounds.

My crucial moments:

• Moments of stress when I’m tempted to resort to my old, unhealthy eating habits
• Moments when I’ve allowed myself to get to the state of ‘starving’ and as a result, I make poor food choices

My vital behaviors:

• Connect with one of my coaches for support. If a coach isn’t available, I give myself a pep talk incorporating my Default Future.
• Consume 1800 calories per day and drink 64oz or more per day.
• Prepare healthy meals and snacks for home and work.
• Exercise 30 minutes, 5-6 days per week.

I attribute my success to a total life change and the six-source plan I’ve created to adopt these vital behaviors. I remind myself that I did not put this weight on overnight so I cannot expect to wake up one morning and it all be gone. If you want to be successful with any change initiative, be prepared to put some time into the change. However, once you’ve incorporated the change plan into your everyday life, the change feels effortless.

Love what you hate: I participate in activities I enjoy so working out is not a burden. In fact, I actually hate it if I have to miss a work out. I’ve learned I’m pretty competitive with myself on this life changing journey.

Turn Accomplices into Friends: I’ve recruited my manager to be my change partner. We have mapped this change to my performance plan for 2011 and she checks in each week on my progress. I have made my weight chart available to her so she can challenge me if she doesn’t notice progress.

I believe my food choices are solid. I stay within the allotted 1800 caloric intake daily. I’ve gradually increased the number of reps I do during strength training. I also plan ahead which removes the possibility of excuses. Here’s an example, I’m taking a class on Thursday night for the next 7 weeks. I normally swim on this night. Since I’m unable to swim, I’m joining the Yoga class my company sponsors each Thursday. I have shared this change with my coaches and team members in my office to keep me accountable. There is power when you open your mouth and tell others what you are doing. I truly enjoy the support I receive from friends and family.

Control your Space: I am also using www.changeanything.com and it’s very helpful to see the Predicator Meter chart my progress. I get a thrill out of seeing the needle move closer to the ‘very likely’ section.

How I’ve turned bad days into good data: I do not have to travel too much for work; however, it’s a challenge to stick with your diet when your meal is chosen for you at a work event. In that case, I don’t beat myself up. I say this is a one-time event, it’s okay if I have to modify my meal for the day.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Kerry Patterson is coauthor of three bestselling books, Influencer, Crucial Conversations, and Crucial Confrontations. His fourth book, Change Anything, was recently released.

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Every now and then, someone accomplishes something so remarkable that you just have to talk about it. The accomplishment I have in mind has quietly taken place over the past two and a half decades in some of the most remote, desolate villages on earth. These places are so isolated they’re virtually never covered in any news stories and so desolate they have no rivers, streams, or other forms of running water to help keep them alive. Instead, shallow valleys near the villages fill with water during the rainy seasons and then slowly dry up and fester as the annual drought burns its way through the calendar.

As the months pass, the water holes become contaminated with all manner of microbes. In the midst of this deadly cocktail live tens of thousands of sand fleas. Inside the sand fleas you’ll find even tinier larvae. The sand fleas are so small they’re hard to see unless you scoop them up in a glass of water and hold them up to the light. Even then, if you have no microbiologists or theory of modern medicine, you wouldn’t know what to think of the squirming, translucent creatures within.

The villagers, given no other choices, gather the contaminated water, pour it into earthen pots, carry it to their huts and use it for washing, cooking, and drinking. Once ingested, the sand fleas dissolve, freeing the larvae to enter the human body and transmute into tiny worms that, over the next ninety days, grow into three-foot long vermicelli-like monsters. Then a cruel genetic trumpet sounds. The worms respond to the call by excreting acid to burn a path through their host’s body as they tunnel their way out of their human prison. The pain of this nine-month long exodus is excruciating.

Finally, to give purpose to the hellacious journey, once the worm pokes its head out of its human host, it causes an intense burning and itching that can only be soothed by immersing the infected body part in the local water source—at which point the creature releases thousands of tiny eggs back into the fetid mother water—completing the life-cycle of the Guinea Worm.

For thousands of years, villagers have suffered the pain and debilitating injuries caused by the Guinea Worm’s unspeakable and lengthy journey. Not knowing how to explain the presence of the pest, locals blamed the infected villagers for hosting the worm. According to legend, sinners bring the fiery monster upon themselves.

