Change doesn’t come easy! There are no shortcuts to circumvent frustration or the required endurance needed for sustainable success.

One of the greatest challenges in business with regards to change is the people from within. Making the company a better place, one person, one team & one business unit at a time through communication, community, and leadership sounds easy, it’s not!

The trick as Bill Gates says is… ‘Patience is a key element of success’, one must also remain focused that with change comes challenge and sometimes extreme difficulty and frustration. In general; people do not like change, while owners often inspire the changes that often start the journey, they often succumb to the pressure of internal resistance for one reason or another.

Renowned Author. Gustavo R. Grodnitzky Ph. D says in his book ‘Culture Trumps Everything’ What determines our behaviors as human beings at the individual and organizational level? Although it often feels as though either our biology or our personality (or both) guides our decisions about issues large and small, increasing evidence suggests that…culture trumps everything. One of his strongest statement is change takes time, minimum of eighteen months, if not longer.

What’s not seen is really before us…

All around us, there are signs – are you watching? Paying attention? Eventually, when we make decisions, get opportunities or something happens, we look back, and realize there were signs all around us – good or bad. Sometimes those decisions we make are not more than ones prompted by organizational pressures.

Just like seeing signs for the ocean being rough – green, yellow or red flags, sometimes, the secret to success is stepping back and getting an objective view and evaluation of the environment.  While sometimes  you need to enlist the needs of others for an objective perspective, sometimes that becomes blind-sighted by the voices of deflection, lack of clarity of what is before you or simply organizational pressures that out number the one who’s trying to really lead the pack and the people in the right direction.  Either way, taking time out to “see the signs” can be helpful in navigating and making the most of your future by really seeing what is before you and why the problems really exist. Problems happen for a reason, sometimes the ‘root-cause’ is masked by other motives or objectives.

Take risks, but know the consequences and possible outcomes. Do your people really challenge themselves? or only challenge others with excuses?

For me personally, I love to watch people approach there various daily tasks. I often watch them walk past warning signs.  We all make choices every day – but we don’t always consciously consider the consequences – or seriously consider our own abilities and think about how the environment or a particular situation affects them or those we serve. Personally, I  am simply reminded that all actions have consequences.  You shouldn’t spend too much time second guessing the past, because it’s done, but you can learn from it and move forward.

Considering outcomes and risks is not just about assessing the potential bad, it’s about considering the potential good – the pros – the upside.  Some people stay paralyzed in their work life and career because they aren’t creative,  bold, truthful to themselves or positive enough to get excited about the upside to the degree needed to drive action.  Instead, they wallow, they complain, they deflect and they blame. Why do risk-takers in business brave the currents? Because although they know the risks, the upside of the experience, to them, is well worth it. These people are ‘winners’!

Here’s some sound advice, take personal responsibility for your own actions, don’t blame others, your weaknesses will only come out in time.