The one consistent thing in life is change. If that is the case, and we know it, why do we resist change so?

The “forge” portion of my blogs name came from the realization several years ago that you have to commit to change and “break on through to the other side” (to quote Jim Morrison). Often through what feels like fire nipping at your heels, whipping at your face, and eating at your gut, you must fight your way through our primal instinct to resist change!

Change is not easy, but it is expected and can be managed.

So it is change, my friends, that helps us interact with one another. Without change, there would be no need for community, no need to interact with one another. Change, indeed, is the catalyst by which we are forced to react, to interact and decide a direction. This ripples out into an eventual realization that all things are finite, and must be replenished.

In this way, change becomes a compelling force bringing us together.

Build Community

Our lives can be akin to a piece of thread - by itself it really has very little value. Sure it has some use, but ultimately there is no strength or greater purpose to it. No two pieces of thread are exactly the same in length, density, or composition… yet in finding a way to mold them through careful exercise into a functional whole - a blanket of community is born.

This collection of threads creates a useful and beautiful whole; not organs alone does a body make, but the sum of its parts with such wonderful form and function do we celebrate.

With these threads as a metaphor to our individual existences, each place we overlap another thread represents a point of impact in another’s life. Some will be large and some will be small, but it is these cross-patterns, these overlays in the knitting, if you will, that are so wonderful - that you must relish.

The Lesson

So it is that we learn from each other, by depending upon one another; it is at these “touch-points” where interaction and stimulation occur. A synergy of thoughts or actions coming together as a collective whole.

We are touched each and every day by those around us, and must decide how to act, react, and interact. We take away from each experience a lesson: that lesson, however is ours to decide. It is up to you how you perceive change when it is all around you. It is up to you whether you will step through the fire of change or allow your spirit to wither in its intensity.

image credit: Lee Towndrow

Walking a tightrope over a pit of hungry alligators while juggling flaming torches.

I work in a high-touch, sales-driven, customer-centric industry, company and position. This is the image that sums up my day on average.

How do you deal with a change of direction?

• Are you the type who quickly loses their temper when the “plan” quickly jumps the tracks, or do you find yourself knuckling down and rowing the rapids?

• Are you the kind of person who enjoys systems and processes, seeking order in the chaos?

• Do you look for the edges of the puzzle first and work your way in?

The job is not for everyone, that is for sure. It almost wasn’t for me; Let me tell you, it almost got me.

I spent the formative years of my career in very large organizations - the United States Marine Corps and a manufacturing division of a worldwide company with offices in the US and UK. So one of my employers was the 911 force of the world; I supported a 2000-Marine air group. The other was publicly traded company focused more on providing a 25 cent dividend to its shareholders each quarter than trying to increase revenue. Both were large, impersonal, and riddled with systems and processes just for their own sake.

The owner of my current company hired me some 5 years ago to bring focus to a group in  a company that had been successful “doing it the old school way”. My job was to seed in new ways of doing business while trying to work within the boundaries of almighty “culture”.

My job was to seed in systems and process in a company that ran by the seat of its pants: very little formalized process with lots of gusto and bravado.

I began by trying to hit the wall full-steam-ahead, and got one nasty concussion after another. After 2 years of hitting my head against the wall, and gaining inches not yards, I sat down. I opened my eyes, ears, and mind to some key mentors and learned how to work within the system.

It began working so well that something odd happened - the fire started to go out. The process began to take over and - where was the passion? Where was the fire in the belly I had loved about the company when I first started? In those years, I discovered that systems and process have their place, but not without passion and commitment to the people around you. In the Marine Corps, we had a saying,

It’s not the Corps that takes care of Marines, it’s the Marine standing next to you that takes care of you - and you that takes care of him.

And then it all began to click…

• Process is to bring sanity to the confusion, and offer consistency to your customers.

• Passion is to connect you with each other, and breeds loyalty from customers.

… and it is there where the magic is found - for me - for my company. Each of you may have your own recipe for success, but success for me is at the intersection of passion and process.

Ken Stewart’s blog, ChangeForge.com, focuses on the collision between the constantly changing worlds of business and technology. Ken is also the Director of Technology at Kearns Business Solutions.

Why do I … ?

That is an interesting question I ponder often. Certain things strike my fancy or I wonder why things work a certain way, or why they don’t work a certain way?

So why do I write? Why do I blog specifically?

Much like you, my readers, I suppose there are many differing reasons. Perhaps I like to rattle off opinions, perhaps I use this medium as journal of sorts to record my thoughts, or perhaps I want to spark a small conversation in a small community.