“Surely she’s an adulteress and that’s why her children are now being cursed.”

“He must have stolen from the village and now he’s paying the price.”

To add suffering to insult, the infected (and now maligned) villagers are unable to work for months on end, so great is their pain as the worm follows its nine-month path. Many starve. Children are unable to go to school, so they remain illiterate. And all of this pain and misery has been going on in parts of Asia and sub-Saharan Africa for thousands of years.

Eventually, the plight of the Guinea Worm came to the attention of scientists who figured out both its life cycle and the cure. It’s simple. Encourage villagers to filter the water and the larvae are eliminated. In cases where people are infected, keep them from washing in the water source. Either way you short-circuit the life cycle and the dreaded worm (which only grows in human beings) disappears in an evolutionary blink. Medicines are not effective. Surgery is out of the question. But get people to filter their water and not wash their sores in the water source, and the creature will become extinct.

As this horrible plight became more public, hundreds of medical professionals and change agents tried their best to eradicate the worm, but with little success. Simply telling people to filter the water proved insufficient. Locals didn’t trust the outsiders. And, of course, not soothing your burning sores in the water, once infected, called for a monumental act of self-discipline.

Twenty-five years ago, when experts at the Carter Center in Atlanta, Georgia turned their attention to the Guinea Worm plight, more than 3.5 million people from 20 countries were still infected. Here was the big question: what change strategy could they come up with that others had been unable to discover? What would it take to get 3.5 million people—along with their friends, family, and neighbors—to filter their water and keep infected villagers from washing their sores in the local water source?

Two years ago, we wrote about this indefatigable group of Carter Center change agents in our book Influencer. We told of how they had been creatively applying a variety of clever change methods. For instance, they learned to gain support from respected, local leaders. Otherwise, nobody trusted them. They used clever posters, created contests and awards (complete with slogan-bearing t-shirts), posted warning signs near the water source, and taught people how to effectively confront neighbors who didn’t follow the rules—to name but a few of their techniques.

By combining change methods, one upon another, the group slowly made progress. Person by person, village by village, country by country, the tiny band of Carter Center experts gradually eliminated the cursed beast. Then, just a few weeks ago, one of our contacts at the center invited us to a special event. The center would be holding a news conference followed by an awards ceremony and a gala. We eagerly booked our flights.

Two weeks later, as news cameras ran and reporters sat poised to take notes, former president Jimmy Carter entered the crowded room. He was beaming with joy.

“We’re proud to announce,” he enthused, “the complete eradication of the Guinea Worm in two new countries—Niger and Nigeria.” From there the former president went on to explain how these two countries have now joined 14 other nations that have completely eliminated Guinea Worm disease. Today, less than 1,800 cases remain.

All of this extraordinary progress has been made under the leadership of a mere handful of people who possess two important qualities. First, they have learned what it takes to both motivate and enable people all over the world to act differently. That makes them members of a rather elite group of true influencers. Second, they chose to apply their skills to millions of individuals who, for centuries, have endured incalculable suffering. All of this, of course, has been accomplished under horrific conditions, for modest salaries, and often far away from home.

Just imagine the good these intrepid change agents have done. If the sufferers who had been infected were to attend a gathering hosted by the Carter Center—say in the fashion of a wedding reception where people stand in line, greet one another, and talk briefly—you might overhear comments such as:

“Thank you, I’m able to work my farm for the first time in over a year.”

“Bless you, my children have now returned to school.”

This line of gratitude would run 24 hours a day—for more than 400 days! And this doesn’t include the millions of people who would have been infected but now won’t be.

When my partners and I first wrote about influencers, we were delighted to discover that when you become a truly effective change agent, you can succeed with the most intractable of problems. We learned challenges that have gone on for generations have been carefully reduced, even eliminated, in select pockets throughout the world.

However, it never occurred to us what might happen if someone applied these skills to something as important as disease eradication. In the case of the Guinea Worm, less than a dozen people (with the help of hundreds of agencies and tens of thousands of volunteers) have led a behavior-change revolution unlike any ever accomplished on earth. They’ve nearly eradicated a horrible disease. Within the next few years, they’ll have completely eliminated it.

