• 4 minute read

It seemed like just a moment ago that January 1st was here again. And along with it the usual new year's resolutions. Your best intentions were to lose weight, run a marathon and banish the booze after one too many headaches over the festive season. Given up already? Join the club! And are you surprised?? Sadly, we're not. And we owe it all to the big mischief we term 'your little voice'. Or put another way, we owe it all to you (and ourselves!) for not noticing it or kicking it into touch on January the 1st. Although like us mere mortals you may not always realise the major influence your 'little voice' is having on your every move and how it could make or break your best laid plans.. Indeed this dynamic isn't limited to our personal goals and will be responsible for the success (or not) of your organisation’s change plans this year. Thankfully we’re here to help you make 2017 fulfil its full potential and ensure you do succeed!

What do we mean by ‘little voice’?

So what is this high powered 'little voice' we're talking about? Well it's the dialogue going on inside your head right now.. It's probably trying to remember what your new year’s resolution was anyway or whether to 'like' this article at the end…or even whether to stop reading now (!). Yes that's the 'little voice' we're referring to; the inner stream of consciousness that we barely even notice half the time. The mischief is, we don't realise how in charge this little voice is. In fact it's firmly in the driving seat and is deciding what is possible, or not, every second of the day. Not only is it deciding what’s possible but it’s determining what we then do about it…or not as the case may be. When it comes to organisational change plans, our little voices and those across the business have already made up their mind. They’ve decided whether or not that new strategy, structure or wild innovation you have in mind, is going to work. Before it's even begun. And if we’re really honest, a little like the new year’s resolutions; it's a 'strategy of hope' that things will just change and happen ‘in the end’, that we're hedging our bets on.

We have all experienced initial excitement and momentum when we decide to make a change. Soon though, we allow normality to creep back in and slow us to our prior velocity which is comfortable, familiar and kind to us when we make excuses. In organisations, it’s the ‘business as usual’ flow of work that takes us swiftly back to ‘not having enough time’ for all this change and ‘we didn’t really think it was going to happen anyway’.

Your Little Voice making Big Change

This may all sound very doom and gloom, but to the contrary, the good news is that your little voice, and those in your organisation can transform the way things are. The phrase, 'to believe something impossible is to make it so', is just as true in reverse. If you listen to what your 'little voice' is really saying in relation to what you want to achieve, you then unlock a sense of choice; you can either:  1. obey it or 2. thank it politely before making the change anyway. In reality, our little voice is capable turning those strategies of hope into concrete commitments and actions that drive success. A positive little voice is capable of driving us to achieve things we never thought possible, taking a leap of faith and reaching for our biggest ambitions.

The difference of being conscious of your little voice makes is that you no longer plan based on hope but on goals that you either really want or really believe in. Awareness of your little voice means you can take back control of your intentions and challenge your doubts head on vs. hoping a miracle will happen. That marathon in a few months’ time… denial over; I’d better start training now!

The little voices in a business effectively determine the company culture. The prevailing mindset is so critical in determining what the business is capable of and what people will engaged in. For business leaders, we believe that a coaching leadership style is an essential tool for uncovering the little voices and shifting the mindset of what is possible.

Make 2017 Count

This year, many organisations will be seeking transformation in order to stay ahead of the game or to reinvent the market altogether. Don't let these intentions become jaded like the ground-hog day resolutions we make each year. Make 2017 count! Expose the little voices about change in your organisation; encourage people to be honest about what they really think. From here, you can empower and challenge them to work through their concerns and embrace the change. When the little voices are saying 'we can do this', the change really will take care of itself.