All of these do revolve around the core of why I blog, but perhaps an even better way in which to discover why I write might be to ask what is it that I like most about writing - about blogging?

I think perhaps at the core of my being is an insatiable thirst for knowledge. I think what I have found I most enjoy about writing is that it flips a switch in my mind; it keeps me observant - always prodding me to ask why, even more than I already might otherwise.

As I’m washing dishes, or going to the park with my daughter, or working through a complex issue within my business I’m always tilting my head to the side - challenging myself to try and look at the situation a smidge differently.

It is not without its complications. There are times when asking why has caused me more grief than not knowing. However, I have to remind myself that no one said knowledge would be without pain or insult. I asked for the blinders to be removed. How else can I be prepared for the inevitable, the always onward-marching, change?

So it is, that I sit here before a monitor, with the click, clack, click of the keyboard keeping beat with my thoughts that I challenge myself to another discovery - however small - each day; I enter a contest, of sorts, to see how many times I can discover a new truth, a new reason, a new dance of cause and effect.

What is it that tugs at you to keep you writing?

Image courtesy of  creator of circumstance

A friend at KnowTheNetwork, wrote a rather interesting opinion regarding liberty and freedom. Tsudonimh wrote:

Liberty - 1: the quality or state of being free: a: the power to do as one pleases (Merriam-Webster)

What does it mean to be a free society? Or for a citizen to possess freedom?

Liberty allows you the free will of action and speech up to the point that you infringe upon another’s liberty. The ideal of liberty is uncomfortable and uncompromising and belief in such an ideal makes me a radical in most every circle.

My response is as follows:

Tsu, I would agree with the very principal of your belief. I have become a little more jaded in the simple fact that people have forgotten a very primary component of Liberty - the responsibility and accountability that accompanies such a power as being free.

Freedom, in my humble opinion, is much like love. I can be selfish and call it love - but true love is a relationship where both partners are committed to the other selflessly. This creates restraint and borders where both parties can feel completely protected. Why? Because each party has the other’s best interest at heart.

Extend my argument to liberty: You are correct in that your freedom ends where it will infringe upon another’s liberty - but who is to decide this? The problem here is liberty works only in a society where its members are focused upon an attitude of service and selflessness - protection for each other.

Every argument in a marriage - every argument - comes from one party doing, saying, or acting in a selfish manner. As such, every conflict in history stems from another’s belief in something that is opposite from another and an unwillingness for compromise.

One thing that people have forgotten is that government is supposed to be the people. We in point of fact, live in a more socialistic culture where we have traded our rights of freedom for creature comforts - traded our liberty as currency to pay for the outsourcing of our hassles and worries.

Some efforts by our “government” have been good, but most have been stretched and twisted - resembling something wholly different than the original spirit of law intended.

Keep in mind, legalizing everything is not the answer, excusing irresponsible behavior is never the solution. Successful societies hold to the covenant of some standards - and agree to live by this social contract. Why? To preserve the greater good, to perpetuate humanity itself.

I admire your idealism, and I once to held to a standard that everyone could self moderate, but what I have been sadly made aware of through experience is that so many people do not - or worse - will not self-moderate their behavior.

What is truly sad to me is that these same abusive and selfish individuals claim it is their “right” to act in such a way as not acting in this fashion would impose upon their freedom. If you need any grander social experiment as proof, I would encourage you review a little thing called Woodstock 1967… Great ideals, but a miserable failure exemplifying self-indulgence and excess which resulted in soulless physical exchanges, malnutrition and disease.

No my friend, we are not mature enough to handle a “no holds barred” society.

Ken Stewart’s blog, ChangeForge.com, focuses on the collision between the constantly changing worlds of business and technology. Ken is also the Director of Technology at Kearns Business Solutions.

Are you the type of person who always asks why? Or do you get annoyed with the person that is always asking why?

All throughout my days in school, and 14 years in business, I have not had the pleasure of meeting nearly enough people interested asking questions.  Understanding reasons behind why or how things work a certain way- and why or how they don’t work another - is really a rare trait, I have found.

So why ask why?

Many people are satisfied with surface reasons why a process is the way it is, how a piece of software works, or why they were passed over for a promotion. Their satisfaction is superficial.

What about those individuals that ask so many questions? Are they seeking knowledge, truth, wisdom? Or are they simply just not getting it? Do you get annoyed with that one person in your office that just can’t seem to get it despite their best intentions? Come on, I know you have one in your office or workplace.