I take my hat off to these dedicated, talented, selfless people. At a time when the news is filled with disasters, debacles, and disillusionment, it’s a delight to pause and reflect on the work of a handful of selfless heroes who make us all proud. I get goose bumps thinking about what they might do next.

What is your change goal?

To receive a promotion within 6 months

What are your crucial moments?

• When new, stretch assignment becomes available
• When discussing business accomplishments
• When beginning assigned lead on project

What are your vital behaviors?

• Willingly take on stretch assignments and identify what competencies will be enhanced.
• Confidently share the path I’ve taken to achieve accomplishments with my managers.
• Willingly take on projects with clear understanding of objectives and deadlines. Ask questions when uncertain and don’t procrastinate

What adjustments are you making to your change plan in the past few weeks to ensure you achieve your goal?

• I’m making the actions steps I’ve outlined in my plan realistic and achievable.
• I’m scheduling time each week to review my plan and complete the action steps.
• Realizing that the time I devote to my plan doesn’t need to be hours – even 15 minutes twice a week can make a difference.
• I decided I will reward myself with iPad if I achieve my goal.

What insights have you had as you’ve encountered challenges and how have you turned bad days into good data?

• The Change Anything website has been an invaluable resource.
• The messaging, journaling, and action plan tutorials make the website very easy to use.
• Coaches have provided an extra cheer—like running a 5K.
• I’ve viewed setbacks in my plan as an opportunity to revise and improve rather than as defeat.
• I’ve realized a journey is rarely a straight path!

What is your change goal?

Facilitating a young adult’s transition to self managed care of a chronic medical condition. Specifically, by 5/1/11, our son will be engaged in a ongoing healthcare with an appropriate provider and he will be accountable for a daily care plan. We will be able to dialogue about his health without defensiveness.

What are your crucial moments?

• When I see him making poor choices about his self care.
• When I want to know if he has been monitoring his health.
• When I disagree with an approach to care he is using.
• When he asks for my help, that I only help and not probe more.

What are your vital behaviors?

• Don’t tell myself stories about what happens on a day-to-day basis when I am not there.
• Always lead my discussions from the heart.
• Realize that he has emotions about this subject too.
• Support his progress and help in any way requested—do not overstep those boundaries.
• Realize he is an adult and ultimately he is responsible.
• Look for support of transferable skills.
• Find his carrots in this process and help him build towards his stated rewards.
• Bite my tongue if I feel discussions getting defensive.
• Recognize this can be a huge win-win; only go to the mat for the really big stuff.

To what do you attribute your early success?

Focusing on this goal from a more objective and project management like process has allowed me to admit the amount of emotion I have had in my interactions with my son in the past. I have taken a background support role and we have reframed our interactions and discussions. As a result, we have worked together to identify and set goals.

What adjustments are you making to your change plan in the past few weeks to ensure you achieve your goal?

I’ve been doing quite a bit of disease specific research so that I am able to discuss options and articulate current treatment/equipment options.

What is some of the progress you have experienced?

Our son came home last week. In planning for his arrival, I wanted to help him prepare for his upcoming physician’s appointment. I also wanted to have a crucial conversation with him about my intentions and desire to redefine our relationship and my role in managing his illness.

His visit went very well. We dialogued well and I was able to sense when I was being too pushy. If I started to get pushback from him, I refocused and reestablished safety. I did not check everything off the list of things I wanted to discuss with him but I am okay with that. There were a couple of times I even refrained from commenting on things and just kept my mouth shut—figuring it’s better to bite my tongue than regret my words.

We prepared for his physician’s visit which will happen this Thursday. I am not going with him to the appointment (which is admittedly, REALLY hard for me) and that is something we didn’t even discuss because he needs to do this himself and I am very supportive of that. His request was to meet for lunch afterwards and I am already working on myself so that I don’t discuss his appointment without asking permission and even accepting the fact that he may not want to discuss the appointment with me at all. We have lots of time to explore these new ground rules in this “new relationship” and I am committed to taking the time we need to do it right.

