If you’re in the entertainment field, your new normal is change. Technology is evolving in lightning-fast fashion, companies that were once your colleagues are now your competitors, and big data is overwhelming decision-making. Yet, companies are still thinking about “change management” as if it’s a one-time change. This thinking doesn’t work if the intention is to foster agile environments and for people to move quickly.
Change is Personal
Progressive companies of the future recognize that change is ever-present; that agility trumps stagnation. And, these organizations empower their employees to embrace “Pivot Moments.” After all, change is personal.
Think about it: your company shuffles upper management and your number one thought is “how does this affect me?” Or two media companies merge, and you immediately start fearing for your job. These scenarios are the reality of what happens with change. And, yet, the most nimble industry players will prepare their people for constant change by employing what I call Pivot Moments.
Introducing Pivot Moments: A Model for Constant Change
Pivot Moments are slight shifts that the individual makes to deal with constant change. More importantly, it results in new thinking, decision-making, and less stress because the employee herself leads the charge. It is not a top-down dictum, but a behavioral and mindset tool to adapt to change.
The model is as follows:
Perception + Position + Performance = PIVOT MOMENTS
Let’s put the model into action. One of my executive coaching clients’ intentions was to rise to a higher level, foster collaborative relationships with her peers and those who report to her and delegate more. When we spoke about a meeting she was in charge of setting up with her boss and peers and having her assistant coordinate it, she immediately said, no way. And, therein lies the rub: she didn’t trust her assistant to do the job right.
This was curious since she wanted to delegate more, so what was truly going on? We explored the situation through the Pivot Moments model.
Perception (Emotion) – What was my client’s perceptions? What were her emotions about her assistant? She was angry, frustrated, annoyed and even afraid to take action.
Position (Experience) – What was her position? What was her experience about her assistant? When she walked into the office and saw her assistant on her computer, she immediately thought she was on Instagram. Each phone call was a lightning rod of thinking how poorly her assistant was executing on her daily tasks. She thought her assistant was doing a terrible job, she didn’t have the aptitude to get the job done and didn’t have the desire to grow.
Performance (Action) – What was my client’s performance level with her assistant? What actions was she taking? She was so frustrated about the situation that she was not doing much. She said she would eventually do something about it; however, nothing was happening. While it could seem as if she was not in action, not taking steps to change a situation is indeed an action and a choice.
When I asked her how long this was going on, she said 2 years. What Pivot Moments were occurring for her? None. Not much progress. How many times do we get frustrated by a situation and keep focusing on the frustration rather than reshaping our mindset and actions. Oftentimes we cannot control other people’s behavior, yet we can control how we think about something and the actions to which we take.
The Pivot Moment formula is a terrific diagnostic for you to truly and honestly examine how you feel, your experience and the steps you are taking to move in your desired intention. As with my client, she immediately saw by using the Pivot Moment formula, that her intentions and actions were misaligned. As soon as she saw it she examined what she needed to stop and start doing to shift the outcome. Then she took the strides necessary to shift her situation.
Implementing the Pivot Moments model requires that you ask the relevant questions relative to each “P”: Perception, Position, and Performance. The key however, is “performance.” What are you going to start doing and what actions are you going to stop doing? These actions lie at the heart of the model.
Curiosity is a Key Component
Throughout any change, curious is tantamount. You must be willing to ask the tough questions. Why am I continuing this action? What happens if we try something differently at the helm? How could we reframe a looming business issue? Questions are the answers and by diving deeply and courageously into your “why” and being honest with yourself, you too will increase your Pivot Moments.
If you’re curious about taking a deep dive on focusing on your people, download my free e-book “Why Your Company’s Bottom Line is Not Your Top Priority: 6 Eye-Opening Strategies to Put People First” here.