I had to ask myself that question in the recent past… and the answer I came up with was startling. The problem wasn’t with ‘the other guy’ - It was with me.

You see, even though I ask questions, I never annoy people - well not usually, do I? I’m not that guy, am I?

You see I have been on both sides of the fence. So while it is easy for me to cast stones from my pedestal of knowledge, I discovered that I was the one that did not know see the true meaning; I found that my attitude of self-service truly shut my eyes to real meaning in life. In other words, my heart and mind were not geared to help others find answers, it was geared to help me satisfy my thirst.

I found there is a better way… to ask why, and how, and always seek answers not for my personal benefit - but for the betterment of those I serve, those whom in which I place my trust, those whom I love.

You see I am now an instigator of betterment not because I can ask, “why?” Even though this trait is indeed rare, what is even more scare are those with a true sense of wonderment and desire to share.

Ken Stewart’s blog, ChangeForge.com, focuses on the collision between the constantly changing worlds of business and technology. Ken is also the Director of Technology at Kearns Business Solutions.

Another guest post by a good friend and author, Corey Smith, mastermind behind the business and technology blog, masterthebusiness.com. In his spare time, Corey has also founded several companies to include Resumango and TributeMedia as well as being the Chief Web Architect for Dealer Marketing Systems and Editor-in-Chief at Office Product News. I do hope you enjoy reading this post as much as I did.

I have spent a little time thinking about the questions we ask to uncover problems in our businesses, but “why” seems to be the question we always forget.

I have been talking a bit about identifying and solving business problems. One of my first posts was The two most important questions sales people never ask.

When we are working to understand business problems, it becomes even more important to ask the question why. If we don’t understand why we do something, we may never be able to figure out how to change.

If you identify that an employee walks across the building four times a day to hand deliver a report, you may say, “You know, if you email the report, you don’t need to walk every day.” When you ask why, you might find that the answer is, “The person at the other end doesn’t have a computer because of the nature of that person’s job.” In that case, another solution may be considered.

You never know what the answer to the question ‘why’ might bring. Sure, you run the risk of sounding like a seven year old, but it will help you develop the right solution for the right problem.

 Corey Smith’s business and technology blog provides a common sense approach to running your business. He also maintains a news feed service for the copier, printer and document management industries.

Change is a transition. If you are like me, you can recall times of change in your life; that time when you knew the rest of your life would be different. Maybe it was an instant change, dramatic and full of senses. Others might experience change over time, like the ocean tide rolling across an exposed rock peaking out of the sand.

Change can be uncomfortable for many. Each of us feels change differently, and likens it to something we can perceive. In order to cope with the change, we look around us and inside of us to find thoughts, feelings or experiences we can relate to the change.

I have always experienced change through the roads I travel, stretches of highways or scenic routes meandering on to some end. I suppose it is the physical manifestation of leaving one life and meeting another, or perhaps the long distance between these two points allowing me an extended time of reflection.

My changes are marked by the blurring of trees rushing to meet me as I look out the side window, and simply washing over me as if I were laying in that ocean tide on the beach. In that time of transition, I reflect upon things to this point and onwardly imagine what life might be in my ‘new life’. It is never the same as my imagination, I know this, but it passes the time and calms my nerves.

As I approach my final destination, a lump climbs up from the pit of my stomach. I step out, and taste the weather - sometimes cold and crisp on the tip of my tounge; sometimes thick and heady, as the summers of the south often are. My senses are accute, rolling over everthing within distance.

Change has come to settle here, it bristles around me. A stiff nod of the head, a shake of the hand, an exchange of some words… I am here. It is time to embrace where I am and put away where I was. Change has come, not with a roar, but as the whispering of rubber on asphalt.

I will leave you with one of my favorite poems, The Road Not Taken, by Robert Frost:

Change can be a tough thing. At times, to many of the associates in a company, a change may seem like another round in a Chinese fire drill. I would submit that some probably don’t look for answers, but I can’t solely rest blame elsewhere, when in point of fact, I am just as a guilty in maybe not communicating well enough.

While I may internally debate whether I have improved upon my communication skills to a point where changes make more sense, I ultimately still believe most individuals don’t care for any kind of change, and maybe not even positive change at times. Those that do embrace change are most likely reading this blog.

While this perspective may seem a bit, well glass-half-empty, it does offer opportunity to take a moment and reflect upon what I, as a manager, can offer to hopefully ease some of the stress in the change.