Personally, I’m spending some pretty intense time coming to terms with my feelings of failure as a Mom. Not only am I his mother, I’m also an RN and that makes me feel even more guilty that I was not able to figure out how to have impacted his health sooner. While we’re not facing a life-threatening illness, I worry about how our delayed management could affect his long-term health. I’m smart enough to realize that personality, frontal lobe development, and his own needs to come to terms with his illness have all played a big part the struggles he has faced in the past. My head is screwed on pretty straight about the reality of the situation and yet, my heart is still struggling—that too is a process and journey I am willing to take. David Maxfield has recommended the book Motivational Interviewing. I’m stopping at the bookstore on my way home this evening. Thanks David!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

David Maxfield is coauthor of the bestselling book, Influencer: The Power to Change Anything. His second book, Change Anything, will be available April 2011.

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Dear Crucial Skills,
I run a city initiative to clean up garbage in the spring. Do you have any advice for influencing residents to stop littering in the first place?

Fighting Litter

Dear Fighting,

Thank you for your community service. We each need to do our part. After all, we are the community, and the community is us.

This is a great challenge. I’ll use it to illustrate the Influencer process, applying a few basic principles from Influencer and our new book, Change Anything. I’ll also pull ideas from a successful anti-litter initiative I found while researching your question.

Crucial Moments. Look for leverage points—the times, places, and people that contribute the most to your litter problem—then focus your efforts on these hot spots.

• Places: There are probably a handful of places that are magnets for trash—abandoned lots near schools or bars, busy bus stops, fast-food restaurants, etc.
• Times: There are probably a few times of the week or the year when people are most likely to litter—Friday nights, before and after football games, during parades, etc.
• People: There are probably a few people who are especially likely to litter—people who eat while driving, etc.

Focusing on crucial moments is a very powerful way to magnify your efforts—regardless of your challenge. The leaders of the anti-litter campaign on San Juan Island discovered a perfect storm for litter: Place—the main road to the dump; Time—weekends; People—those who drive pickup trucks without a cover on their load. They created a campaign called “Secure Your Load,” using signs, direct mail, and press coverage. Their targeted campaign eliminated a major source of litter on the island.

Vital Behaviors. What few behaviors have the biggest impact in these crucial moments? I’ll share a few potential behaviors supported by literature and anti-litter initiatives. You should determine the two or three vital behaviors that are key to addressing your community’s litter problem.

• Remove litter before it becomes the norm. Researchers have found that litter attracts litter. This is also known as the broken window effect. People see litter—or a broken window, graffiti, or weeds—assume it’s an accepted practice, and contribute to the problem.
  A while ago, my wife and I lived in a neighborhood that had become a target for late-night graffiti taggers. We helped organize a volunteer initiative that made it cheap, if not free, to get paint that exactly matched the buildings, fences, walls, or other structures that were being tagged. This worked much better than painting over graffiti using a standard white paint, which left white boxes on the sides of buildings.  We expected the taggers would return again, so businesses were encouraged to keep the bucket of paint handy and to paint out the graffiti each morning. When taggers discovered that their graffiti work had been entirely removed before members of the public saw it, many left our neighborhood. The situation was not eliminated, but it improved dramatically within just a few weeks.
• Reduce the source of the litter. Another successful component of the San Juan Island Anti-Litter Initiative was to identify a few organizations that generated far more than their fair share of litter. They found that the Washington State ferry system was placing cardboard tags on the windshields of every car waiting to board ferries. When these cars drove off, these bits of cardboard became litter. They influenced the ferry system to change the way it tracked cars, eliminating the need for the tags and reducing litter.
• Place trash receptacles in litter-magnet locations. This is an obvious vital behavior. Find the litter magnets and add a trash can or dumpster. The challenge of course is that these trash receptacles will have to be emptied on a regular basis, but emptying them is far easier and less expensive than picking up trash.

Develop a Six-Source Plan. Once you’ve found the leverage points—the times, places, and people that contribute the most to your litter problem—and identified your vital behaviors, develop a plan incorporating all six sources of influence that supports the vital behaviors. I’ll suggest a couple of strategies within each of the six sources.

• Personal Motivation. Meet with the businesses that are litter magnets. Explain the broken window theory, then ask them to pick up trash every day for just two weeks so they can test whether the theory will work for them. Discovering a solution that works can be very motivating.
• Personal Ability. Make it easy. We gave businesses free paint that was already formulated to match their building. You might try giving them free trash bags and arranging for extra garbage pickups.
• Social Motivation & Ability. Form a quick-response team of neighbors or businesses. These teams can work with a business that’s a litter magnet—picking up their litter every day for two weeks to prove the broken-window theory. Another social strategy is to sponsor a public education campaign that involves local newspapers, schools, community Web sites, popular bloggers, and more. On San Juan Island, the local paper set aside space for a regular “Trash Talk” column.
• Structural Motivation. Often the litter magnets are in violation of city laws. While you offer them help for keeping their areas litter free, you can also remind them of these laws.  Businesses may also need permission from the city to place a trash receptacle on a city sidewalk.
• Structural Ability. As I mentioned above, one of the best tools for battling litter is the humble trash can. Make it easy for people to dispose of their trash. Work with businesses, schools, the city, and other organizations to install appropriately sized trash receptacles in locations that are targets for litter. Make sure these receptacles are emptied regularly.

I hope I’ve sparked ideas for applying these principles to your litter problem as well as other problems you face at work, at home, or in your community. Sometimes I think of the Influencer process as a magic wand for creating change. Once you have the wand, your question becomes, “What problem should I tackle?” When it comes to influence, there is no prize for thinking small. Maybe you can use Influencer to prevent littering in your neighborhood. Or maybe you’ll take on a different problem. Maybe you’ll influence people to live healthier lifestyles, or to spend more quality time with their families, or to perform at a higher level at work.

What will you influence for good?

David

I was on time for my birth, but it has been a struggle ever since. When I am on time, I feel calm and really good. When I am not – which is far too often – I feel stressed and can just feel my immune system drain.

I have been working in earnest to change this behavior for 15 years. However, with help from the Change Anything challenge, this could be the year I change my life.

Changing my behavior is especially important for my career. I have been with my new employer for two years. Where my former employer had a relaxed attitude about starting times for staff meetings, my new employer is much different. We start meetings on time. So far, I have been on time to group meetings but it has not been easy. My goal is to relax so I can contribute my best to the company. To do that, I really need to get my rushing problem under control.

Using the Change Anything model, here are the crucial moments I’ve identified:

• When I’m going to sleep and want to read “just one more chapter”.
• When I watch the Today Show and get into the shower late.
• When I have 5 minutes before I need to leave to be on time and I decide to do just one more task.

The vital behaviors I’ve identified:

• Turn off the lights at a specific time each night, depending on when I need to wake up.
• Get breakfast out of the way before the Today Show.
• Shower during the local news.
• When I’m in my office, stop any activity or tasks 5 minutes before any meetings start.
• When I’m at home or outside the office, stop any activity or tasks 10 minutes before I have to leave.

I am definitely making progress. One of my coaches suggested I focus on what is going well rather than solely on what is not going well. It was then I realized that although I continue to struggle with leaving my house at 8:05 am for work, I do arrive early for work meetings, restaurant meetings with friends, and church.

Last week, I realized I have no skin in the game. In other words, aside from feeling bad, I had no other consequences to not leave home at 8:05. I have now placed $250 in a specially designated savings account. I have decided that for each day I leave home later than 8:05, I will donate $5 to a charity I dislike. If I do not leave on time any day in a week, I will give an extra $10 for a potential total of $35/week. I have selected a pair of earrings I would like to buy that cost $208. That means I cannot afford to slip up too often or I will not be able to afford the earrings.

I’ve also added author David Maxfield and my sister Patty as my coaches. This has made a real difference as I no longer feel I’m writing a diary for myself, but that I’m blogging for my team.

I’ve gone through the stages the authors expected – excitement then discouragement. But by adding tools to my toolbox (skin in the game, a daily log, and coaches) I’m finding it’s easier. I also am finding that as I become comfortable with the tools, I’m getting ready to make a second commitment related to exercise. So, I’ll be adding that plan during the next couple of weeks.

As I’ve begun my change journey and created a plan using the Change Anything model, the thing that has most impressed me has been how important it is to be a change scientist studying ourselves. Over the years, I’ve read books and attended many support groups that rely on the typical science to overcome sexual addictions. However, using the Change Anything model has really helped me figure out the ways in which I am different from the norm.