First, everything roots back to having the right people in the right seats on the bus - AND - getting the wrong people off the bus (as Jim Collins would say). If you have not done this, and know this to be true in your “gut”, do not pass “GO” and do not collect $200 - go directly to jail until you figure this part out.

Second, assuming you are redirecting a team of great individuals - my job is to not screw the good stuff up. This means I can’t just go in swingin’ and hope to hit something. I have to be able to take some measure of where the team is at in relation to objectives and customer perception.

You get this from listening: Listening to your team, listening to other teams, and listening to your customers. Part of listening comes in knowing when to put on the filter and when to hear the unabashed truth.

Once I know where I am at, I paint a vision. Once the team mostly understands this vision, I execute a phased approach. Remember, the team doesn’t get paid to fully embrace your vision. You get paid to teach them how to help you paint it - and sometimes it requires blind faith. This, incidentally, requires having the right people in the right seats on the bus - AND - getting the wrong people off the bus (did I say that already?).

Finally, I build for flexibility and consistent efficiency.

My team must understand change is the name of the game. Processes do help in offering some sanity, but will only succeed if we stay focused on why the process is used. We don’t want mindless robots following rules. We want thinking individuals making smart, customer-minded moves to secure the best outcome possible - in the most efficient manner possible.

In summary, here are the keys to managing change:

1. Have the right team.

2. Learn from the good stuff.

3. Listen

4. Paint a vision and refer to it often.

5. Build for flexibility and consistent efficiency.

In following these few steps, which aren’t easy at all to follow sometimes, you will succeed in building a high-quality, high-capacity team.

Ken Stewart’s blog, ChangeForge.com, focuses on the collision between the constantly changing worlds of business and technology. Ken is also the Director of Technology at Kearns Business Solutions.

At my current employer, I have had the opportunity to build a network connectivity team to complement and merge with the hardware break/fix team. That was a brutal transition, and at a several points I almost didn’t make the cut.

Our culture was resistant, our customers didn’t understand why things were changing, and there wasn’t really a clear roadmap to follow. It was even tougher because we had the makings of a great team, but there were positions where individuals still existed - not team players.

Over time, and with patience, we worked through many of the issues. I then handed my team off to another set of managers, and began the road of building a call group, a professional services group, and a training group.

Today, I had an interesting conversation with another of our managers. Basically, a large customer’s request had not been met, and I ended up being on the receiving end of the customer’s frustration.

I could tell that my previous trials had helped me grow as a problem solver. My first instinct was not to blame or harass anyone; it was to first ensure everyone understood the call process procedure and then begin to assess if there were any ways to augment a great team with some tweaks to any of our processes.

What I and the other manager ended with was a scheduled meeting where both of us would trace through our call process and find ways to streamline the process - asking tough questions and playing devil’s advocate as necessary.

What I find interesting about these types of sessions is we do not solely focus on a single aspect of solving an issue, nor do we allow the one customer drop to dictate an entire process. We review all options from personnel to technology in order to determine what the most value-added options are.

Some decisions will come back as too expensive to implement, some will show as flawed, and some just plain won’t be adopted no matter how well intentioned they are. We have to demonstrate the laser-focus on our mission and goals.

Keep your Vision in sight at all time and demonstrate a real desire to listen to the needs while resisting the first impulse to start “swinging axes”.

Another guest post by a good friend and author, Corey Smith, mastermind behind the business and technology blog, masterthebusiness.com. In his spare time, Corey has also founded several companies to include Resumango and TributeMedia as well as being the Chief Web Architect for Dealer Marketing Systems and Editor-in-Chief at Office Product News. I do hope you enjoy reading this post as much as I did.

Change is not easy to implement in an organization. People are resistant to change. The fact is, much of what we try improve with change fails. Not because that the change is bad, but because we don’t make sure the change itself succeeds.

If you are the lone wolf crying in the office, then don’t expect any of the change you want to implement to happen. The only way for change to work is if it starts from the top down. If the boss doesn’t care about what you are trying to accomplish, it simply won’t happen.

I find it interesting when IT departments implement some new technology and then wonder why it doesn’t work. More often than not, the business leaders in the organization don’t want to make any change, so the new technology simply falls on deaf ears.

If you are going to push for any change in your organization, make sure the boss is on board or be prepared to fail.

 Corey Smith’s business and technology blog provides a common sense approach to running your business. He also maintains a news feed service for the copier, printer and document management industries.