For example, people recommend those who struggle with sexual addiction should increase their time at the gym because it relieves tension. As I pondered my own crucial moments, I realized that for me, the gym creates crucial moments. There are a lot of beautiful people at the gym and watching those people not only fills me with a lot of sexual charge, but it also makes me feel depressed that I don’t look good. When I come home from the gym, I’m depressed and often binge eat. Next thing I know, I’m spending time on the computer indulging my addiction. I realized I needed to create vital behaviors to combat these moments such as making sure I don’t go home to an empty house after the gym. This was a breakthrough, because by standard addiction literature, the gym was supposed to help me, not create more temptation, right?

I’ve also been impressed at how much stronger this change plan is now that I’ve incorporated strategies in all six areas of influence. I feel like I’m really tackling my problem from all sides. In the past I’d set up structural barriers to avoid the problem and when I’d mess up, I’d blame my lack of personal motivation. I realize now that the barriers were nothing more than an extra challenge to jump over before diving into the behavior. This next week, I will write a journal entry visiting my default future and one describing the positive results I expect to achieve because of this change.

It was a little hard to come up with social influences as sexual addiction isn’t typically aired out in public in our society. But I’ve got a few friends who also struggle with these things and we’ve developed a google doc where we each report on our actions every day. I will also share my portion of this spreadsheet with my wife weekly (since it will be much more motivating to report to her than others who also slip up and are more forgiving). I also have a few acquaintances who would argue that the sexual behaviors I classify as harmful addictions are a wonderful part of life. I am not terribly close to any of these people, so I see no reason to remain their friend on social networking sites.

I’ve also set up structural rules to be more conscious of my internet habits. I’m going to try to log each time I get on my computer at home. I will write down my purpose for being on the computer and then report on how well I stuck to that purpose. It will be okay to have a purpose of browsing the internet as long as it is not at night and as long as there are other people around. Otherwise, browsing the internet will not be an acceptable reason to be on the computer.

These are just a few of the things I’ve learned as I’ve worked to create my change plan.

Meet the Change Anything Challengers, three people with common challenges who are looking to make big changes in 2011.

We met these changers when they shared their story with us in the Change Anything in 2011 Challenge. Each one has struggled for years to accomplish life goals, get the promotion they deserve, or feel healthy and beautiful. Motivated by their loved ones, career goals, and personal dreams, each has committed to share their journey of change with us.

Over the next three months they will apply the science of personal change from our new book, Change Anything, to their specific challenge. They will identify the crucial moments keeping them from their goal, determine the vital behaviors that will lead to their success, and develop a six-source plan for securing the change they’ve dreamed of for years. But first…

Meet Bobby. Bobby is a decorated army veteran who has served two combat tours of duty in Iraq. The one thing keeping him from being promoted to Major and continuing to serve his country is 50 extra pounds that he can’t seem to lose. Motivated by his wife and four children who depend on the benefits of his Army career, Bobby is looking to finally lose the weight and earn the promotion he deserves.

Meet Terri. Terri has struggled for the past 20 years with her weight. But after years of struggling, she is finally ready to change. Motivated by her two beautiful daughters who have come to her asking to have a “healthy mommy”, Terri is ready to achieve her goal of losing 50 pounds.

Meet Steve. For the past 5 years, Steve has been on the brink of earning his Master’s degree. While his course work is complete, the one thing standing in his way from getting his diploma is his thesis project. Due to an intense travel schedule, Steve’s thesis remains unfinished. His goal is to finish his thesis by October 31–making him better qualified for future promotions.

Help our changers accomplish their goals! Your comments can provide the social motivation they need to keep going.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

David Maxfield is coauthor of the bestselling book, Influencer: The Power to Change Anything. His second book, Change Anything, will be available April 2011.

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Dear Crucial Skills,

What should I do if I believe I have reached my “peak” in my company and professional growth is stagnant? I posed this question to HR and managers only to receive dull feedback, which makes me feel they have no ideas or suggestions. I suggested I earn another bachelor’s degree in a field we need, but the tuition assistance program only permits me to take classes directly related to my current position. I have my letter of resignation ready to go and am simply waiting for the job market to improve, but I hate to start over again and prefer to avoid it if possible. What should I do?

Needing Growth

Thanks for your question. Many people are in your position—often without even knowing it. Their careers have stagnated and their jobs may even be at risk. This is a tough situation, but there are actions anyone can take to regain control of a stalled career.

We studied this question while writing our upcoming book Change Anything: The New Science of Personal Success. We went into organizations and asked people: “If you were facing a really tough problem at work, and had time to get input from someone in your work group, who would you go to for the best, most trustworthy advice? You can name up to three people.” We found there was a lot of consensus on who these people were. We got what statisticians call a “power curve.” Half the people weren’t named by any of their peers; however, about ten percent were named by nearly half of their peers and were recognized by everyone as the “go to” people. Not surprisingly, managers also named them as the most promotable.

When we look closely at these highly valued individuals—across a wide range of organizations—we learn they share the same three characteristics:

1.  Know Your Stuff. These promotable people are top performers at their current jobs, and put in regular effort to stay on top. If they are software developers then they are among the most skilled at writing code. If they are salespeople then they are among the most skilled at closing sales. They work hard to keep current and hone their craft.

2. Focus on the Right Stuff. Top performers seek out the problems that have the greatest strategic importance to their team, their manager, and their organization—and find ways to contribute in these areas. How do they get to these mission-critical assignments? First, they are intensely interested in understanding their teams’, managers’, and organizations’ priorities, and the challenges these priorities entail. Second, they equip themselves to make their best and highest contribution to addressing these challenges. They work on themselves, their skill set, and their access to critical tasks.

3. Build a Reputation for Being Helpful. Top performers are networkers. But their networks aren’t just a collection of business cards and friends. These promotable people use their expertise and time to develop a reputation for being helpful. They become widely known and respected by others because they help others solve their problems.

With this as a backdrop, consider what you can do to position yourself for career growth inside your organization, or potentially in a different organization. Begin with an honest, steely-eyed assessment of where you stand on the three characteristics of highly valued employees. Do you have a reputation for knowing your stuff, focusing on the right stuff, and being helpful?

Second, work to improve your reputation in these areas. Begin by asking some questions that are a bit different from “what are my career opportunities here?” Instead, get some informal time with the leaders and peers you respect most, and ask them about the most important priorities they see, the most critical challenges they face, and the best way you can help them achieve their goals. There is nothing wrong with asking about career opportunities, but those questions haven’t yielded the results you want. So, try asking questions that will help you build your reputation.

As you discover key priorities and challenges, you may learn you need to skill up, but it’s doubtful you need another bachelor’s degree. It’s more likely a few classes, a certification, or a volunteer assignment will get you the skills and experience you need. For example, if you are trying to get into a project management or supervisory role, can you find a well-known nonprofit organization in the community that would have a specific short-term project you could assist them with in the evenings or on the weekends? You could then add these classes, training certifications, and experiences to your resume and include the people you worked for as references.

These suggestions require that you don’t allow yourself to be limited to what your organization is willing to sponsor. Instead, you may need to invest your own resources and time outside of work in the short-term to achieve your long-term goals. I also want to emphasize the importance of maintaining strong relationships with HR and your management team. You don’t want to have the reputation of a dissatisfied employee—a complainer. That would undercut the very reputation you are trying to build.

I wish you the very best in your career development and agree with your point that the current job market presents obvious challenges for everyone—hopefully short-term challenges.

David

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Joseph Grenny is the author of three bestselling books, Influencer, Crucial Conversations, and Crucial Confrontations. His fourth book, Change Anything, will be available April 2011.

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Dear Crucial Skills,

It’s my job to influence the people in our company to improve quality—both of incoming raw material and of our outgoing products—and it’s hard.

We’ve got all the “head” stuff right—technical expertise and good quality tools—but we don’t have the heart. And to make it even more difficult, the people I need to influence don’t report to me and are too busy meeting other goals. So I can’t get them to commit to our quality goals—or worse, they commit with their mouths but then don’t deliver. Please help!

Signed,
Sick of Sigma

This is a classic influence problem. And most companies never see it that way.

During the 80s, my partners and I worked with many of the storied U.S. manufacturers who lost their way because of poor quality. We saw stark differences in those who developed a true culture of quality and those who simply went through the motions. Much of that experience informed our writing of Influencer: The Power to Change Anything. Our hope in writing that book was to help leaders become conscious of the fact that leadership is skillful influence. It is the fundamental work of leaders to influence the behavior of people in an organization (it is not the role of HR, the quality department, the ethics department, etc.). And sadly, far too few leaders 1) realize this is their job or 2) have the skill to do so.

So congratulations on the fact that you don’t suffer from problem #1! However, it sounds as though your organization may have a chronic case of problem #2.

Few leaders have an articulated and systematic way of thinking about the insightful question you raise—how do I influence the behavior of a handful, a few hundred, or many thousands of people?

So let me frame your challenge in this way: your job is to influence the influencers. Your job is not, as you said above, to influence the people in your company. You can assist leaders in doing this, but attempting to do it yourself will only lead to frustration and failure.

Here are some suggestions for influencing the influencers:

Help leaders make a connection. Most leaders don’t care about influencing behavior because they don’t see its relevance to results. We’ve worked with some pretty cynical leaders over the years who dismiss influence work as “soft stuff,” but that attitude changes the instant they come to see a connection between behavior and the results they are sworn to achieve.

Too often, those of us who try to influence these influencers make vague arguments about empowerment, teamwork, trust and so forth that require leaders to make a leap of faith in some philosophical argument in order to engage in leading change. That leap isn’t necessary when they can see how concrete, specific, and measurable behaviors are the root of their frustrations.

For example, in one large manufacturing area we found an executive who was a little more accessible than others and we asked him to join us in interviews with the five departments in his factory that consistently produced the highest quality output as well as five average teams. We conducted hour-long focus groups in each of these teams to elicit the behaviors the team thought were helping or not helping.

At the conclusion, it was clear to this executive that one of the most damaging behaviors in the mediocre teams (and even more so in the poor performing teams) was a lack of peer accountability. He heard story after story of peers witnessing others shipping poor quality goods or skipping quality processes without so much as raising a finger, let alone a concern, and left a zealot about changing this behavior. Once he saw the connection between concrete “vital behaviors” and his critical results, he was spurred into action.

Focus on results. Your job is to help leaders see the connection between behavior and results. If you do this right, your senior leaders will begin to realize you have “mutual purpose.” They’ll see you aren’t just nagging them about quality, but that your interest is in improving results overall. Never let yourself get pigeonholed into a smaller agenda than that of the larger enterprise or you’ll lose influence with those you most need to engage. Always present your proposals in a way that demonstrates how your entire motivation aligns with that of your senior leadership team.

Influence with data. So let’s say you’re trying to involve some more accessible leaders in exploring the relationship between behavior and results—and they aren’t biting. You’re framing everything you present in terms of enterprise interests—and it’s still not working. You don’t have the formal authority to compel anyone to pay attention to your objectives. What can you do?

The best strategy you can use is to influence with data. Leaders’ mental agenda is set by the “data stream” they live within. The kinds of reports, measures, and indices served up to them regularly determine what they think about. That’s why leaders appear to have different “values” than frontline workers. Those on the front line accuse leaders of only caring about the bottom line, while those at the top can sneer at the frontline workers who don’t see the “big picture.” This predictable conflict doesn’t happen because DNA is different at the top than at the bottom. The problem isn’t one of IQ or values. It’s one of data. Senior leaders receive a steady stream of enterprise level data. Those on the front line are influenced by data about product, schedules, rework, or other in-the-trenches concerns. So if you want to change someone’s mental agenda, change the mix of data they receive.

One of the best examples of influencing without authority I’ve seen was led by Donald Hopkins—a brilliant but humble MD who wanted to get the attention of heads of state in twenty countries in order to eradicate Guinea worm disease. Most of these leaders didn’t care a whit about the Guinea worm because it was a rural disease. These leaders saw, thought, and cared most about urban issues—where the bulk of their populations lived. So Hopkins had to get their attention. He started by developing a nationwide measure of Guinea worm infections. When it appeared to be one villager here and another there, the scale was hidden. But when the president of Nigeria, for example, saw that there were 3.5 million infections each year in his country. He began to sit up. Then when he saw that his country was doing worse at addressing this than neighboring countries, he began to lean forward. From there, Hopkins was able to suggest ways he could influence change and remove this awful scourge.

I hope some of these ideas are useful as your work to influence your influencers. Your role is crucial in your organization—and influence is your primary skill set!

Best wishes,
Joseph